GREENPEACE HAS accused Walmart, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) and other major brands of “driving rainforest destruction and pushing [Sumatran] tigers and orang-utans to extinction” by using everyday paper products from Indonesia.
Its latest report, “How Sinar Mas is Pulping the Planet”, shows how major international companies are driving the destruction of Indonesia’s rainforests and carbon-rich peatlands by sourcing products from Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), part of the Sinar Mas group.
Several leading companies have already responded to Greenpeace evidence of the Sinar Mas conglomerate’s “illegal and destructive environmental practices” in Indonesia and are cancelling their contracts with the Indonesian palm oil and paper giant.
“Carrefour confirmed that it has already stopped buying from APP for its own brands, and Tesco has announced that it will do the same by the end of the year,” Greenpeace said. “In addition, Kraft has confirmed that it is phasing out APP paper and packaging.”
Kimberly-Clark, Nestlé and Unilever are implementing new policies that will also rule out supplies from APP, unless the company makes substantial changes, while Unilever, Kraft and Nestlé have also dropped contracts with the Sinar Mas group’s palm oil division.
Greenpeace’s investigation focused on two important rainforest areas on the Indonesian island of Sumatra – the Bukit Tigapuluh forest landscape, one of the last refuges for endangered Sumatran tigers and orang-utans, and the carbon-rich peatlands of Kerumutan. It found that APP uses the logs from these rainforest areas to feed its Sumatra-based pulp mills, which export paper products worldwide.
“These are just two of many important rainforests being decimated by Sinar Mas,” said Bustar Maitar of Greenpeace Southeast Asia. “Indonesian president Yudhoyono’s new commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation will be undermined unless he extends the moratorium on new deforestation licences to cover all forest and peatlands that are currently slated for destruction.
“Sinar Mas is not only guilty of environmental abuses but is a repeat offender – its ‘sustainability commitments’ are not worth the paper they are written on. Greenpeace is calling on all companies like Walmart and KFC to stop doing business with Sinar Mas immediately.”
The destruction of rainforests and peatlands is the key reason why Indonesia accounts for about one quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions caused by deforestation. Recent estimates show Indonesia ranks as the world’s third-largest greenhouse gas emitter.