World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Indonesia released today “Advisory to Buyers and Investors of Sinar Mas Group / Asia Pulp & Paper (APP)” . It is the latest version of the Advisory that received by EoF News today.

Today, WWF-Indonesia together with Auriga, Forest Peoples Programme, Hutan Kita Institute, Jikalahari, KKI Warsi, Rainforest Action Network, Titian, WALHI Riau, WALHI Jambi, Wetlands International, and Woods& Wayside International published Evaluating the Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance Performance of Sinar Mas Group (SMG) and Royal Golden Eagle (RGE) Companies-Criteria and Indicators for Assessing and Verifying Performance.

EoF News -- Today, WWF-Indonesia together with Auriga, Forest Peoples Programme, Hutan Kita Institute, Jikalahari, KKI Warsi, Rainforest Action Network, Titian, WALHI Riau, WALHI Jambi, Wetlands International, and Woods& Wayside International published Evaluating the Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance Performance of Sinar Mas Group (SMG) and Royal Golden Eagle (RGE) Companies-Criteria and Indicators for Assessing and Verifying Performance.

Hari ini WWF-Indonesia bersama dengan Auriga, Forest Peoples Programme, Hutan Kita Institute, Jikalahari, KKI Warsi, Rainforest Action Network, Titian, Walhi Riau, Walhi Jambi, Wetlands International, dan Woods& Wayside International mengeluarkan “Evaluating the Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance Performance of Sinar Mas Group (SMG) and Royal Golden Eagle (RGE) Companies -Criteria and Indicators for Assessing and Verifying Performance”.

Giant pulp and paper company, Asia Pacific Resources International Ltd (APRIL), prepared a new restoration project to work on the heavily degraded peatlands in Kampar Peninsula, Riau province, Sumatra. Last month Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) banned the company to associate the giant’s products with the certification agency.

As APRIL has been officially banned from using Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) trademark, leading environmental groups WWF, Greenpeace and the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) have called on other forest industry certification schemes to cut ties with the giant deforester.

Greenpeace, the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) and WWF have claimed that the pulp and paper giant Asia Pacific Resources International Limited (APRIL) is dodging an independent enquiry into its deforestation practices in Indonesia by withdrawing from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

PEKANBARU -- SmartWood, an independent forest management certifier, has suspended the interim certification of Asia Paper Resources International Limited (APRIL) pulp products. The paper giant failed to meet the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)’s minimum standard for "controlled wood" certification.

The recent certification of an Asia Pulp & Paper (APP)/Sinar Mas pulp plantation by the Indonesian Ecolabelling Institute (LEI) suggests that the LEI standards need to be strengthened, as APP products are not sustainable, a group of non-governmental organizations in Indonesia warned global paper buyers today.

By Tom Wright and Jim Carlton -- Wall Street Journal, 30 October 2007 --The environmental group that runs a widely recognized labeling system to identify "green" wood and paper products has acknowledged that some companies using its label are destroying pristine forests and says it plans to overhaul its rules.

The Dutch Housing associations have today committed to building 100,000 houses in the next five years using Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified timber from Borneo. These 100,000 houses comprise 25% of the total number of houses to be built in the Netherlands over the next five years.