APP, WWF signs forest deal
APP, WWF signs forest deal
Dow Jones, Jakarta
Asia Pulp & Paper Co. (APP) on Tuesday agreed to set aside part of its forest concessions in Sumatra as conservation areas, and tighten up procedures to stop the supply of illegal logs to its mill.
The Sinar Mas Group, which owns APP and a number of forestry companies, signed an agreement with the World Wide Fund for Nature to help protect what remains of Sumatra's most ecologically important rainforest.
The WWF has said that widespread illegal logging to feed APP's mill in Riau province, on the eastern side of Sumatra island, has added to the devastation of the rainforest.
APP's efforts to restructure its debt this year have sparked fears among ecologists the company will need to run its mill at full capacity to help repay creditors. Sinar Mas has been slow to set up sustainable plantations to supply the mill, meaning it has relied heavily on cutting down natural forest.
Under Tuesday's agreement, Sinar Mas will stop logging part of its government-allocated concessions in Riau. The area under the moratorium totals 165,000 hectares, or twice the size of Singapore, a statement issued jointly by the WWF and Sinar Mas said. That will leave the company with a similar amount of natural forest which it can still cut down for wood supply.
"This is an important step in APP and SMG's continuing efforts in the area of environmental sustainability and social responsibility," said Mubariq Ahmed, the WWF's Indonesia director.
APP vowed to improve its procedures for monitoring the wood which it buys from third parties. APP has said that it can't be 100 percent sure that all the wood it gets from outside its own concessions comes from legal sources. The WWF has complained that illegal logging is putting at risk its Tesso Nilo conservation area - which is home to Sumatran elephants and one of the world's most diverse range of plant species.
The company agreed to draw up a plan to show how it will meet its annual wood supply needs starting in 2004. Although APP has increased the size of its plantations in recent years, it doesn't expect them to become self-sustaining until the second half of this decade. The company has discussed buying wood chips from other sources, such as Australia, to make up any supply shortfall.
The agreement also includes a provision to help clear up land disputes with local communities that claim they were kicked off their ancestral land when APP began expanding in the 1990s.