Posted on 27 March 2013
| Yaoundé, Cameroon – The total Forest
Stewardship Council (FSC) certified area
in Cameroon has exceeded 1 million hectares
with the certification of new areas managed
by the Société Forestière
et Industrielle de la Doumé, a Rougier
subsidiary and participant in WWF’s Global
Forest & Trade Network (GFTN).
The newly certified
areas, covering 285,667 ha, are located
in the Mbang area of eastern Cameroon, home
to the Baka community, considered among
the oldest residents of Cameroon’s rainforests.
These forests are also rich in biodiversity.
This award marks the first substantial increase
of FSC certified area in the Congo Basin
in several years.
“We congratulate Rougier
on this achievement and salute their commitments
to responsible forest management in the
Congo Basin. It’s also important Rougier
and Cameroonian authorities work together
to maintain elephant populations in these
forests, considering the recent documented
massacres in the Congo Basin,” said Daniel
Tiveau, Regional GFTN Manager for Central
Africa.
FSC is the best forest
management assurance system available, and
is recognized as the top level of commitment
by leading environmental groups operating
within the tropical forest industry.
FSC certification ensures
the forest management is 1) environmentally
appropriate – protecting and maintaining
natural communities and high conservation
value forests 2) socially beneficial – respecting
the rights of workers, communities and indigenous
peoples and 3) economically viable – building
markets, adding best value and creating
equitable access to benefits.
WWF/GFTN has supported
Société Forestière
et Industrielle de la Doumé since
October 2009 in establishing an action plan
to achieve FSC certification, supporting
local and indigenous peoples on community
development, building the capacity of the
Local Consultation Framework (Comité
Paysan Forêts), and has provided training
on conflict resolution.
In working toward FSC
certification, the company has improved
its internal management procedures through
better documentation of its work, and has
undergone third party assessment.
“Many years ago, Rougier
entered into a voluntary process of certification
in which the group invested heavily to enhance
its production on the international market.
Through our efforts in matters of certification,
we wish to consolidate our positions on
the developing markets for certified products,”
said Rougier CEO Francis Rougier.
WWF is currently undertaking
research to identify barriers for forest
certification and is committed to helping
companies overcome them.
"Managing forests
responsibly is the best way to ensure a
better future for people and biodiversity,
and buying certified products from the Congo
Basin is the best way markets can influence
forest management in the region," Tiveau
said.
+ More
APP suppliers pulping
new bid for sustainability credentials in
Kalimantan?
Posted on 27 March 2013
| Pontianak, West Kalimantan – NGO observers
have claimed that pulp timber suppliers
to controversial paper giant Asia Pulp &
Paper (APP) are continuing to log tropical
forest and dig drainage canals through peat
soils in Kalimantan, regardless of the new
Forest Conservation Policy (FCP) launched
with much fanfare by APP and parent group
Sinar Mas last month.
APP, noting that the
suppliers have denied breaching requirements
of the FCP, is investigating a complaint
lodged by the Consortium of Kalimantan’s
Forest Monitoring NGOs (RPHK)
Over the same period
that heavy machinery was apparently engaged
in logging and dredging on the two concessions
, representatives of both APP and the two
supplier companies hosted a meeting 80 km
away in provincial capital Pontianak to
convince sceptical local NGOs that the FCP
was not yet another company greenwashing
stunt.
APP has previously announced
an end to tropical forest pulping in 2004,
2007 and 2009. On February 5 it hosted a
gala announcement that it had halted tropical
forest clearing on its own and independent
supplier concessions throughout Indonesia
on January 31, with heavy equipment impounded
pending independent assessment of conservation
values and above ground carbon.
RPHK members, who were
among those present at the February 26 meeting
in Potianak, lodged a complaint on the basis
of extensive photographic and video evidence
of the work on concessions of PT Asia Tani
Persada (ATP) and PT Daya Tani Kalbar (DTK),
two of the four companies disclosed by APP
as West Kalimantan suppliers to its mills
in devastated Sumatra.
RPHK observers familiar
with the areas of the two concessions said
they contained orang-utan habitat. The promised
assessments would have examined whether
and where orang-utans are still present.
"We are really
concerned to see how heavy equipment is
still actively clearing natural forest,
digging peat canals and clearing the land
in the two supplier's concessions in West
Kalimantan. This is a clear violation of
the APP’s FCP that APP socialized in Pontianak
on 26 February," said Baruni Hendri,
a spokesperson of the RPHK consortium.
“Our findings showed
that APP is not taking their conservation
policy seriously, thus making RPHK doubt
APP’s seriousness on the implementation
of their commitment.”
APP has issued a statement
that "Our policy is clear - there would
be no natural forest clearance anywhere
in our supply chain and every supplier has
been advised of he policy details."
"We contacted the
suppliers and both have strongly indicated
that they are not in breach of our policy
and that the likely cause is concession
boudaries that overlap with other industries."
WWF-Indonesia, a member
of RPHK with local NGOs, has called on APP
and its parent, the giant Sinar Mas Group,
to quickly close a loophole allowing mills
to continue accepting "stockpiled"
mixed tropical hardwoods for an indefinite
period, nominating May 5 as giving ample
time to clear stockpiles. The evidence of
current clearing vindicates concerns that
freshly cleared timber will continue to
be “laundered” into pulp mills.
"We call on global
buyers of pulp and paper to remain skeptical
and await independent verification by independent
NGOs of the credible field implementation
of APP’s FCP before making any new purchasing
decision,” said Anton P. Wijaya, Director
Executive of WALHI (Friends of Earth Indonesia)
chapter West Kalimantan.
Member groups of the
Consortium of Kalimantan Forest Monitoring
Volunteers (RPHK) able to provide information
in English are WWF-Indonesia (Contact :
Ian Hilman, +6282121868624, ihilman@wwf.or.id),
and TITIAN, an active biodiversity conservation
institute for local community sustainable
benefits in West Kalimantan (Contact Director,
Sulhani +62561-6589198). Other member groups
include AKAR, an illegal wildlife crime
monitoring network in Borneo, actively raising
public awareness about the importance of
wildlife protection and their habitat; JPIK
Kalimantan Barat, a civil society network
that focuses on monitoring effort of the
sustainable forest management for Forest
Plantation Wood Production Permit; Link-AR
Borneo (Lingkaran Advokasi dan Riset), a
civil society organization focus on advocacy
based on research or investigation related
to land plunder and biodiversity degradation,
as well as community empowerment ( www.linkarborneo.com);
SAMPAN (Sahabat Masyarakat Pantai), a civil
society organization focus on advocacy for
costal and watershed communities (www.sampankalimantan.org)
and LEMBAH, an active institute in Bengkayang
District for social and economic empowerment
based on environment.
