Indonesia: APP Conservation Policy a Lost Cause, Environmental Organization Says

ID/Alina Musta’idah Jakarta Globe 11 Nov 13;

Paper company Asia Pulp and Paper’s conservation policy, which it issued in February this year, remains far from effective in protecting the forested habitat for Sumatran tigers, one of the world’s most endangered animal, says an environmental group in a report.

“Our report shows that the Forest Conservation Policy [FCP] by Asia Pulp and Paper [APP] is not designed to save the Sumatran tiger habitat, one of the animals that are nearing extinction,” said Vanda Mutia Dewi, the national program coordinator for Greenomics Indonesia.

In its report titled “From Zero to Zero: APP’s Zero Deforestation Policy Saves Zero Forested Sumatran Tiger Habitat,” the organization mapped out a spatial analysis based on legal documents approved by the Forestry Ministry.

Despite having laid out a good policy for the protection of endangered animals on paper, the report said APP had scrapped its chances of securing Sumatran tigers’ habitat when it carried out a large-scale land clearing in the run-up to its Forest Conservation Policy announcement.

The Indonesian government requires pulpwood companies to set aside at least 10 percent of their concessions for protection areas, which include areas used to protect wildlife habitat.

However, in clearing areas prior to issuing its new conservation policy, the report said APP had included stretches of the forest that were supposedly protected for Sumatran tigers.

The report mentioned Tri Pupajaya (TPJ), a supplier for APP operating in South Sumatra, among other APP partners and subsidiaries, as having cleared nearly 100 percent of the forested Sumatran tiger habitat within its concession, which extends up to 21,995 hectares.

“The results of the overall of TPJ’s 2012 operations plan map and the satellite image as of May 19, 2013, show that TPJ has only left a very small area of forested Sumatran tiger habitat that it did not manage to clear,” the organization said in its report.

“It is highly inappropriate for this to be used by APP when trumpeting its commitment to the protection of Sumatran tiger habitat through its zero deforestation policy,” it added.

Greenomics said the company’s Zero Deforestation Program was not a substantive policy, given the small remaining area of Sumatran tiger habitat left to be saved using its policy.