Less than two months after its implementation, two Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) suppliers in Indonesian Borneo have been accused of violating the company’s new sustainability policy, which includes a zero deforestation commitment throughout its entire supply chain.
A coalition of NGOs in Indonesia’s West Kalimantan province said in a press conference on Monday that two independent suppliers of APP – PT Asia Tani Persada (ATP) and PT Daya Tani Kalbar (DTK) – have continued to cut down natural forests, clear land and dig canals in peatlands in the province, even after the new policy was announced on Feb. 5.
“The activities of the two independent supplier companies of APP are in clear violation of their commitment to APP’s forest conservation policy,” said Baruni Hendri, a spokesman for the coalition, known as the Kalimantan Forest Monitoring Volunteers (RPHK).
The group monitored three APP supplier companies in West Kalimantan earlier this month and found evidence that two companies were continuing to clear forests and open new canals in peatlands, activities that should have been phased out by Jan. 31. Monitors also found heavy equipment operating in the companies’ concession areas and took video and photographs of land clearing and canal digging activities in the concessions.
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