Asia Pulp & Paper denies ‘greenwash’ accusations

This follows a new report from NGO coalition Eyes on the Forest (EOF) entitled ‘The truth behind APP’s greenwash’ which claims to prove that the company is encroaching upon the land it set aside for the Senepsis Tiger Sanctuary.

WWF Indonesia’s pulp and paper co-ordinator Aditya Bayunanda said that APP “really needs to come clean on its incredible shrinking tiger sanctuary. In its media campaigns APP seeks major credit for its minor contribution of about 8000 ha to the 106,000 ha tiger sanctuary.”

AAP has subsequently called for WWF to distance itself from the report, which the company says contains ‘clearly false' allegations.

Asia Pulp & Paper Managing Director Aida Greenbury said: “The serious allegations made by EOF about the Senepis Tiger Sanctuary are wrong in every important regard. The government map which we have released clearly shows that EOF’s pictures are from a legal pulpwood concession operated by one of our suppliers and not from inside the sanctuary. We have also published pictures of the real Senepis Tiger sanctuary which show that it has been preserved as dense, natural forest.”

Greenbury said, “We now call on WWF, an NGO with a good international reputation, to distance itself from this poorly researched and inaccurate report which does not help anyone who really cares about preserving the natural environment and wildlife of Sumatra.”

She added that that forestry development in Indonesia involves a complex mixture of social and environmental issues, including illegal encroachments, which threaten both the integrity of the conservation forest and the sustainability of the plantation areas.

Hariansyah Usman of Walhi Riau, part of the Eyes on the Forest coalition that conducted the investigation, said that the real story of APP’s tiger conservation impact in this area is “not that they contributed only around 8000 ha of their own concessions to the sanctuary and are now clearing that anyway, but that overall they have been responsible for the loss of around 49,000 hectares of the Senepis tiger landscape. Meanwhile, they are running this massive greenwash advertising campaign through the world media and via various front groups to portray themselves as champions of tiger conservation.”

APP's PR activitieds include website RainforestRealities. The report claims that APP has recruited a wide variety of parties to promote its green credentials including, Cohn & Wolfe, Environmental Resource Management, Alan Oxley, ITS Global, Mazars, Carbon Conservation, Patrick Moore’s Greenspirit Strategies and Allyn Media.