Report unmasks links between “independent” suppliers and Sinar Mas in Indonesia

In 2015, following Indonesia’s disastrous forest and peatland fires, Asia Pulp & Paper  (APP) – Indonesia’s largest pulp and paper producer – denied owning or controlling two forest plantation companies in Sumatra that had experienced some of the worst burning. While acknowledging that PT Bumi Mekar Hijau and PT Sebangun Bumi Andalas Wood Industries are suppliers of wood fiber to the group’s pulp mills, APP claimed the companies are “independently owned and operated.” Yet a detailed analysis of those firms’ corporate registry documents show apparent close links with the Sinar Mas Group, APP’s parent conglomerate.

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Greenpeace ends all engagement with APP/Sinar Mas over links to deforestation

Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), Indonesia’s largest pulp and paper company, is still linked to forest destruction, according to new mapping analysis completed by Greenpeace International. Almost 8,000 hectares of forest and peatland has been cleared since 2013 in two concessions which are linked to APP and its parent company the Sinar Mas Group.

Greenpeace International put these allegations to APP/Sinar Mas, and the group failed to provide a credible response or to take meaningful action. As a result, Greenpeace has ended all further engagement with APP/Sinar Mas.

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Asia Pulp & Paper subsidiary PT BMH expanding acacia plantations on peat in South Sumatra

According to the website Foresthints.news, Asia Pulp and Paper subsidiary PT BMH has expanded its acacia plantations in South Sumatra on an area equivalent to around 500 soccer fields, including areas targeted by the Peat Restoration Agency for peat recovery, following the fires of 2015. Foresthints conducted spatial calculations, based on time-series data sourced from USGS Landsat 8 and ESA Sentinel-2 images, and found the company has also built more than 37 kilometers of new drainage canals.

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Indonesian civil society calls on government for transparency and accountability to protect and restore peatlands and forests

An Indonesian coalition of NGOs has released a joint statement to call for improved transparency and sustainability criteria in the new Indonesian government policy to protect peatlands. The NGO coalition (Gemapala Fakfa, Belantara Papua, Auriga, Eyes on The Forest, WWF Indonesia, Wetlands International, ELSAM, Yayasan Pusaka, HaKi and Kemitraan) expressed its support for the Indonesian government plans to protect and restore Indonesia’s peatland. However, the NGOs are concerned with the “land swap” policy, issued in July 2017, which allocates new HTI concessions on mineral soils as compensation to forestry companies that will have to restore peatlands in their own concessions.

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Bank policies that protect peatlands and reduce deadly fires in Indonesia are long overdue

Many financial institutions are divesting from the coal industry, and avoiding association with fossil fuels, yet investment in the Indonesian pulp industry is also the root cause of massive greenhouse gas emissions. It’s time for banks to put in place safeguards to stop any further irresponsible involvement in the pulp industry.

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Indonesia: Riau province declares early emergency to combat haze

Indonesian province of Riau has declared a state of emergency, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency said, after President Joko Widodo urged regional authorities to avoid a repeat of fires that smothered Southeast Asia in smog in 2015. The government of Indonesia seeks to control the slash-and-burn land clearances for palm and pulp plantations which send clouds of toxic smoke over the region each year causing damage to public health, the climate and the economy.
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Farmers protest against potential new APP supplier in Sumatra

An estimated 5000 local residents from 39 villages located in the Bangka Belitung islands, South Sumatra, protested today in front of the local government office against a concession for the acacia plantation awarded to a company called PT. Build Rimba Sejahtera (PT BRS).

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