Idisa cancels relations with APP

EoF Press Release / 06 June 2007

Greenpeace Press Release

The Spanish market closes its doors to paper made from the destruction of Indonesian forests

(May 21, 2007)-- Idisa Papel, one of the main paper distributors in Spain has cancelled its commercial relations with Asia Pulp & Paper, the worst paper company in the world.

The day before the International Day for Biological Diversity, Greenpeace publicly congratulated Idisa Papel, part of the Portuguese Irapa group, on its decision to cancel its commercial relations with Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), a paper company involved in destroying forests of high environmental value in the province of Riau, on the Island of Sumatra.

Idisa’s rejection of APP has followed similar decisions by other large companies: Metro, Karstadt and Deutsche Post in Germany, Staples and Office Depot in the USA and Ricoh in Japan have all broken their commercial relations with APP in recent years.

Since Greenpeace launched its campaign against the presence of APP products on the Spanish market in November 2006, several companies, small distributors and institutions have rejected copy paper from APP. The Department of Justice of the Andalusian Regional Government, the Law Faculty of Seville University and Fuenlabrada Town Council have refused the paper after being informed of its origins and the environmental and social track record of APP.

Paper distribution companies such as Surpapel and Diacash have stopped selling APP paper and the paper company Torras Papel has decided to suspend its small-scale commercial relationship with them. The fact that a large distributor such as IDISA has cancelled its commercial relations represents a severe blow to APP’s business in Spain.

“Something as everyday as buying paper can become a way of collaborating in the destruction of biological diversity in far-off places” says Miguel Ángel Soto, Head of Greenpeace’s Forests Campaign. “That’s why we must congratulate Idisa for cancelling their commercial relations with one of the worst paper companies on the planet”.

APP produces paper from natural forests in the province of Riau, in the centre-east of the island of Sumatra. It is responsible for 40% of Indonesia’s wood pulp production and causes the loss of 80,000 hectares of natural forest per year in order to maintain its production levels.

The Indonesian forests are home to 10% of all the world’s plants and animals. Orangutans, elephants, rhinoceroses, tigers and thousands of bird and plant species are this country’s contribution to mankind’s natural heritage. The forests, although they are shrinking at an alarming rate, still represent one of the world’s most important areas for biodiversity, in terms of both volume and biological importance and variety.

 

***