Features Environment & Sustainability
Greenpeace, WWF cut ties with top Indonesian pulp and paper company

Dec. 19, 2016 – The Associated Press is reporting that Greenpeace and WWF have suspended their relationship with Asia Pacific Resources International (APRIL), a top Indonesian pulp and paper company, saying it didn’t live up to promises to improve its environmental record.

The two groups said they recently withdrew from an advisory committee APRIL set up to help meet conservation goals, because APRIL “dug an extensive canal to drain peatland on an island off Sumatra, in violation of government policy and its own commitments, and provided misleading information about that, among other reasons.”

“Draining of peat swamps to convert them to palm oil and pulp wood plantations is a big contributor to destruction of tropical forests in Indonesia and to the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. Draining the swamps worsens annual dry season fires that take a toll on human health and also release huge amounts of carbon stored in the peat.

A Greenpeace statement released Dec. 8 said the advisory committee was ‘repeatedly and consistently misled’ by April and there was no point in continuing the relationship with the company,” reported the Associated Press.

— With files from the Associated Press