Launching the report at a special FCP anniversary event in Jakarta, APP’s managing director of sustainability and stakeholder engagement Aida Greenbury called for greater collaboration among businesses, communities and organisations to protect Indonesia’s forests.
“We are creating management plans to ensure the viability of the 2.6m hectares that our suppliers are responsible for. However, unless all of Indonesia’s land is properly managed too, then the forest landscape will continue to be at risk from further degradation,” she said.
“It is time for all parties to get active and start working together. The days of campaigning against businesses that have shown commitment to change the way they operate, as we have, should be brought to a conclusion,” she added.
A year ago, with the launch of its FCP, APP instigated an end to all deforestation activities across the 2.6m hectares of land in Indonesia on which it operates.
Under the agreement APP pledged that all of its suppliers, including direct and indirect, would adhere to the moratorium and that it would develop a system of sustainable forestry and conservation through work with the government, local communities and businesses.
As part of its work High Conservation Value (HCV) and High Carbon Stock (HCS) biodiversity and conservation assessments have been carried with the first to be completed next month and the latter in Q3 2014, in order to determine how the areas within its 2.6m ha should be allocated and managed.
At the event this week, Greenbury said that the assessments had identified “opportunities and obstacles” but that neither could be addressed by a single company.
“In 2014, we will finalise the largest integrated biodiversity and conservation assessments that have ever been conducted. Now is the time to focus on the future and to develop solutions to the complex issues associated with forestry in Indonesia and to promote responsible practice,” she added.
The event attracted more than 200 attendees from government, communities, businesses and NGOs such as WWF, Rainforest Alliance and Greenpeace.
Greenbury set out four priorities for the FCP in the year ahead including: resolving the issue of overlapping land licenses held by different parties for different uses; managing community and land conflict issues; preservation of peatland, forests and wildlife; and better recognition and marketing on economically viable land.
Commenting after the event Greenbury said: “Although we are very proud of what we and our many partners have achieved to date, we are under no illusions that there is still a huge amount of work ahead of us to achieve our goals.
“Although we have set targets there is no overall completion date, protecting forests and peatlands will be a permanent part of our new business model. In effect, we have embarked on a strategy of continuous improvement.
“We hope that we have proven that we are committed to playing a lead role in the pursuit of zero deforestation. However, if we are to be genuinely successful in this bigger goal, other businesses, governments and the NGO community must collaborate more effectively with us in an effort to truly protect rainforests and peatlands in Indonesia."
Following the event Greenpeace, historically one of APP’s toughest and most vocal critics, voiced support for the paper giant on its website saying: “A year on, despite many challenges along the way, we are pleased that the moratorium is holding and that APP remains serious about delivering on its commitments.
“APP stands in stark contrast to their main competitor in the Indonesian pulp sector. APRIL/RGE group is the new APP – a standard bearer for forest destruction in Indonesia.”
