Plantations, poverty and power - Critical Information Collective

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Bank in the early 1990s. Groome Pöyry’s report, titled “Institutional Strengthening for Timber Plantation
Development”, looked at ways of achieving the Indonesian government’s target of 4.4 million hectares of
industrial tree plantations outside of Java. Pöyry recommended “enhancing the [Forestry] Ministry’s
control over its land base”, technical research, forestry education and training, institutional strengthening
and support for the private sector. “The prospects for pulpwood production in Indonesia are considered to
be good,” wrote Groome Pöyry’s experts. They noted that increasing the area of industrial tree plantations
(Hutan Tanaman Industri, HTI in Bahasa Indonesian) would increase the pressure on Indonesia’s
rainforests. To Groome Pöyry, however, this is not a problem. On the contrary, it will provide a source of
wood and therefore money for pulp companies:
“HTI development for pulp projects are likely to place the strongest pressure on conversion of natural
forest to plantations, as ‘unproductive forests’, which may legally be harvested, provide a significant
opportunity for an early wood flow. This is turn will produce an early cash flow some of which can be
invested in HTI development.” 405
Pöyry has also played an important role in supporting United Fiber System’s plans to build a 600,000 tons
a year pulp mill in South Kalimantan. UFS hired Pöyry in 2004 to produce a “Review of Wood Supply
for Proposed South Kalimantan Pulp Mill”. The following year, Pöyry produced a report for RZB
Singapore to look the environmental impacts of UFS’s Wood Chip Mill on Pulau Laut. CIFOR points out
that “UFS has not produced a detailed and accountable forest management plan that ensures protection of
the natural forest areas that currently remain.” 406 In spite of the pulp industry’s record of forest
destruction in Indonesia, Pöyry concluded that the pulp mill and the wood chip mill could supply their
raw material from plantations. Yet a series of independent studies document the fact that UFS cannot
show that it has sufficient raw material supplies to keep its pulp operations running without using timber
from native forests and illegally harvested timber. 407
Pöyry in Russia
Pöyry has been involved in many projects shaping the Russian pulp and paper sector. Pöyry’s
consultancies408 include the following:
•Syktyvkar (2008): a €10 million contract to provide engineering services for the rebuilt of Mondi’s
Syktyvkar pulp and paper mill. 409
405 Groome Pöyry (1993) “Institutional Strengthening for Timber Plantation Development”, Asian Development Bank
Advisory Technical Assistance 1244-INO, January 1993.
406 Emile Jurgens, Christopher Barr and Christian Cossalter (2005) “Brief on the planned United Fiber System (UFS)
Pulp Mill Project for South Kalimantan, Indonesia”, Forest Governance Programme No. 3, CIFOR and Forest Trends.
http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/publications/pdf_files/Books/BJurgens0501.pdf
407 See Daniel Hausknost (2006) “The ‘United Fiber System’ (UFS) Case: How Austrian companies help to destroy the
Last Indonesian Rainforests”, Global 2000, May 2006. http://www.global2000.at/files/UFS_study_en_final.pdf
Betty Tio Minar (2006) “No Chip Mill Without Wood: A Study of UFS Projects to Develop Wood Chip and Paper
Pulp Mills in Kalimantan, Indonesia”, Down To Earth, August 2006. http://dte.gn.apc.org/cskal06.pdf
Emile Jurgens, Christopher Barr and Christian Cossalter (2005) “Brief on the planned United Fiber System (UFS)
Pulp Mill Project for South Kalimantan, Indonesia”, Forest Governance Programme No. 3, CIFOR and Forest Trends.
http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/publications/pdf_files/Books/BJurgens0501.pdf
408 This is not intended to be an exhaustive list, it is intended to give an impression of number and type of contracts that
Pöyry has carried out in Russia.
409 Chris Lang (2008) “Pöyry wins contract for Mondi’s Syktyvkar pulp mill”, Pulp Inc., 10 April 2008.