by Bustar Maitar, Greenpeace Indonesia

APP: “Zero tolerance for illegal wood.” – @AsiaPulpPaper

These are the five words that say a lot but apparently mean little to a company that has made a mantra out of repeating something which is simply not true.  And today, we’ve released proof that what APP says is wrong – the results of a yearlong investigation uncovering how APP is systematically violating Indonesia’s laws which protect ramin, an internationally protected tree species under CITES.

Ramin trees come from Indonesia’s peat swamp forests which are also home to the endangered Sumatran tiger. Our latest mapping analysis shows that since 2001, at least 180,000 hectares of peat swamp forest – an area twice the size of New York City have been cleared in concessions now controlled by APP.  Is it any wonder there are only 400 Sumatran tigers left in the wild?

Numerous visits were made to APP’s largest pulp mill in Indonesia over the course of last year. Hidden among other rainforest species waiting to be pulped were numerous illegal ramin logs. To prove these trees were ramin, samples were taken and sent to an independent expert lab in Germany. The lab confirmed that all of these samples were indeed ramin.

See the full results of the investigation

As well as finding APP in possession of illegal ramin we’ve tracked where APP’s pulp and paper is going and found a trail that leads us back to major global names such as Xerox, National Geographic and Danone. As we did with Barbie’s packaging last year we sent their products for forensic testing and found they contained rainforest fiber.

Not only is APP undermining the rule of law in Indonesia it is also implicating some of its biggest customers in this rainforest scandal. The likes of Xerox and Danone must now follow in the footsteps of other major names like Mattel, Nestle and Adidas who have already suspended all purchases from APP.

Help us persuade these companies to stop supporting APP’s forest destruction.

In Jakarta, Greenpeace Indonesia will be handing the video footage to the Police and is urging the Ministry of Forestry and CITES authorities to immediately seize all illegal ramin in APP’s operations and work together to end the trade in ramin from Indonesia’s peat swamp forests.

Please help us persuade Xerox, Danone and many more companies to stop buying from APP until the company cleans up its act. Join us in taking action now.

Update March 1: Good news: National Geographic has notified us that they will no longer use any APP paper. We’ve discussed with them our research, including evidence linking them to APP and Mixed Tropical Hardwood fiber in the past. We have more to do together, but we are convinced that their commitment to no longer use APP paper is genuine.