Indonesian civil society groups have called on their government to reform its legal timber certification system, pointing to widespread illegal practices among certified companies and an auditing system that is “almost impossible” for companies to fail. The Anti Forest-Mafia Coalition, a group of Indonesian NGOs, has published a 63-page assessment of SVLK which finds that SVLK-certified companies had illegally cleared natural forests inside the habitats of protected species, in deep peat areas, and in forests zoned for conservation, and had intentionally started fires in some cases while in others their certificates were linked to officials sentenced for corrupt practices in issuing licences. The report also criticises SVLK’s failure to address human rights concerns such as land tenure issues and the fact that certified mills are not required to source timber exclusively from SVLK-certified timber concessions.

Indonesia’s VPA was backed by the European parliament on 27th February. This Voluntary Partnership Agreement acknowledges that Indonesian timber and wood products are being certified through the domestic timber legality verification system (SVLK) as legally harvested and processed, thereby complying with the EUTR. Analysts have suggested that this access to the European market will increase exports from Indonesia to the EU by 5 – 10% this year.

New logging roads are helping to spread the Spiked pepper tree (Piper aduncum), native to the American tropics, to areas further afield. It was first introduced to Indonesia in 1952, and at first its spread in Borneo was slow. However new observations have shown these trees are advancing along logging routes at a minimum rate of 5km each year. At this pace, the pepper trees threaten one of Borneo’s richest areas of flora.

The stationary giant Staples is the first company to have rekindled its relationship with Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) just over a year after APP announced the implementation of its forest conservation policy (FCP). Staples has agreed to sell two paper products manufactured by APP and produced at APP’s Indah Kiat Pulp & Paper mill in Indonesia. The move from Staples has been met with criticism from some eNGO’s who have accused it of “jumping the gun.” Campaigners from the Rainforest Action Network staged a demonstration outside a branch of Staples.

The environmental organization says the 60-foot banners on P&G's two towers were in protest of the consumer products company's use of palm oil from a supplier that Greenpeace says is linked to tropical forest destruction in Indonesia.

Activists with Rainforest Action Network (RAN) staged a protest today at a Staples store in El Cerrito, Ca to communicate their objection to the office supply giant’s recent decision to resume purchasing paper from Indonesia’s highly controversial company Asia Pulp and Paper (APP).
“Given APP’s track record of broken commitments and the fact that APP has yet to finish environmental studies, put forest conservation plans in place or get independent verification that they are actually working, Staples is jumping the gun by renewing business with APP.” said Lafcadio Cortesi, Asia director at Rainforest Action Network.

Greenpeace has reported that Asia Pacific Resources International Limited (APRIL) faces expulsion from the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) if it fails to stop clearing rainforests and peatlands on the island of Sumatra. APRIL has twelve months to comply or face expulsion from the WBCSD. APRIL is one of the largest deforesters in Sumatra, with 60% of its wood coming from natural forests. Campaigns against APRIL have been stepped up a notch since its biggest competitor – Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) – signed a comprehensive forest conservation policy last February.

GPS technology is being used to help define ancestral land boundaries by indigenous people in Indonesia. As land rights are intrinsically linked to sustainability, the recognition of indigenous peoples’ rights will help to slow deforestation, whilst also securing community livelihoods and reducing land conflicts.

A team of researchers from 15 universities — led by the University of Maryland and assisted by Google and NASA — has created the first high-resolution global map on Google Earth that maps forest cover. In a study that was published in the journal Science on Thursday, the researchers reported a global loss of 2.3 million square kilometers of forest between 2000 and 2012 and a gain of 800,000 square kilometers of new forest, the highest rate of deforestation of any country.

The Indonesian language version of the report from Human Rights Watch called “The Dark Side of Green Growth: Human Rights Impacts of Weak Governance in Indonesia’s Forestry Sector” was released today. The report says that the new FLEGT VPA between the EU and Indonesia does not address whether harvesting of the timber has violated local community rights and it does not address corruption in the issuance of timber cutting licences. The NGO is concerned that the problems related to local community rights are likely to worsen rather than improve as the government’s “green development” plan aggressively expands plantations of pulp trees for paper and oil palm for biofuel.

New checks on Indonesian timber are being introduced by the EU to curb illegal logging. The EU is Indonesia’s biggest export market for timber, with Germany, the UK, France and Italy among the major importers.
From now on, only Indonesian timber compliant with the EU’s verification system, called Forest Law Enforcement Governance (FLEGT) will be imported into the EU. The European Commission says the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) with Indonesia commits both sides to only trade in verified legal timber products.

Indonesia’s second largest pulp and paper company is preparing to start work on a project to restore a degraded peat forest in Sumatra, marking a new direction for the company that has left some skeptical. April has been widely criticized by environmental groups such as Greenpeace, who accuse the paper giant of cutting down natural forests in Sumatra to feed its paper mills. When the company announced its Kampar Peninsula project, local environmental groups such as the Forest Rescue Network Riau (Jikalahari) called the project “greenwashing” and said the company was continuing to destroy forests in other parts of the province.

A new decree signed by the Indonesian president to create a national agency aimed at combating greenhouse gas emissions signals progress in the country’s efforts to tackle global warming, said a scientist with the Center for International Research.
The REDD+ (Reducing Emissions through Deforestation and Forest Degradation) agency, which will report directly to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, fulfills one among several criteria detailed in a climate change partnership agreed in 2010 with Norway. Under the terms of the agreement outlined in a letter of intent, the two countries opened the door to developing policy on REDD+, a U.N.-backed framework for reducing emissions caused by deforestation and forest degradation.

The actor Harrison Ford, who has been filming a documentary called ‘Years of Living Dangerously’ in Indonesia, has been threatened with deportation after confronting the forestry minister in an interview. The actor asked the minister why deforestation was occurring in protected areas after he had witnessed illegal logging taking place in Sumatra. The documentary will air on the US television network Showtime in April 2014.

APP has announced two breaches of its forest moratorium on natural forest clearance. The first small-scale clearance for a pre-planned community project had already been reported. The second case appears to be an outright breach of the policy in Sumatra by three companies which cleared 69 hectares of high carbon stock forest in a "No Go" zone. APP called the violation "unacceptable" and says it will improve sign-off procedures to address the breach.

Jakarta, 3 September 2013 - The palm oil sector was the single largest driver of deforestation in Indonesia between 2009-2011, accounting for about a quarter of the country’s forest loss, revealed Greenpeace International in new mapping analysis published today. The analysis shows that significant deforestation took place in concessions currently owned by members of the palm oil industry’s largest sustainability organisation, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, including companies such as Singapore-based Wilmar International. More damning is the revelation that RSPO concessions accounted for 39% of the fire hotspots on palm oil concessions in Riau during January-June 2013.

"The RSPO wants its members to be industry leaders in sustainability, but its current standards leave them free to destroy forests and drain peatland. Year after year, Indonesia's forest fires and haze wreak havoc on the region, and the palm oil sector is a main culprit. While RSPO members might have no-fire policies, the peatland they have cleared and drained is like a tinderbox – one spark is all it takes," said Bustar Maitar, head of Greenpeace International’s Indonesia Forest Campaign.

The Indonesian Forestry Ministry claims that Indonesian forestry companies are yet to benefit from FSC certificates, particularly when compared to their involvement with the country’s own mandatory legality certification, SVLK. The ministry’s secretary general said FSC certification had not affected product prices, and advised companies that it wasn’t necessary to acquire FSC certification. The Government is obviously keen to promote its own national scheme and made these comments following FSC’s decision to revoke all certificates held by pulp & paper group, APRIL. The company has since decided to focus on legality through the SVLK scheme.

The Indonesian Forest Ministry has defended the new Law on Preventing and Eradicating Forest Destruction which passed early in July. Critics point out that the new law does not mention forest fires, cuts the prescribed punishments for certain forestry crimes, and excludes mention of the protection of indigenous groups with ancestral claims and the regulation of forest boundaries. In response, proponents of the law say that it will target large-scale operators and bureaucrats who fail to uphold the law, in addition to introducing harsher deterrence methods and allowing for better coordination between law enforcement agencies.

Following an investigation into allegations by Indonesian NGO Eyes on the Forest that a forest concession was cleared in breach of APP’s ‘No Deforestation’ policy, the company has announced that it was accidentally in breach of its policy. Eyes on the Forest published evidence in May that 70 hectares belonging to APP subsidiary PT. Riau Indo Agropalma (RIA) had been cleared. APP and The Forest Trust (TFT) – the NGO working with APP to implement its policy – then investigated the matter and have acknowledged that it did constitute a breach of the policy. However, the clearance was following an agreement mandated under Indonesian law to implement a community development programme. APP stated that an alternative arrangement should have been agreed through consultation with the community and that they are now reviewing internal sign-off procedures.

Greenpeace is cautious in response to the announcement by the President of Indonesia that the ban on deforestation in the country will be extended by two years. It claims that almost half of Indonesia’s primary forests and peatlands will have no protection from illegal logging even with the ban in place. The ban is only on the granting of new concessions and does not affect the rights of those who already have concessions to clear trees on that land. Greenpeace is also concerned about the low levels of enforcement by the Indonesian authorities against companies involved in illegal logging.