‘Food estate’ projects eating up Indonesia’s forests: cascading threats on global environment and communities unveiled

by Sergio Baffoni | Mar 4, 2021 | Media Release, Pulp Finance, Responsible Virgin Fibre

Indonesia’s government recently announced plans for several new ‘food estate’ projects in Central Kalimantan, Papua and North Sumatra Provinces.  Despite their name, these developments are not about securing ‘food’: a new report reveals that, once in place, they would...

Social conflict, abuses and intimidation in the Jambi region, Indonesia – a chronology of pulp industry actions and events

by Sergio Baffoni | Jun 19, 2020 | Pulp Finance, Responsible Virgin Fibre, Social Responsibilty, Transparency and Integrity

Tension is increasing around global paper giant Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) pulpwood concessions in Indonesia. Lately, Indigenous communities have been facing recurrent acts of intimidation, criminalisation and episodes of violence have escalated, contributing to a...

The cost of violence in Indonesia – new data indicate USD 1.2 to 10 billion risk from social conflicts involving pulp and paper suppliers

by Sergio Baffoni | May 4, 2020 | Pulp Finance, Social Responsibilty

When they went to work in their gardens, the residents of Lubuk Mandarsah village in the Indonesian province of Jambi found drones flying over their crops and spraying poison. This is the way the pulp plantation company PT Wirakarya Sakti, a subsidiary of Asia Pulp...

Uruguayan citizens opposing UPM’s new pulp mill appeal to the Finnish government

by Merel van der Mark | Jul 1, 2019 | EPN-International, Pulp Finance, Responsible Virgin Fibre, Social Responsibilty, South America, Transparency and Integrity, Uncategorized

In Uruguay, the citizen opposition to a new pulp mill planned by the Finnish paper giant UPM continues to grow. Last Friday, a citizen movement calling itself as the “national coordination of social organisations against UPM”, representing more than 40...

UPM’s Paso de los Toros mill poses financial and reputational risks

by Merel van der Mark | Jun 18, 2019 | EPN-International, Pulp Finance, Responsible Virgin Fibre, Social Responsibilty, South America, Transparency and Integrity

In Uruguay, protests are rising against the installation of UPM’s planned new pulp mill project in Paso de los Toros. There has been strong social criticism on the conditions of the contract that the government signed with UPM, on the expected impacts of the pulp mill...

Green bonds used to finance damaging industrial tree plantations

by Merel van der Mark | May 14, 2019 | EPN-International, Pulp Finance, South America, Transparency and Integrity

Green Bonds are used to finance business-as-usual tree plantations and operations of the paper & pulp industry and claiming exaggerated CO2 savings, a new briefing by the Environmental Paper Network (EPN) shows. The briefing presents a case study of a Green Bond...