Fidelis E. Satriastanti, Jakarta – Environmental groups on Wednesday accused one of Indonesia's largest pulp and paper companies of logging in national parks and threatening both indigenous people and wildlife.
An investigation by nongovernmental groups based in Sumatra found that since 2004, companies affiliated with Asia Pulp and Paper and its parent company, the Sinar Mas Group, had systematically sought out inactive selective logging concessions on densely forested land in the Bukit Tigapuluh National Park, straddling the provinces of Riau and Jambi.
"Despite APP's claims that it doesn't pulp high-quality forest, our investigation found that in the last six years, the company in this [area] alone contributed to the loss of about 60,000 hectares of high-carbon and high-value conservation forest without appropriate professional assessment or stakeholder consultation," said Susanto Kurniawan of Eyes of the Forests, a coalition of green groups based in Riau.
The coalition's study shows the companies obtained government licenses to switch the land status to industrial timber plantation concessions, which allows for clear-cutting and replacing the natural forest with commercial plantations.
The NGOs also claim that two firms linked to APP/SMG – Artelindo Wiratama and Tebo Multiagro Corporation – continued to clear Bukit Tigapuluh's natural forest in 2010, while SMG's Rimba Hutani Mas was planning to clear close to 43,000 hectares of natural forest.
They add that Lestari Asri Jaya, owned by the Barito Pacific Group, could soon begin clearing 36,000 hectares of dense natural forest in its newest industrial timber plantation concessions to supply wood to APP/SMG.
Aida Greenbury, managing director of sustainability at the APP Group, said the company would review the reports in detail to determine if there was any evidence that an APP pulpwood supplier was operating outside of areas defined by Indonesian spatial planning for pulpwood concessions.
"At this point we strongly believe the allegations are completely baseless," she said. "All concessions managed by APP pulpwood suppliers are developed in full compliance with Indonesian spatial planning and permit requirements."
Funding for such programs, she said, came from public-private partnerships, community stakeholders and NGOs closest to the people.
Bukit Tigapuluh spans almost 320,000 hectares of natural forest and is home to two indigenous tribes, the Orang Rimba and the Talang Mamak, who number less than a thousand combined. The forest also houses an estimated 30 critically endangered Sumatran tigers, as well as 150 Sumutran elephants and 130 orangutans that had been released back into the wild.
Aditya Bayunanda of WWF Indonesia said the protection of Bukit Tigapuluh would be a major test of Indonesia's climate change mitigation agreement with Norway.