Budi Otmansyah, Jakarta Globe 19 May 10;
Environmentalists in Riau have condemned a Forestry Ministry team’s report that found no violations in the management of woodland concessions in the province’s Kampar Peninsula, despite clear evidence to the contrary.
Kampar Peninsula Preservation Team (TP2SK) coordinator Susanto Kurniawan said the findings ignored the fact that the Forest Stewardship Council had rescinded the SmartWood sustainable logging accreditation for logger Asia Paper Resources International Limited for failing to comply with environmental and social standards.
April subsidiary PT Riau Andalan Pulp & Paper has been accused of continued logging in high-value conservation forests, including the Kampar peat forest.
Meanwhile, one of its main suppliers, Sumatra Sylva Lestari, is embroiled in allegations of rights abuse against local residents.
“Any statement to the effect that there are no violations in forest management in the Kampar Peninsula are deceptive,” Susanto said.
“First, a revocation of SmartWood accreditation is proof a company is not complying with sustainable logging practices. Second, logging in the Kampar peat forest will release significant amounts of carbon dioxide trapped in the peat swamps and contribute to global warming. Those most at risk from the impact are the residents of Riau.”
Fellow TP2SK member and director of the environmental NGO Scale Up, Ahmad Zazali, said the forestry minister had not responded to the group’s objections over the report’s findings.
Ministry officials had told him the study had been limited to monitoring RAPP’s technology.
This clearly veered from the main issue that RAPP was operating illegally, Zazali said.
“The team’s findings aren’t final yet and the minister hasn’t made any decisions,” he said. “The minister must seriously consider the revocation of the SmartWood certification and the protests by residents of Teluk Binjai and Teluk Meranti villages, whose livelhoods are threatened by the destruction of the peat forest.”
TP2SK member and Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) Riau director Hariansyah Usman, said April had failed to abide by its own commitment to sustainable forestry by allowing its subsidiary to continue destroying the environment and stoking community unrest.
“If Riau Governor Rusli Zainal can’t see that there’s a problem here, then he’s out of the loop,” Hariansyah said. “He’s clearly siding with RAPP’s business interests at the expense of the rights of the local people, which itself is unconstitutional.”
Greenpeace Southeast Asia forest campaigner Zulfahmi, called on the forestry minister to stick by his recent pledge to protect the country’s peat forests.
“If RAPP is allowed to continue logging in the Kampar Peninsula, then the government will be condoning a felony,” he said.
