Displaying items by tag: Asia Pulp and Paper

Asia Pulp & Paper Group (APP) welcomes the announcement by President Joko Widodo of Indonesia, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and President Donald Tusk of the European Council that the European Union and Indonesia are ready to move towards the start of the first ever Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) licensing scheme.

The announcement is based on the joint assessment that Indonesia is fully ready to implement the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA), a form of bilateral trade agreement agreed through the EU Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) action plan. The VPA with Indonesia aims to guarantee that any wood products exported from Indonesia to the EU comes from legal sources. Under the VPA, Indonesia developed the SVLK system to verify that its export of timber-based products are legal, and the EU agreed to accept only licensed imports from Indonesia.

A related regulation, the European Union Timber Regulation (EUTR) aims to reduce illegal logging by ensuring that no illegal timber or timber products can be sold in the EU by placing responsibility for control through due diligence on to EU businesses. The VPA once fully implemented, will enable Indonesia’s SVLK system to begin issuing V- legal licenses, enabling EU businesses to automatically demonstrate compliance with the EUTR. 

The start of the FLEGT scheme represents a landmark development in the global campaign against illegal logging, an illegal trade that was recently estimated to have cost Indonesia alone close to $9 billion between 2003 and 2014. Legal Indonesian exporters will be at a significant competitive advantage over other tropical timber producing countries due to automatic compliance with the EUTR. The start of the FLEGT scheme demonstrates how global trade can be focused to both support legality and deprive illegal logging of an export market.

Commenting on this landmark development, Aida Greenbury, Managing Director Sustainability and Stakeholder Engagement said:

“APP warmly welcomes the new partnership between Indonesia and the European Union to work together on trade and sustainability, a partnership that could redefine how countries collaborate on sustainability and forest protection. For the first time, timber consumers, suppliers, civil society and NGOs and governments across the world have come together to forge a trade deal that will conserve forests that are crucial to avoiding catastrophic climate change.

The start of the FLEGT scheme is a huge opportunity and a tribute to the work of industry, policymakers and NGOs in Indonesia and in Europe. APP will continue to support the EU and Indonesian government and its sustainable economic development and trade, and will look to drive sustainable forestry practices to the highest standards.”

APP became the first Indonesian mill group to achieve full SVLK certification status in November 2012.

About Asia Pulp & Paper

Asia Pulp & Paper Group (APP) is a trade name for a group of pulp and paper manufacturing companies in Indonesia and China. APP is responsible for delivering quality products to meet the growing global demand for tissue, packaging and paper. On any given day, our products find their way into the hands of consumers in various branded forms from all over the world.

Started in 1972 with Tjiwi Kimia producing caustic soda, now we run operations across Indonesia and China with an annual combined pulp, paper, packaging product and converting capacity of over 19 million tons per annum. Today, APP markets its products in more than 120 countries across six continents.

Over the years, we have expanded our operations significantly through the acquisition and expansion of several of our pulp and paper mills. It’s our commitment to customer satisfaction that enables us to grow our share in paper sales worldwide and broaden our presence through offices in many countries. We believe ‘tradition and modernity go hand in hand’ which means we value long term relationships as part of our Eastern traditions, while we also are eager to embrace the modern values of innovation and efficiency.

Maintaining the integrity of our supply chain is also crucial to APP’s operations as well as our commitment to our Sustainability Roadmap Vision 2020. Learn more about APP’s path to operational excellence by reading our Sustainability Reports and Forest Conservation Policy.

More than 3,500 canals blocked as Peatland Best Practice Management Project accelerated

Agroforestry programme rolled out to improve community welfare while supporting protection of natural forests in the supply chain

Belantara Foundation, initiated by APP, ready to manage and fund conservation projects in Indonesia

Fire prevention measures strengthened with implementation of new Integrated Fire Management Strategy

 On the 3^rd anniversary of the company’s Forest Conservation Policy (FCP), Asia Pulp & Paper Group (APP) announces the acceleration of their Peatland Best Practice Management Project (PBPMP).

“Looking ahead, we are ready to learn from our experience and to further collaborate with other stakeholders in our landscape, in our country, and beyond, to try to create a better world for future generations.”

The FCP, launched in February 2013, is APP’s commitment to immediately end deforestation in its supply chain and bring sustainability to the forefront of the company’s operations. Policy commitments include the ending of natural forest conversion throughout its supply chain, best practice in peatland management, and adopting a collaborative approach to resolving social issues.

Specifically, work to block over 3,500 perimeter canals to increase water levels in APP suppliers’ concessions located on peatland has recently been completed, with a total target of 7,000 dams to be built by the end of the first quarter of 2016. This is in addition to the retirement of 7,000 hectares of commercial plantation areas in Riau and South Sumatra, announced by APP in August 2015. In total, APP and its suppliers have allocated approximately 600,000 hectares for forest conservation and ecosystem restoration within its suppliers' concessions. Peatland areas are particularly vulnerable to forest fires and these initiatives to manage and protect them are a critical part of APP’s new Integrated Fire Management (IFM) strategy. The move supports efforts to significantly lower the risk of wildfires in the region.

Integrated Forestry and Farming System

Another forest protection initiative is the Integrated Forestry and Farming System Programme launched by APP during COP21 in Paris. The programme aims to help local communities develop alternative livelihoods to achieve economic development while also keeping Indonesia’s forests intact.

As a first step in its implementation, community members will be given equipment and support in the form of microfinance or revolving funds to help kick-start local businesses. Horticultural training will also be given to help improve community capacity in managing fruit and vegetable crops using the agroforestry system. The programme will include 500 villages across the APP supply chain with up to $10 million invested over the next five years.

Fire Management

In 2016, the company rolled out its new comprehensive new Integrated Fire Management (IFM) strategy. The strategy consists of a number of key initiatives:

• Fire management experts TREK Wildland Services from Canada and Working on Fire (WOF) from South Africa will provide 400 APP staff members and their suppliers with Incident Command System (ICS) fire training. The programme will train fire commanders on the practical application of ICS including early detection and rapid response, with the aim of increasing the ability to prevent and fight fires as early as possible.
• Two new aircraft with state-of-the-art thermal imaging cameras will help gather hotspot data with far greater accuracy than satellite imaging. Information will be distributed in near real time to APP’s in house Geographic Information System (GIS) and distributed to field staff within 15 minutes, allowing rapid response to emerging fire threats.
• New fire patrol route maps based on past fire occurrence and local risk factors to ensure that firefighters are closely mapped to identified risks.
• Two medium lift helicopters capable of carrying up to 3,500 litres of water to improve the sheer speed and power of APP’s waterbombing capabilities.

Belantara Foundation

Since committing to a landscape approach in 2015, the company has worked to establish a platform to help manage and fund landscape conservation programmes in Indonesia. As a result of these efforts, APP has initiated the Belantara Foundation. Today we announce the newly appointed Advisory Board, consisting of widely respected individuals drawn from the government, non-profit and corporate sectors. With the Foundation’s personnel, full working remit and due diligence processes in place, Belantara is now ready to work together with other key stakeholders in the landscape to help support the protection and restoration of Indonesia’s forests.

Belantara Foundation will work with communities, civil society, government and businesses to help ensure a careful balance is found between economic development, the livelihoods of people in local communities and environmental conservation. This involves overseeing natural forest restoration and endangered species protection and conducting studies to strengthen sustainable landscape management. In addition, the Foundation will support community empowerment and local economic development, especially in areas that rely heavily on natural resources.

By coordinating and collaborating with different stakeholders, Belantara will help to ensure that different initiatives are aligned and information is shared. Belantara will also fund landscape conservation initiatives aligned to the Foundation’s objectives.

Social Commitments

During 2015, APP continued work to resolve social conflict in its supply chain, while also strengthening the implementation of Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC). This includes a commitment to implement FPIC in areas where new developments are proposed, as well as revisions to the FPIC protocol to expand its scope to include high impact activities on developed plantation areas. Over the last year, the FPIC process has been completed for both the new OKI mill development and PT Karawang Ekawana Nugraha (PT KEN), an APP Ecosystem Restoration forest concession in South Sumatra.

Aida Greenbury, Managing Director of Sustainability and Stakeholder Engagement at APP said,

“On the third anniversary of our Forest Conservation Policy launch we are pleased to report that our continued work to implement the policy, together with efforts to align our ambitions with those of other actors in Indonesia’s forests have resulted in tangible progress. We now have the building blocks for a sustainable model of forest and pulp and paper operations whereby forests are protected, communities empowered and our supply chains strengthened.

"Looking ahead, we are ready to learn from our experience and to further collaborate with other stakeholders in our landscape, in our country, and beyond, to try to create a better world for future generations."

You can find full details of APP’s FCP progress report https://www.asiapulppaper.com/sustainability/vision-2020/forest-conservation-policy.

About APP-Indonesia

Asia Pulp & Paper Group (APP) is a trade name for a group of pulp and paper manufacturing companies. APP is responsible for delivering quality products to meet the growing global demand for tissue, packaging and paper. On any given day, our products find their way into the hands of consumers in various branded forms all over the world.

Started in 1972 with Tjiwi Kimia producing caustic soda, now we run nine mills located in Java and Sumatra islands with an annual combined pulp, paper, packaging product and converting capacity of over 9 million tons. Today, APP markets its products in more than 120 countries across six continents.

Over the years, we have expanded our operations significantly through the acquisition and expansion of several of our pulp and paper mills. It’s our commitment to customer satisfaction that enables us to grow our share in paper sales worldwide and broaden our presence through offices in many countries. We believe ‘tradition and modernity go hand in hand’ which means we value long term relationships as part of our Eastern traditions, while we also are eager to embrace the modern values of innovation and efficiency.

Maintaining the integrity of our supply chain is also crucial to APP’s operations. APP launched its Sustainability Roadmap Vision 2020 in June 2012 and its Forest Conservation Policy in February 2013, to further improve its environmental performance, biodiversity conservation, and protection of community rights. Key objectives of this roadmap are to ensure that its pulpwood suppliers adopt High Conservation Value (HCV) and High Carbon Stock (HCS) protection, peatland protection, and be 100% Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) certified by 2020.

In April 2014, APP launched its commitment to support the protection and restoration of one million hectares of forest in Indonesia. In line with that commitment, by 2015 APP and its suppliers have allocated approximately 600,000 hectares for conservation within its suppliers’ concessions and for ecosystem restoration.

Asia Pulp & Paper Group (APP) has announced it is committing to retire around 7,000 hectares of commercial plantation areas to protect threatened carbon-rich peatlands, the first time that plantations on tropical peatland have been retired for conservation purposes worldwide.

Peatland development in Indonesia represents one of the single largest terrestrial sources of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in the world¹. Retiring these plantation areas will help support the Government of Indonesia’s target of a 26 per cent reduction in emissions by 2020.

The land marked for retirement is spread across five individual acacia plantation areas in Riau and South Sumatra which have been identified as requiring immediate rehabilitation following recommendations from the applied research institute Deltares. In line with APP’s Forest Conservation Policy (FCP), a Free and Prior Informed Consent (FPIC) process will be conducted for the five areas, before any retirement proceeds.

Today’s announcement is part of APP’s commitment to establish a science-based landscape approach for best practice peatland management that can be used by the Indonesian Government and plantation companies. It builds on the conservation pledges in the company’s FCP, which placed an immediate moratorium on all natural forests and new peatland development in February 2013.

As part of this approach, Deltares is working with APP to carry out the largest mapping exercise ever carried out on tropical peatland areas using LiDAR remote sensing technology. LiDAR, deployed from aircraft, allows Deltares to map around one quarter of all Indonesian peatland where APP’s suppliers are located. The area totals 4.5 million hectares, which compares to an area the size of Switzerland or the State of Pennsylvania. The resulting maps will be finalised in 2016.

The mapping will provide unprecedented insight into the hydrology and environmental conditions of a number of critically important peat landscapes. Analysis of the data will enable Deltares to provide further recommendations on how APP can minimise the impact of drainage in peat landscapes, making a significant contribution not only to reducing forest loss but also to reducing greenhouse gas emissions that lead to climate change.

Aida Greenbury, Managing Director Sustainability, APP said:

“APP’s decision to retire these areas of commercial plantation is an important milestone in the delivery of our Forest Conservation Policy and we believe it is an unprecedented commitment. The retirement of active plantations is not an easy decision for any business to take, but we believe that taking urgent steps to protect remaining areas of peatland forest, as well as reducing and avoiding climate emissions from peatlands, must be a priority. While there is still a long way to go, and we have much to learn, this announcement today represents a major breakthrough.

“However, the reality of protecting peat landscapes is that no one company like APP can do it alone. APP’s goal of supporting the conservation of forest and peat landscapes needs to be a shared objective, and one supported by meaningful actions from both the Government and other plantation companies. This should include addressing the systemic barriers to forest and peatland protection, supporting forest restoration and ensuring development opportunities for communities.”

Dr Aljosja Hooijer, programme leader at Deltares, said:

“APP has a unique opportunity to support peatland forest conservation and emission reduction. The progress announced today is a first step in a process towards the development of a new model to define best management practices in peatlands. The pioneering approach to collecting LiDAR data has allowed the technology to be deployed at an unprecedented scale economically, and will advance the science of peat and peat management not only in Indonesia, but also globally.”

¹ CO₂ emissions from peatland drainage in Southeast Asia contribute the equivalent of 1.3% to 3.1% of the global CO₂ emissions from burning fossil fuels

About Asia Pulp & Paper

Asia Pulp & Paper Group (APP) is a trade name for a group of pulp and paper manufacturing companies in Indonesia and China. APP is responsible for delivering quality products to meet the growing global demand for tissue, packaging and paper. On any given day, our products find their way into the hands of consumers in various branded forms from all over the world.

Started in 1972 with Tjiwi Kimia producing caustic soda, now we run operations across Indonesia and China with an annual combined pulp, paper, packaging product and converting capacity of over 19 million tons per annum. Today, APP markets its products in more than 120 countries across six continents.

Over the years, we have expanded our operations significantly through the acquisition and expansion of several of our pulp and paper mills. It’s our commitment to customer satisfaction that enables us to grow our share in paper sales worldwide and broaden our presence through offices in many countries. We believe ‘tradition and modernity go hand in hand’ which means we value long term relationships as part of our Eastern traditions, while we also are eager to embrace the modern values of innovation and efficiency.

Maintaining the integrity of our supply chain is also crucial to APP’s operations as well as our commitment to our Sustainability Roadmap Vision 2020. Learn more about APP’s path to operational excellence by reading our Sustainability Reports and Forest Conservation Policy.

About Deltares

Deltares is an independent institute for applied research in the field of water, subsurface and infrastructure. Throughout the world, we work on smart solutions, innovations and applications for people, environment and society. Our main focus is on deltas, coastal regions and river basins. Managing these densely populated and vulnerable areas is complex, which is why we work closely with governments, businesses, other research institutes and universities at home and abroad. Our motto is Enabling Delta Life. As an applied research institute, the success of Deltares can be measured in the extent to which our expert knowledge can be used in and for society. For Deltares the quality of our expertise and advice is foremost. Knowledge is our core business.

Deltares has executed hundreds of advisory projects in South-East Asia, for bilateral financing agencies, international development Banks, local Governments, NGOs and private industry. In Indonesia we are a well established consultancy in the area of water and soils management, with over 40 years of local experience. In recent years, a growing component of our work has been in the area of peatland management support, with over 20 projects in the last 10 years. We publish frequently on the impacts of peatland drainage in terms of carbon emissions, land subsidence and future flooding, and on mitigation options.

Website: www.deltares.nl

APP
Paul Codd
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Deltares
Dr Al Hooijer
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Mr. Teguh Ganda Wijaya, Chairman of Asia Pulp and Paper Group (APP), has joined a number of companies, governments and NGOs to sign the New York Declaration on Forests at an event at the UN Climate Summit 2014. The declaration is an unprecedented international, multi-sector commitment to safeguard the world’s forests and to help tackle climate change.

“We at APP also believe that forest-based products can help in this regard because they retain carbon, are recyclable and, when sourced from responsibly managed plantations, are often more sustainable than the alternatives.”

All signatories of the Declaration have committed to a vision of slowing, halting, and reversing global forest loss while simultaneously contributing to economic growth, poverty alleviation, rule of law, food security, climate resilience and biodiversity conservation.

The declaration, which was formalised at an event hosted by UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, highlights that reducing emissions from deforestation and increasing forest restoration are key to tackling climate change. Partners are called on to work together to:

• At least halve the rate of loss of natural forests globally by 2020 and strive to end natural forest loss by 2030
• Restore 150 million hectares of degraded landscapes and forestlands by 2020 and significantly increase the rate of global restoration thereafter, which would restore at least an additional 200 million hectares by 2030
• The full list of commitments have the collective target of achieving a reduction in emissions by 4.5-8.8 billion tons per year by 2030.

Teguh Ganda Wijaya, Chairman of APP said: “United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has done the planet and some of its most critical ecosystems a great service in convening this ground-breaking meeting of governments, global business leaders and NGOs. Business can take the lead in delivering these commitments, but we must work closely with all stakeholders including governments and NGOs to truly tackle deforestation and climate change. One of the most effective ways to do this is by conserving forest, planting trees, and protecting the natural forest that surrounds.

“We at APP also believe that forest-based products can help in this regard because they retain carbon, are recyclable and, when sourced from responsibly managed plantations, are often more sustainable than the alternatives."

Aida Greenbury, APP’s managing director of sustainability added: “We have shown through our own Zero Deforestation policies that ambitious targets to protect the world’s remaining forests can be agreed, implemented and achieved by companies operating in emerging economies. Our view is that wherever a company is involved in the forest supply chain, they should be implementing these policies immediately. There is no time to waste.”

APP announced its Forest Conservation Policyand zero deforestation commitment in February 2013 and over the last 18 months, has been working successfully to implement this policy. Earlier this year, the company made a further commitment to support the protection and restoration of one million hectares of tropical rainforest landscapes in Indonesia, one of the most ambitious conservation commitments ever made by a private company.

The New York Declaration on Forests is an important milestone in the journey to the UNFCCC COP 21 meeting in Paris in December 2015.

As part of the Forest Conservation Policy Asia Pulp and Paper have been implementing high carbon stock and high conservation value assessments across their entire supply chain. Renowned environmentalist Tony Juniper visited APP’s facilities to see the assessments being conducted, and created a series of short videos which illustrate how the commitments outlined in the FCP can be practically delivered. The videos can be viewed on the links below.

Asia Pulp and Paper: Sustainability and the Growing Demand for Paper

Asia Pulp and Paper’s Forest Conservation Policy

Asia Pulp and Paper: High Carbon Stock Assessments

Asia Pulp and Paper: Landscape Conservation

About Asia Pulp & Paper

Asia Pulp & Paper Group (APP) is a trade name for a group of pulp and paper manufacturing companies in Indonesia and China. APP is responsible for delivering quality products to meet the growing global demand for tissue, packaging and paper. On any given day, our products find their way into the hands of consumers in various branded forms from all over the world.

Started in 1972 with Tjiwi Kimia producing caustic soda, now we run operations across Indonesia and China with an annual combined pulp, paper, packaging product and converting capacity of over 19 million tons per annum. Today, APP markets its products in more than 120 countries across six continents.

Over the years, we have expanded our operations significantly through the acquisition and expansion of several of our pulp and paper mills. It’s our commitment to customer satisfaction that enables us to grow our share in paper sales worldwide and broaden our presence through offices in many countries. We believe ‘tradition and modernity go hand in hand’ which means we value long term relationships as part of our Eastern traditions, while we also are eager to embrace the modern values of innovation and efficiency.

Maintaining the integrity of our supply chain is also crucial to APP’s operations as well as our commitment to our Sustainability Roadmap Vision 2020. Learn more about APP’s path to operational excellence by reading our Sustainability Reports and Forest Conservation Policy.

Asia Pulp & Paper Group (APP) has issued a report showing that allegations of its Forest Moratorium being violated are unfounded.

The report has been issued following a complaint received from a consortium of local NGOs (Relawan Pemantau Hutan Kalimantan / RPHK) that two of its suppliers were clearing natural forest in West Kalimantan Province, in direct contradiction to APP’s Forest Conservation Policy announced on February 5th. The cornerstones of this policy are a commitment to zero deforestation throughout APP’s supply chain, and a clear grievance procedure.

On the day of the complaints, APP stated, “We, and our partner TFT, are investigating these allegations, and in the interests of complete transparency, will publish our findings as soon as they are available.” The company added that it could not draw a conclusion until it had all the facts to hand.

APP has now received The Forest Trust’s (TFT) full technical report available here. It includes accurate GPS mapping of the areas under investigation, records of discussions with the contractors on-site, and analysis of ground level activity as well as examination of inter-company relationships.

The two allegations made are related to activities carried out by DTK (PT Daya Tani Kalbar) and ATP (PT Asia Tani Persada), both of which are suppliers to APP. In both cases there was clearance of natural forest being undertaken, but in neither instance was the clearance related to APP. Therefore neither APP, nor its suppliers, are in breach of its moratorium.

In both cases, however, the over-riding issue is concession overlap. So far as DTK is concerned, clearance was for the development of a palm oil plantation owned by a company, Gerbang Benua Raya (GBR). There is evidence of old land clearance, and there are oil palms that are about 18-months old.

In the case of ATP, TFT found canal construction through forested peatland, being carried out on behalf of a Bauxite mining business, Karya Utama Tambang Jaya (KUTJ), a company unrelated to APP. Additionally, this activity is taking place outside the APP moratorium area, according to mapping data.

In neither case is there any evidence of cross-ownership between APP’s suppliers and both companies (GBR and KUTJ). APP and TFT are therefore confident, based on the evidence in the report, that on this occasion the allegations made that suppliers were in breach of the APP Forest Conservation Policy are unfounded.

Aida Greenbury, APP’s Managing Director of Sustainability, said, “We committed to full transparency and to independent investigation through our Grievance Protocol of any alleged breach in our moratorium on natural forest clearance. This is an example of our commitment in action. Despite unsubstantiated commentary by some parties, we said from the start that we would not speculate before the facts were known. We will continue to adhere to our grievance procedures. Where there are concerns, we urge communities and NGOs to bring them to our attention and we promise we will be thorough in our investigation, as we have been in this case. We also reiterate the fact that if a supplier were found to be in breach of our Forest Conservation Policy, we will not hesitate to take swift action.”

“There is a wider issue at stake,” she continued. “Licensing and concession overlap is not uncommon in Indonesia. It is clear that there must be greater precision in governance. Currently, APP and TFT are mapping all overlapping areas in our suppliers’ concessions. Once we have all the details, we will adopt a strategy to resolve this and protect the integrity of the natural forests in the areas, together with other stakeholders, national government and provincial legislatures. We urge other forest dependent businesses, communities and NGOs to join us in helping to make this happen.”

The paper industry has grown rapidly at a rate of 15-17 percent over the past five years, producing more than 2 million tonnes and supplying 64 percent of the domestic market annually.

Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) has defended its latest report – Getting the facts down on paper – which outlines APP Indonesia’s commitment to sustainability, following allegations by a number of NGO’s including WWF and Greenpeace. APP says the allegations are false and the report has now been independently verified.

According to APP, the report contains numerous facts that demonstrate the paper producer has been fulfilling its obligations to operate in a sustainable and environmentally conscious way. The accusation is the latest in an ongoing public relations war between environmental NGO's and APP, which is a major paper supplier to Australian printers.

However following its publication APP has been subject to a negative publicity campaign from a number of environmental non-government organisations, principally WWF. The 95 claims made against APP included allegations of illegal logging, deforestation, impact on biodiversity, responsibility for forest fires, poor financial viability and human rights abuses.

Aditya Bayunanda WWF’s Pulp & Paper Coordinator for Indonesia says, “Satellites images have been capturing and documenting every single hectare that the company has destroyed for years. We have no doubt, paper APP produces in its mills contains Sumatra’s timber from dense tropical rainforest.”

Meanwhile, APP says that the independent audit, conducted by audit service Mazars, found that the facts contained in the APP report were accurate and, therefore, the allegations made by the environmental NGOs were indeed baseless, inaccurate and without validity.

A statement from Mazars concludes, “In our opinion, based on our work described in this report, the facts and figures included in the report are reasonably accurate, verifiable and supported by documentation and information provided by external parties.”