Greenpeace 'progress report' on APP
Nine months after the announcement of the policy, the report highlight where according to Greenpeace, APP is on the right track, and where “there is still room for improvement”.
These needed improvements were clearly identified in a joint document developed by Greenpeace and number of NGOs, and released last month by the North American and European Environmental Paper Networks (EPN and EEPN). The EPN document “The First Test, performance milestones”, highlighted further commitments and actions that are still required by APP.
For example, NGOs are urging APP to commit to address its legacy of past impacts on forests, peatlands, communities and biodiversity and participate in a process to support landscape level conservation measures across its operations and other important forest, peatland and wildlife landscapes in Indonesia. NGOs are also calling on APP to end the acceptance of any Mixed Tropical Hardwood in any of its mills by January 1st, 2014 and to publish a clear policy to ensure its commitment to no further association with deforestation after 1 February 2013 is applied to any future acquisitions or third party fibre sources.
These milestones and targets are the benchmark that that has to be independently verified before, so companies can easily evaluate whether APP has passed its “First Test”. In the mean time, APP has not yet publicly agreed with the milestones and target proposed by EPN. Therefore APP products still remain controversial, untile hen independent verification by a credible 3'rd party auditor will certify that the company has met these targets and milestones. As many many challenges still have lay ahead, the market can play a decisive role towards a positive solution.
These needed improvements were clearly identified in a joint document developed by Greenpeace and number of NGOs, and released last month by the North American and European Environmental Paper Networks (EPN and EEPN). The EPN document “The First Test, performance milestones”, highlighted further commitments and actions that are still required by APP.
For example, NGOs are urging APP to commit to address its legacy of past impacts on forests, peatlands, communities and biodiversity and participate in a process to support landscape level conservation measures across its operations and other important forest, peatland and wildlife landscapes in Indonesia. NGOs are also calling on APP to end the acceptance of any Mixed Tropical Hardwood in any of its mills by January 1st, 2014 and to publish a clear policy to ensure its commitment to no further association with deforestation after 1 February 2013 is applied to any future acquisitions or third party fibre sources.
These milestones and targets are the benchmark that that has to be independently verified before, so companies can easily evaluate whether APP has passed its “First Test”. In the mean time, APP has not yet publicly agreed with the milestones and target proposed by EPN. Therefore APP products still remain controversial, untile hen independent verification by a credible 3'rd party auditor will certify that the company has met these targets and milestones. As many many challenges still have lay ahead, the market can play a decisive role towards a positive solution.
posted by Sergio Baffoni at 7:44 AM
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