How Sinar Mas is Pulping the Planet - Greenpeace

how sinar mas is pulping the planet
21
CertIFYING
BAD practice
- controverSY
IN the MIX
“Over 2.5 million hectares of peat
land allocated for development is
believed to be more than three metres
deep, which is protected by law.”
Indonesian National Development Planning Agency, 2009 234
Knowing that a growing number of
customers are seeking products
certified as not coming from illegal or
controversial sources, 249 APP has had
a number of its mills’ chains of custody
certified under the Programme for the
Endorsement of Forest Certification
(PEFC) scheme. 250
To bear the PEFC logo, a product
must contain 70 per cent minimum
of PEFC-certified virgin fibre, and the
remaining material in the product must
come from ‘verified non-controversial
sources’. However, as there are no
PEFC-certified forests or plantations
in Indonesia, 251 any production of PEFC
products by APP involves the import
of PEFC certified pulp from other
countries. This pulp is then mixed with
‘verified non-controversial material’ 252
(i.e. non-certified timber) from a number
of concessions in Sumatra. Serious
questions remain as to how any such
timber produced by APP companies can
be classified as ‘non-controversial’.
The company claims that its pulp
mills in Sumatra, PT Indah Kiat and PT
Lontar Papyrus, have introduced: 253
“PEFC procedures for avoidance
of raw material from controversial
sources...verified by an independent
third party certification body in order
to provide confidence that no illegal
or controversial wood enters the mills’
fibre supply chain.” (APP Stakeholder
Update, May 2008)
The reality is that none of the raw
materials entering these mills had been
officially verified under PEFC rules. In
fact, at the time that this statement was
written, neither of the mills even had
PEFC Chain of Custody certification. 254
Following correspondence with
Greenpeace, PEFC confirmed that
APP has been asked to “modify the
statement to avoid any potential
misinterpretation”. 255
Elsewhere, APP has claimed that these
two mills “have been verified by an
independent third-party certification
body in order to provide confidence
that no illegal or controversial wood
enters the mills’ fibre supply chain.”256
(This text appears above two images of
audit certificates for these mills, issued
by SGS auditors.)
Asked by Greenpeace for details of this
verification, an SGS auditor replied: 257
“I cannot confirm that SGS has actually
done an audit at the mills to confirm that all
material received at these mills is covered
by the SGS verifications.” (SGS’ emphasis)
SGS has more recently confirmed to
Greenpeace that no such audit has
taken place. 258
In 2009, according to Ministry of Forestry
data, 259 PT Indah Kiat continued to
receive rainforest logs (i.e. MTH). As
shown above, Greenpeace investigations
illustrate that the company continues to
source rainforest logs from tiger habitat
and peatland forests, both considered
highly controversial.
In addition, acacia logs were supplied
to PT Indah Kiat from plantations that
were established on peat deeper than
three metres, 260 which is illegal under
Indonesian law. 261 As of 2006, 213,000
hectares of acacia plantations inside
Sinar Mas-controlled concessions
were located on peatlands, with at least
50,000 hectares located on peatland
deeper than three metres. 262