Asia Pulp and Paper Group (APP) commissioned a study which aims to show that the company’s raw material for pulp production is sourced exclusively from plantations.
Several NGO’s have made repeated allegations that APP is illegally clearing tropical rainforests, especially in view of its new mega-project on Sumatra Island, which is expected to produce 2 million t of pulp starting from 2016.
According to APP, the study shows that APP has sufficient plantation resource to meet the pulp requirements of its existing mills as well as its future mill in OKI, South Sumatra.
Scott Poynton, Executive Director of The Forest Trust, one of the companies that carried out the study, said as quoted by APP: “We are pleased to be able to reassure everyone that APP and its suppliers have sufficient resource for the company’s 100 per cent plantation target. We have identified one minor gap in 2020 but this can be easily filled by increasing the productivity of the plantation operations between now and then.”
