Plantations, poverty and power - Critical Information Collective

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57 Indah Kiat faces a series of land claims and land conflicts. According to AMEC’s 2001 report, the company does not control large parts of its concession area and has underestimated the extent of potential land claims and conflicts. 282 Arara Abadi employs its own private security guards. A 2003 report by Human Rights Watch documents violence carried out against villagers. 283 For example, when Arara Abadi started to acquire land near the village of Mandiangin in the 1980s, it simply seized land from the indigenous Sakai and Malay people without compensation. Armed police and military officials took part in meetings between the company and villagers. One villager told Human Rights Watch, “We often heard about people being arrested or just disappearing. So when they came here wearing their guns, we just kept our mouths shut.” 284 In February 2001, 700 Arara Abadi employees supported by paramilitary and police forces attacked villagers in Betung. Homes were destroyed and 58 villagers arrested. Five villagers were injured, two of them seriously. 285 There are numerous similar examples. Villagers in Suluk Bongkal have been trying to establish their right to 2,900 hectares of land since 1997. But even with written proof of their tenure rights dating back to 1940, they have been unable to convince the authorities and APP of their land rights. Villagers complain that every time they have come to an agreement with Arara Abadi, the company has violated the agreement. In each case, rather than attempting to resolve the conflicts, Indah Kiat denies allegations of violence. “Every step in this chain is illegal” In 2007, police in Sumatra clamped down on illegal logging, stopping the supply of illegal logs to pulp mills. The Indonesia Pulp and Paper Association threatened that pulp production may be forced to decrease by as much as 75 per cent as a result. 286 This figure gives some idea of how important illegal logging is to the supply of raw material to pulp mills in Sumatra. As it was, the police clampdown was lifted, and business as usual was allowed to resume. After APP appropriated villagers’ land for plantations, villagers’ livelihoods were destroyed. One of the few opportunities they have to earn income is through selling timber to the company. In some cases, villagers log in areas that the company has set aside for conservation. While the company turns a blind eye to the fact that the timber it is buying from villagers is illegally logged, this puts villagers in direct conflict with conservation organisations. The Swedish NGO, Swedwatch, describes the process by which illegal timber becomes legal. Villagers 282 “APP Pulp Mills & Sinar Mas Group Forest Companies Preliminary Sustainable Wood Supply Assessment Executive Summary”, AMEC Simons Forest Industry Consulting with Asia Pacific Systems Engineering, 21 November 2001, page 4. 283 “Without Remedy: Human Rights Abuse and Indonesia’s Pulp and Paper Industry”, Human Rights Watch, Vol. 15, No. 1 (C), January 2003. http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/indon0103/ 284 “Without Remedy: Human Rights Abuse and Indonesia’s Pulp and Paper Industry”, Human Rights Watch, Vol. 15, No. 1 (C), January 2003. http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/indon0103/Indon0103-04.htm 285 Mats Valentin and Kristina Bjurling (2004) “Swedish involvement in the Indonesian paper and pulp industry”, SwedWatch, October 2004, page 14. 286 Chris Lang (2008) “APP and APRIL still cannot legally supply their pulp mills”, Pulp Inc., 10 April 2008. http://pulpinc.wordpress.com/2008/04/10/app-and-april-still-cannot-legally-supply-their-pulp-mills/
58 transport the logs to the local town and contact a broker of illegal timber. The broker supplies documents that certify that the timber is from an area with a permit to be logged and is legal. The broker pays the villagers and transports the timber to the pulp mill. The pulp mill pays the owner of the logging permit, who then pays the broker for his services. 287 In 2001, John Aglionby, a Guardian journalist, reported on illegal logging to supply Indah Kiat. He describes an illegal logging team’s work cutting an area of forest. “Every step in this chain is illegal,” he reported. “The loggers have no permits to destroy the rainforest and take the wood to Perawang, a small town halfway up Sumatra. [The loggers] have no right to buy it and sell it on to the pulp factory, for whom it is a serious offence to buy illegally felled timber.” 288 The pulp mill in Perawang that Aglionby refers to is APP’s Indah Kiat mill. The logging team are villagers whose previously earned their living fishing in the Siak River. “Now there are no fish left,” one of them told Aglionby. “They have all been poisoned by the factory, so chopping down the forest is the only way we can make money.” 289 “What shall we do” one of the villagers now involved in illegal logging asked Swedwatch’s researchers. “There is nothing left for us to live on, they have taken our land, killed the fish and we would die if they stopped buying the wood from us. Indah Kiat has to buy! It is because of them that we lack possibilities to support ourselves.” 290 In 2006, WWF reported that APP used timber from Libo forest for its pulp mills in Riau. Libo forest is part of the Balai Raja Wildlife Sanctuary, one of the few remaining habitats of the Sumatran elephant. Balia Raja contained about 39,000 acres of forest when it was declared a Wildlife Sanctuary in 1986. By 2006, only 650 acres remained. 291 APP is fully aware that it is buying illegally logged timber. In 2004, Anil Raina, from the corporate marketing department of Sinar Mas, told Swedwatch’s researchers that “If illegal logging is stopped it will be a hard blow against the local communities, however, since some of them may depend on this activity. Until we find some way to provide either some jobs or support for villagers, so they can survive, we will not enforce a total ban on logging.” 292 APP’s forestry operations in Riau were halted in 2006 as a result of a police investigation into illegal 287 Mats Valentin and Kristina Bjurling (2004) “Swedish involvement in the Indonesian paper and pulp industry”, SwedWatch, October 2004, page 20. 288 John Aglionby (2001) “Fisherman driven to illegal logging as pulp factory poisons river. Sumatran communities put at risk”, The Guardian, 26 June 2001. http://www.guardian.co.uk/paper/story/0,10581,512597,00.html 289 John Aglionby (2001) “Fisherman driven to illegal logging as pulp factory poisons river. Sumatran communities put at risk”, The Guardian, 26 June 2001.http://www.guardian.co.uk/paper/story/0,10581,512597,00.html 290 Mats Valentin and Kristina Bjurling (2004) “Swedish involvement in the Indonesian paper and pulp industry”, SwedWatch, October 2004, page 20. 291 “Indonesian Government Ignores Own Rules, Places Endangered Elephants in Peril”, WWF Press Release, 24 March 2006. http://www.worldwildlife.org/who/media/press/2006/WWFPresitem843.html 292 Mats Valentin and Kristina Bjurling (2004) “Swedish involvement in the Indonesian paper and pulp industry”, SwedWatch, October 2004, page 12.
Page 2 and 3:
1 Plantations, poverty and power: E
Page 4 and 5:
3 CONTENTS Introduction 1. Plantati
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5 New investors have emerged recent
Page 8 and 9: 7 1. Plantations do not plant thems
Page 10 and 11: 9 plantations established on grassl
Page 12 and 13: 11 Nations Food and Agriculture Org
Page 14 and 15: 13 Another reason for the move to t
Page 16 and 17: 15 In his book, “Khor Jor Kor, Fo
Page 18 and 19: 17 Between 1991 and 2006, the numbe
Page 20 and 21: 19 are asking for”, notes WWF. 60
Page 22 and 23: 21 consume fewer goods. Less advert
Page 24 and 25: 23 credit crunch, unstable oil pric
Page 26 and 27: 25 Investment in plantations in the
Page 28 and 29: 27 possible price. Subsidies, linke
Page 30 and 31: 29 2. The anatomy of five pulp proj
Page 32 and 33: 31 However, while the Bank confirme
Page 34 and 35: 33 make way for its tree plantation
Page 36 and 37: 35 In April 2004, about 2,000 famil
Page 38 and 39: 37 Sappi, Swaziland: 50 years of in
Page 40 and 41: 39 after an assessment by the Soil
Page 42 and 43: 41 impact of the plantations on wat
Page 44 and 45: 43 Advance Agro, Thailand: Deforest
Page 46 and 47: 45 confiscation and liquidation of
Page 48 and 49: 47 management was facing a bankrupt
Page 50 and 51: 49 Indah Kiat, Asia Pulp and Paper,
Page 52 and 53: 51 company owners want profits to b
Page 54 and 55: 53 • US$4.5 billion owed by APP i
Page 56 and 57: 55 explained that “association wi
Page 60 and 61: 59 logging. While the investigation
Page 62 and 63: 61 experimental areas and not from
Page 64 and 65: 63 Staples and Office Depot in the
Page 66 and 67: 65 “the exhaustive studies have c
Page 68 and 69: 67 CEDHA has also filed complaints
Page 70 and 71: 69 of converting grasslands to indu
Page 72 and 73: 71 3. Pulp Inc. Profiles of seven p
Page 74 and 75: 73 Thailand, a power plant for a Ne
Page 76 and 77: 75 Management’s experts the possi
Page 78 and 79: 77 A year after Aracruz’s third p
Page 80 and 81: 79 In January 2003, Pöyry announce
Page 82 and 83: 81 Bank in the early 1990s. Groome
Page 84 and 85: 83 Pöyry’s role in the Baikal Pu
Page 86 and 87: 85 Under carbon financing, Pöyry o
Page 88 and 89: 87 Pöyry is working on second gene
Page 90 and 91: 89 The Confederation of European Pa
Page 92 and 93: 91 CEPI Eurokraft states that “it
Page 94 and 95: 93 sectors need to reduce by 21% co
Page 96 and 97: 95 The ADB’s report notes that th
Page 98 and 99: 97 Nepal In Nepal, the target area
Page 100 and 101: 99 loan for the second plantations
Page 102 and 103: 101 International Finance Corporati
Page 104 and 105: 103 •In December 2000, IFC approv
Page 106 and 107: 105 firm’s activities. After his
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107 safeguards are in practice.
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109 Bank projects are approved by a
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111 •€80 million to Portucel to
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113 The Food and Agriculture Organi
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115 Nevertheless, Poore and Fries n
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117 failure to define industrial tr
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119 FAO’s guidelines recommend th
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121 Rosengren did not reply to my e
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123 Forest Stewardship Council: Mis
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125 body that rubber stamps operati
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127 Criterion 1.6, for example, sta
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129 fast wood plantations have take
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131 Principle 10.8 should prevent t
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133 By April 2004, FSC had, at last
Page 136 and 137:
135 plantations, because it creates
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137 integrated set of common Princi
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139 for clearing areas of Atlantic
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141 Colombia were certified by SGS.
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143 The dissociation became necessa
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145 4. Future planned pulp mills As
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147 Planned pulp projects: 698 Comp
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149 UPM and Sveza Group Vologda Rus
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151 paper industry along ecological
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