The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has called on U.S. retail customers of Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) to demand that the company stop unsustainable logging operations. APP, which is one of the largest paper companies in the world, and its affiliates in Indonesia are clearcutting one of the world's most biodiverse and threatened forests, WWF warns.
The timber giant produces copier paper, student notebooks and other paper products sold in some of the world's largest retail stores.
Some of that paper comes from APP's clearcutting of Sumatran rainforest, among the most species rich forest in the world and vital habitat for Sumatran elephants and tigers.
The Indonesian government recognized the importance of the forest this month by pledging to make part of it, known as Tesso Nilo, a national park.
But a six month negotiation between WWF and Asia Pulp and Paper ended last week without an agreement on a sustainability action plan to provide added forest protection. Some of Asia Pulp and Paper's U.S. retail customers, including Office Depot and Staples, have supported WWF's negotiations with the paper supplier.
"The ongoing harvesting of Sumatra's rare and vulnerable natural forests and the resulting negative effects on endangered species are inconsistent with our corporate values and environmental policies," Office Depot Director of Environmental Affairs Tyler Elm said. "We communicated our concerns directly to APP; specifically, that as of January 19, 2004, Office Depot would no longer source product from APP until there was tangible evidence of a sustainable source."
In August 2003, Asia Pulp and Paper and its parent company, the Sinar Mas Group, signed a letter of intent agreeing to prepare an action plan for the next 12 years on the sustainability of APP's wood supplies and the conservation of forests of high social and environmental significance. The companies own large logging concessions in the forests of central Sumatra, which has one of the highest rates of forest loss in the world.
WWF said some progress had been made but the company's proposed plan failed to consider the crucial role of forests in watershed protection and climate regulation and as habitat for key species.
"APP has failed to produce the kind of plan that the international community should expect from a responsible company," said Tom Dillon, director of WWF's Species Conservation Program. "We are asking retail customers who buy from APP to consider how their purchasing affects the forest and the endangered Sumatran elephants and tigers that live there."