Plantations, poverty and power - Critical Information Collective

More documents

Recommendations

Info

79 In January 2003, Pöyry announced that it had been hired by UPM-Kymmene to provide engineering services on UPM’s new 450,000 tons a year fine-paper mill in Changshu, China. Pöyry was also engineering consultant to APRIL for the construction of the first paper mill in Changshu in 1998. 396 In 2007, Pöyry was commissioned by Ningxia Meili to oversee the start up of the company’s new coated board line in Zhongwei, China. Pöyry employs about 160 people in China, with offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Jinan. 397 Also in China, Pöyry has been working with Sino-Forest since 1997. Sino-Forest is the largest foreignowned industrial tree plantation operation in China, managing about 350,000 hectares of plantations. Pöyry has worked on contracts looking at the expansion of the plantation area and looking for possible pulp and paper processing ventures for the company. 398 In virtually every country with a pulp and paper industry, Pöyry has played a key role in shaping that industry. The following sections look at Pöyry’s role in Indonesia and Russia to provide examples of how the company works. Pöyry in Indonesia Between 1979 and 1993, Pöyry won more than one hundred contracts in Indonesia, covering a wide range of issues, from industrial tree plantation projects to a contract for overseas training for Indonesian foresters in Brazil. In a series of reports, Pöyry recommended a massive expansion of Indonesia’s pulp industry. In 1983-84, Pöyry worked on a Master Plan for Indonesian Pulp and Paper Industry, funded by the World Bank. Pekka Hemmi worked for the company as a consultant in Southeast Asia. Hemmi describes the work in an interview with the website Asia Paper Markets: “We worked on several feasibility studies concerning green field pulp mills. We looked at the industry from all angles when we were carrying out a World Bank funded Master Plan for Indonesian Pulp and Paper Industry in 1983-84. We visited all the mills and took in macro economic considerations.” 399 According to Hemmi, little came from these reports. “At that time it was too difficult to raise the funding so the projects never went forward. . . . We at Jaakko Pöyry didn’t fully realize the boom that was about to come in the pulp and paper industry even though we knew well the potential.” But Hemmi is candid about the benefits (to him) of the studies carried out in the early 1980s: “Doing Know-How Wire, Pöyry Client Magazine, 2/2007. 396 “Jaakko Pöyry Group awarded EUR 10 million engineering assignment for UPM-Kymmene’s new fine paper machine in China”, Jaakko Pöyry Group Stock Exchange Notice, 9 January 2003. http://www.poyry.com/press/press_1_03.htmlId=hex_200301091400.html accessed 3 February 2003 397 Kim Lucander (2008) “Mission completed”, Know-How Wire, Pöyry Client Magazine, 2/2008. 398 “A glance at Asia”, Know-How Wire, Pöyry Magazine, 1/2007. 399 Floyd Cowan (no date) “Pekka Hemmi’s Nordic Adventures in Asia Pacific”, Asia Paper Markets. http://203.81.45.43:8080/apm/apm/common/interviews_arch12.jsp
80 those studies and sales contracts in Indonesia in the 80s gave me a great insight into the industry, the region and the country. I’ve learned the language. It has been a very fruitful time.” 400 Once the Widjaya (Sinar Mas Group, including APP) and Tanoto (RGM International Group, including APRIL) families started investing in the pulp and paper industry, the boom arrived and Pöyry was well placed to benefit. Having recommended the construction of several massive pulp projects, Pöyry won contracts to design and build these pulp mills. Pöyry won contracts to work on the Indorayan, Indah Kiat, Riau Andalan and PT-TEL pulp mills in Sumatra. “Pöyry has provided consulting and engineering services for the [RGM International] Group since 1983, including complete development of their pulp operations in Sumatra,” boasts Pöyry. 401 As described above (see section on APP), the impact on the forests of Sumatra of these massive pulp and paper projects has been devastating. WWF estimates that APP, which runs the Indah Kiat pulp and paper mill, is responsible for 80,000 hectares of deforestation every year. Pollution from the pulp mills has caused serious skin diseases for villagers living downstream of the mills. Villagers rely on the water from the river for washing and previously for drinking. Pöyry won at least 10 contracts from Indah Kiat in the ten years after 1987 when Pöyry carried out a contract to produce a preliminary study for a pulp mill in Sumatra. Pöyry’s involvement continued with a plan for establishing fast growing tree plantations, technical assistance for the pulp mill, assistance with the nursery and plantation establishment and technical studies on the machinery used at the mill. 402 Indah Kiat has missed several targets for running the mill entirely on plantation wood. According to a 1993 article in Pulp and Paper International, Indah Kiat was to run on plantation wood by 1998. 403 In fact, Indah Kiat still uses timber from rainforests to keep its pulp mills running. In March 2007, APP announced plans to expand production in Sumatra by 800,000 tons a year by the end of 2007, meaning that the destruction of the rainforests will continue. Jouko Virta set up Jaakko Pöyry’s Jakarta office in 1983. He was project leader on a contract that Pöyry won from the World Bank in the early 1980s, aimed at “strengthening the structure of the Indonesian pulp and paper industry.” I interviewed Virta in 1996. He was then based in England and was the chairman of Jaakko Pöyry Consulting. I asked him how he felt about the way the rate of deforestation in Sumatra had increased dramatically since the pulp mills started up. He laughed and told me not to worry about deforestation when the forests would be replaced by acacia plantations. To Virta, there is no difference between Sumatra’s massively biodiverse lowland rainforests that provided habitat for hundreds of species and livelihoods for local communities and an acacia monoculture that does neither. 404 Pöyry’s New Zealand subsidiary, Groome Pöyry, won another contract with the Asian Development 400 Floyd Cowan (no date) “Pekka Hemmi’s Nordic Adventures in Asia Pacific”, Asia Paper Markets. http://203.81.45.43:8080/apm/apm/common/interviews_arch12.jsp 401 “A glance at Asia”, Know-How Wire, Pöyry Magazine, 1/2007. 402 Pöyry (no date) “Experience in Asia Pacific”, Jaakko Pöyry International, 2-7(10). 403 R.A. Pappens (1993) “Sinar Mas: Growth won’t stop at home”, Pulp and Paper International, Vol. 35, No. 8, August 1993, page 21. 404 The interview was carried out as part of the research for my MSc thesis: see Chris Lang (1996) “Reforestation in Vietnam in the context of the globalization of the pulp and paper industry”, MSc thesis, Oxford Forestry Institute, Oxford University, September 1996. http://chrislang.org/1996/09/09/the-globalization-of-the-pulp-and-paper-industry-introduction/
Page 2 and 3:
1 Plantations, poverty and power: E
Page 4 and 5:
3 CONTENTS Introduction 1. Plantati
Page 6 and 7:
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 58 and 59: 57 Indah Kiat faces a series of lan
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 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
Page 108 and 109: 107 safeguards are in practice.
Page 110 and 111: 109 Bank projects are approved by a
Page 112 and 113: 111 •€80 million to Portucel to
Page 114 and 115: 113 The Food and Agriculture Organi
Page 116 and 117: 115 Nevertheless, Poore and Fries n
Page 118 and 119: 117 failure to define industrial tr
Page 120 and 121: 119 FAO’s guidelines recommend th
Page 122 and 123: 121 Rosengren did not reply to my e
Page 124 and 125: 123 Forest Stewardship Council: Mis
Page 126 and 127: 125 body that rubber stamps operati
Page 128 and 129: 127 Criterion 1.6, for example, sta
Page 130 and 131:
129 fast wood plantations have take
Page 132 and 133:
131 Principle 10.8 should prevent t
Page 134 and 135:
133 By April 2004, FSC had, at last
Page 136 and 137:
135 plantations, because it creates
Page 138 and 139:
137 integrated set of common Princi
Page 140 and 141:
139 for clearing areas of Atlantic
Page 142 and 143:
141 Colombia were certified by SGS.
Page 144 and 145:
143 The dissociation became necessa
Page 146 and 147:
145 4. Future planned pulp mills As
Page 148 and 149:
147 Planned pulp projects: 698 Comp
Page 150 and 151:
149 UPM and Sveza Group Vologda Rus
Page 152:
151 paper industry along ecological
show all

Plantations, poverty and power - Critical Information Collective

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?