Ensure Social Responsibility
- Recognise, respect and protect human rights, and comply with and proactively develop fundamental employment and social standards and relevant international agreements for the protection of human rights.
- Ensure free, prior and informed consent of local peoples and communities in the areas from which raw materials originate and where production takes place.
- Recognise, respect and protect indigenous peoples’ and local communities’ legal and customary rights to control their traditional lands and protect their cultural identity.
- Recognise, respect and protect local communities’ rights to a healthy environment, and rights to participation as a primary stakeholder in land-use planning.
- Recognise, respect and protect workers’, including subcontractors’ workers’, rights to beneficial employment and a safe working environment.
- Promote community-ownership, worker-ownership and the development of paper manufacturing facilities that are scaled appropriately for local communities, and a diversity of small- and medium-sized enterprises in the paper sector.
- Respect and support local economies on the basis of a long-term social and environmental
Relevant Resources
News and Resources related to Social Responsibility
Thousands march again in Montevideo against UPM pulp mill
Last Friday, thousands gathered in Montevideo to participate in another march opposing UPM 2, the Paso de los Toros pulp mill plan in Uruguay. The march was organized by the National Coordination against UPM, which gathers over 60 organizations. "The contract that has...
Reclaiming A’se’k: Boat Harbour and the Next Generation
On the shoreline of the Northumberland Strait in Nova Scotia, in the 1960's, an important area for culture and sustenance known as A'se'k to the Mi’kmaq, was stolen to construct an effluent treatment facility for a pulp mill. They were told it would be safe. It was a...
Mapuche communities face water stress caused by the forestry industry in Chile
(Photo: Planta de Celulosa Arauco en Mariquina | INDH) A field observation mission by the Chilean National Institute of Human Rights (INDH) revealed that Mapuche communities in the Mariquina commune, in the Los Ríos Region, face water shortages and pollution caused by...
All Uruguayan political parties at debate question contract between government and UPM
During a roundtable debate with environmental experts from political parties that are participating in the upcoming national elections in Uruguay, all participants expressed their concerns regarding the contract signed between the Government and UPM, the multinational...
Uruguayan citizens opposing UPM’s new pulp mill appeal to the Finnish government
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 organisations...
UPM’s Paso de los Toros mill poses financial and reputational risks
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...
Chilean pulp mill’s major expansion could fuel conflicts
In Chile, Arauco, the country’s second largest pulp producer, has started building a new 1.56 million tonnes/year pulp line at its Horcones mill, in the Biobío region. This project, called MAPA, is problematic as it is likely to fuel land conflicts, especially with...
Asia Pulp and Paper is planning a massive expansion of production in India. Where will the timber come from?
The growing demand for paper products in India has attracted the attention of the major Indonesian paper company, Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) which is now planning to build new pulp & paper mill with the capacity of 5 million tons per year in Andhra Pradesh,...
Asia Pulp and Paper admits links to controversial suppliers, but still fails to be transparent
A coalition of Indonesian and international NGOs released a report today bringing to light that Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) has acknowledged links to controversial suppliers but continues to fail to be transparent. The Indonesian paper giant recently released a document...
Uruguayan and Finnish organisations issue statement against UPM’s plans for new pulp mill in Uruguay
Uruguayan and Finnish social and environmental organisations released a joint statement last week stating their opposition to the plans of the Finnish pulp and paper company UPM to build a new pulp mill in Uruguay (UPM also has an existing mill in Fray Bentos). This...
More than 50 NGOs call for justice for Rosane Santiago Silveira
The Environmental Paper Network and its members are extremely concerned by the torture and murder of Rosane Santiago Silveira, a mother and environmental and human rights activist who was killed in Brazil on January 29, 2019, and send our deepest condolences to her...
The hidden land conflicts of Suzano – the world’s largest pulp producer
In the northeast of Brazil, where the Amazon transitions to the Catinga biome through a small strip of Cerrado, lies almost 60% of the land that Brazilian paper producer Suzano uses to source timber. This is one of Brazil’s poorest and least developed...
