WWF rejects action plan set out by pulp and paper maker

WWF rejects action plan set out by pulp and paper maker

Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF) refused to endorse Asia Pulp
and Paper (APP)'s action plan to ensure a sustainable wood supply
for the world's 10th largest pulp and paper mill.

WWF also called on APP customers and creditors to put pressure
on the company to immediately improve its action plan to help
protect the forest, and to review their business relations with
the company if APP fails to do so.

"WWF firmly believes that APP and SMG are in a position to
deliver a credible action plan that could help save Sumatra's
remaining forests while maintaining a sustainable wood supply.
Unfortunately they have failed to do so," WWF Indonesia executive
director Mubariq Ahmad said on Friday.

The Sinar Mas Group (SMG) is the controlling shareholder of
APP. Non-governmental organizations have long accused APP of
destroying natural forests.

APP signed a letter of intent (LoI) with the WWF on Aug. 19,
2003, in which APP said it would deliver a sustainability action
plan for its wood supply.

In the LoI, APP also promised to set aside 58,500 hectares of
its forest concessions in Riau province as conservation areas,
which according to WWF is actually obligatory based on the
Forestry Law. APP was also to conduct a conservation value
assessment in those areas.

The LoI expired on Thursday when APP released its
sustainability action plan to the public. The plan includes
ensuring the legality of all wood entering APP's mills, proving
the company's capability to be 100 percent sustainable in 2007,
and assessing forests for conservation value.

Some points in the plan that bother WWF are the methodology
for the assessment conducted by APP and the company's refusal to
stop cutting logs before another assessment could be completed.

"They used a methodology that benefited themselves without
taking into account the real conservation value of the forest,"
said WWF Indonesia director for the species conservation program,
Nazir Foead.

Nazir said that APP had indeed agreed to conduct another value
assessment using the Forest Stewardship Council recommended by
WWF, but the company refused to stop felling trees before the
assessment was completed.

APP's director for sustainability and stakeholder engagement,
Arian Ardie, told The Jakarta Post that the company would not
fulfill WWF's demand to halt production.

"The methodology WWF offers, which we'll also conduct, is used
only by 5 percent of the whole wood industry worldwide. APP's
also certain that the results will be similar to our previous
assessment," he said over the telephone.

He added that halting production had strong economic and
social consequences.

WWF urged consumers and creditors of APP to engage in
individual discussions with the company, saying that "responsible
customers and creditors can ensure that APP improves its
environmental and social responsibility".

"Come out from behind of the curtain and show to the public
that you are responsible and environmentally friendly companies.
Show the public that you're not pushing APP on its debts. Don't
let APP use you and the reason of paying debts as justification
for them to continue felling trees," said Nazir.

APP has debts totaling US$13.9 billion. It owes $7.2 billion
in China and $6.7 billion in Indonesia.

Asked about the possibility that APP consumers may stop buying
its products, Arian said that "none of our consumers nor
creditors had responded yet to the results of the sustainability
plan and the decision by WWF not to endorse the plan".

APP's consumers are largely from Japan, the European Union,
and the United States.