New report: 70% burned area inside forest concessions in south sumatra links to APP

A group of Indonesian NGOs from South Sumatra released a new report analyzing the forest fires in the region. According to the report, the the was majority of burned areas is inside concession related to Asia Pulp & Paper (APP):

• Total burned areas inside of APP concession is 78% (293,065 Ha) of the burned concession areas in South Sumatra (375,823 Ha).
• More than one third of the whole APP concession area in South Sumatra (37%) has been burned.
• More than a half of APP concession area burned (174,080 ha) was on peat.
• Most of the burned area was already planted with acacia, which raises once more the question of how this loss will influence the fiber supply for APP’s new giant pulp mill in South Sumatra, PT. OKI Mill.

The report, released by Hutan Kita Institute (HaKI), LBH Palembang , WALHI South Sumatra and JMG South Sumatra , urges all consumers, buyers and investors of companies such as APP that are involved in forest fires to stop any business with them, until there is a evidence of improvement and evaluation of the companies’ commitments by independent parties.