Pulp and paper firms urged to save 1.2 million hectares of Indonesia forest slated for destruction

By Rhett A. Butler, www.mongabay.com
March 17, 2011 Indonesian environmental groups launched a urgent plea urging the country’s two largest pulp and paper companies not to clear 800,000 hectares of forest and peatland in their concessions in Sumatra. Eyes on the Forest, a coalition of Indonesian NGOs, released maps showing that Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) and Asia Pacific Resources International Limited (APRIL) control blocks of land representing 31 percent of the remaining forest in the province of Riau, one of Sumatra’s most forested provinces. Much of the forest lies on deep peat, which releases large of amount of carbon when drained and cleared for timber plantations. Eyes on the Forest says the proposed forest moratorium, which was supposed to be signed January 1, 2011 but has been held up due to intense political pressure from the forestry sector, will not protect the forest areas since the concessions have already been granted. The moratorium would only apply to new concessions in still unspecified types of forests. “Eyes on the Forest calls on both companies to voluntarily and immediately stop all natural forest clearance and peat drainage to support our President’s commitment to reduce Indonesia’s emissions by 26%,” said Susanto Kurniawan of Jikalahari in a statement. “We urge them to become part of the solution rather than continue to be an embarrassment.” “Pulping of Riau’s critically important natural forests and draining of Riau’s deep peat have made these companies the two most significant reasons for the province’s position as the number one carbon emitter in Indonesia,” added Suhandri of WWF Indonesia’s Riau Program. “We fear that both groups will accelerate their wood sourcing in Riau concessions as the moratorium prevents the companies to clear elsewhere.” Eyes on the Forest estimates that APP, which is owned by the multinational Sinar Mas conglomerate, and APRIL, which is owned by the Singapore-based Royal Golden Eagle Group, have together cleared roughly 2 million hectares of natural forests in Riau, accounting for nearly half the province’s recent forest loss. Riau lost 4.4 million hectares of its 6.9 million hectares (63 percent) of forest cover between 1985 and 2009. Eyes on the Forest says conversion of already concessioned forest lands to pulp plantations in Riau would generate nearly 500 million tons in CO2 emissions. …

Pulp and paper firms urged to save 1.2M ha of forest slated for clearing in Indonesia