NGOs give Asian pulp and paper giant performance test on promises | WPN World People News

Global environmental organisation WWF urges Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) to sign up to joint NGO performance targets in order to depart from its status as one of the world’s most notorious deforesters and become an environmentally and socially responsible company.

Independent monitoring of the implementation of its plans would help APP overcome the legacy of mistrust from not implementing full sustainability promises by 2004, 2007, 2009 and 2011

The performance targets, released by the European and North American Environmental Paper Network, provide guidance for the assessment of APP’s implementation of its 2020 Sustainability Roadmap and its Forest Conservation Policy (FCP) including definite milestones on restoration and compensation for past forest loss, becoming a 100% plantation based company and accepting independent third party audit.

Environmental Paper Network members include many of the civil society organisations who have been active in opposing APP’s three decades of large scale deforestation, including international NGOs Greenpeace, the Rainforest Action Network and WWF and Indonesian NGOs Wahana Bumi Hijau and Walhi.

“We cautiously welcomed APP’s earlier announcement that it would cease new deforestation in Indonesia. The performance targets and milestones published address the sad legacy of APP’s operations over the last three decades which left little natural forest to pulp in APP’s main base of operations in Sumatra.” said Nazir Foead Conservation Director for WWF-Indonesia.

“Fulfilling these performance milestones is the quickest way for APP to prove its commitment and end its long streak of broken promises to sustainability,” said Rod Taylor, Forest Director for WWF International.

The milestone document released emphasizes NGO’s calls to have the company acknowledge, restore and compensate the enormous environmental and social damage it has caused, stop all supply of mixed tropical hardwood to any of its mills by 1 January 2014, and accept independent third party evaluation of the implementation of its new policies.

WWF and its many local NGO partners will continue to scrutinize APP’s actions and report on the company’s performance against the targets and milestones released.

Until that performance has been proven, WWF advises companies to adopt a wait and see attitude and join WWF in adopting the milestone document to assess the company’s performance.

Source: World Wildlife Fund