Conflict of interest claims over Malaysian timber imports

DutchNews.nl, July 15, 2015

Dutch government ministers have accused environmental groups Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund of having a conflict of interest in the approval of imports of Malaysian timber, Trouw reports. 

The government said earlier this week the Netherlands will support the import of Malaysian timber with an MTCS certificate rather than FCS certification, which is backed by the environmental groups. 

Junior environment minister Wilma Mansveld and junior economic affairs minister Sharon Dijksma say in a parliamentary briefing that ‘in concrete terms, several NGOs which were involved in founding the FSC certification system want to promote it’. 

This, the ministers imply, is why Greenpeace and the WWF do not support MTCS certification. 

However, WWF spokesman Jaap van der Waarde told Trouw the accusations of a conflict of interest are ‘incomprehensible’. 

‘The fact that my organisation forms part of the board of another certification system is irrelevant,’ he said. ‘The Malaysian certification system does not do the job.’ 

Economic interests

Malaysian forests are still being cut down and ‘it would appear that if the economic interests are big enough, certification systems do not need to meet Dutch sustainability targets,’ he told the paper. 

Successive Dutch governments have wrestled with the approval of Malaysian timber and both an independent commission and the Dutch courts have ruled there is no question of Malaysian timber being harvested sustainably, Trouw says. 

The ministers argue that the problems have now been solved and that a ‘final check’ will be made to ensure Malaysian timber imported into the Netherlands does come from sustainable sources.

Indonesia Forests Remain a Source of Conflict

Jakarta Globe, May 14, 2012

Illegal loggers cut timber to be sold for construction in a forest in Gresik
 of the Indonesia's East Java province on March 1, 2011. (Reuters Photo
/Sigit Pamungkas)

              

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The world’s largest producer of teak, an Indonesian state-owned company on the island of Java, has again been awarded sustainable forest management (SFM) certification. But the company has a long and sometimes contentious relationship with forest communities in the area, and the forest rights of indigenous communities remain a potential cause of conflict.

“Land rights have long been a source of violence on Java,” Rhett Butler, a leading environmentalist and creator of a leading environmental news website told IRIN. Perhutani, an Indonesian state forestry company, exploits 2.4 million hectares of forests in Java — 7 percent of the island area — with earnings of around US$400 million in 2011.

Although Perhutani agreed in 2011 to the voluntary process that promotes eco-friendly management in order to obtain certification, it controls a huge area of forest once used by indigenous communities, many of whom still depend on the forests for their livelihoods.

The company needs FSC certification to access high-value wood markets in the United States and Europe, said Muhammad Firman, director of the Forest Utilization Department under Indonesia’s Ministry of Forestry.

SFM balances the present use of forests with their preservation for future generations. Certification started in the 1980s and is granted to forest companies by around 60 independent organizations under two main umbrella groups — Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), the world’s largest forest certification system, and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) — with 20 to 30 percent of North American and European forests having certification, and Asia lagging far behind with only 2 to 4 percent.

However, many activists believe SFM certification is geared less toward local communities than toward the environment and facilitating trade between forest companies and Western wood buyers

“When indigenous people have been denied the right to use forests in the traditional way, no ‘inclusion’ programme can fully match their loss. It is not a question of “exclusion” or “inclusion,” said Deddy Raith, from the Jakarta-based NGO, WALHI-Friends of the Earth Indonesia.

“Today, Perhutani still has full responsibility over the forests,” said Ambrosius Ruwindrijarto, president of local NGO, Telapak. “What we want is to mainstream community logging as the new trees-management regime in Indonesia.”

Martua Sirait, a policy analyst in Aceh Province for the Nairobi-based World Agroforestry Center, maintains that the management of forests has ignored the customary land rights of some 40 to 60 million people since the 1960s.

Large-scale illegal loggers were often active in the forests, and local inhabitants were exposed to danger by sometimes becoming involved, or being caught in the crossfire. Between 1998 and 2008 Perhutani’s armed patrols were accused of killing 32 people and injuring 69 in the fight against illegal timber operators, The Forest Trust (TFT),  a Geneva-based international charity, reported.

Perhutani lost its SFM certification in 2002 and required TFT’s assistance to define a course of action to regain it, said Scott Poynton, TFT’s executive director.

The program, “Drop the Guns,” began in 2003, with Perhutani providing a share of timber sales and non-timber forest products to forest communities. In exchange, villagers took on a new role as guardians of the forests. But both parties only laid down all their weapons in 2009, which explained why the deadly fights continued until 2008, Poynton said.

“Peace remains fragile because the underlying cause of unequal forest rights is unresolved. Perhutani can better sell its products, but villagers have received too little,” said Hasbi Berliani, a program manager at the national good governance NGO, Kemitraan, quoting an ongoing evaluation by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, which shows that poverty among indigenous households has yet to be alleviated.

“Villagers have been given $19 million between 2005 and 2010,” said Bambang Sukmananto, chief executive officer of Perhutani, noting that the 2011 SFM certification was recognition of the company’s efforts.

Providing greater forest rights to indigenous people is a growing trend across Asia, aimed not only at safeguarding the livelihoods of villagers but also at improving environmental protection.

IRIN

Related Article:

UN Agency Adopts Global Guidelines Against 'Land Grabbing’

Wild Cat Once Thought Extinct Spotted in Borneo

Jakarta Globe, January 13, 2011

One of the world's rarest wild cats, an elusive creature once thought to be extinct, has been spotted in camera traps in Malaysian Borneo for the first time since 2003, researchers said Thursday.

(Photo source: wildcatconversation.org)

The Bornean Bay Cat, a long-tailed reddish or grey feline the size of a large domesticated cat, was sighted in the northern highlands of Malaysia's Sarawak state, the forest department said Thursday.

Three photographs showing two or three individuals were captured, bringing new hope for the future of the endangered animal about which very little is known, said research officer Wilhelmina Cluny.

"This species is very secretive... it was classified as extinct until a photograph of it was taken in 2003," she told AFP.

"I do feel encouraged, this photograph was taken in a logged forest... when we saw this it made us wonder whether this kind of habitat can sustain wildlife, even for rare and important species like the bay cat."

"We had been looking for any mammals and this bay cat came up, it's quite exciting that we got the photograph."

Cluny said there has been very little research into the bay cat, and there is no indication as to whether its numbers are rising or falling.

The images were captured in 2009 and 2010 but not released until the study was completed. The animals spotted were the grey variety, which are even more rare than the reddish type.

The camera trap was positioned next to the Pulong Tai national park in northern Sarawak, one of the two Malaysian states that make up part of Borneo. The vast island is shared with Indonesia and the small sultanate of Brunei.

The 2003 photographs were taken in the Lanjak Entimau wildlife sanctuary in southern Sarawak.

Other than these handful of images, most other information on the species consists of "historical records, morphological descriptions and anecdotes", according to the Sarawak Forest Department.

Rampant logging in timber-rich Sarawak has removed much of the state's forest cover, threatening the survival of animal and plant species as well as indigenous tribes whose way of life is increasingly in peril.

AFP

Eco-friendly timber firms want incentives

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Hanoi | Fri, 04/25/2008 12:15 PM

Forestry companies producing eco-friendly timber pleaded at the Asia-Pacific forest conference on Thursday for incentives to help with rising operating costs while demand for sustainable wood-related products remains sluggish.

The Hanoi conference is the leading regional meeting on forestry, attended by more than 600 participants including decision makers, governments, firms, foresters and activists.

Indonesian listed timber company PT Sumalindo Lestari Jaya said that operating costs for producing much-promoted sustainable timber were up about 30 percent.

Sumalindo president director Amir Sunarko told the conference, "When we started logging 16 years ago, we made a commitment to adopt sustainable forest management but during that time we never received incentives,"

Sunarko said government should reduce the burden for "eco-producers" by simplifying red tape while importing countries should reduce tariff barriers for sustainable wood products.

Sumalindo, which operates in natural tropical and plantation forest covering 448,986 hectares in East Kalimantan, has been certificated by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) for sustainable forest management of the firm's 267,000 hectares.

He said that since adopting sustainable forestry management, Sumalindo, a member of Singapore-based forestry group Samko Forest Holding, had improved market sales.

Governments in the Asia-Pacific region, which accounts for over half a billion hectares of forest, have long promoted sustainable forest management aimed at slashing poverty, particularly for communities living near forest areas.

Countries importing wood products in the region have adopted policies aimed at restricting illegal logging and promoting sustainable forestry management and eco-timber products.

However, experts said few Asian timber firms were applying for sustainable forest management certificates since local and foreign buyers continued trading in illegal timber products.

Hugh Speechly of the British Department for International Development's (DFID) Forest Governance and Trade Program said sustainable forestry management was not just an environmental goal, but raised social, political and economic issues.

"Sustainable management of forests in Asia is not just the responsibility of Asian countries but also of developed countries whose seemingly insatiable demand for timber products often drives illegal logging," he said.

"This demand impacts heavily on economies of developing countries and livelihoods of rural communities," Speechly said.

He said timber-producing nations lose more than US$15 billion a year from uncollected royalties due to illegal logging.

"Trade in illegally procured timbers is estimated to depress world prices by up to 16 percent, making it difficult for legal operators to compete," he said.

"The UK's Forest Governance and Trade Program is confronting this problem by harnessing market leverage in timber consuming countries to encourage governance reform in producing countries."

The Danish-owned timber company Dalhoff Larsen & Horneman (DHL) operating in Vietnam said that support for domestic demand for sustainable forest products was also important in promoting eco-friendly products.

Few forestry firms seek certification

The Jakarta Post, Pelalawan, Riau

Forestry companies are generally still reluctant to adopt sustainable management practices because most do not see the benefits for their businesses.

According to the Indonesian Ecolabeling Institute (LEI), which introduced a sustainable forestry management scheme to Indonesia in 1998, just 12 of hundreds of forestry-related companies in the country have adopted sustainable forest management practices and earned certification.

Manager of the institute, Gladi Haryanto, said recently most forestry companies felt there was little benefit to obtaining sustainable forest management certification, which is known as ecolabeling.

"Many companies have applied for the certification but when they failed to meet the requirements they withdrew because they can't see its benefit," Gladi said in Riau recently.

He said the sustainable management scheme was introduced to promote cooperation, mutual understanding and partnership among the various stakeholders in the industry, and to give forestry companies increased access to the international market.

In some developed countries especially in Europe, timber products with no ecolabelling or green certificate are prohibited.

But Indonesian forestry companies, which sell most of their products to South Korea and Japan, see no urgency in adopting the scheme.

Gladi said companies with ecolabeling certification benefited because they could export their goods to countries that set high standards for forestry products.

"Most developed countries prefer to have goods that are produced in a sustainable manner, so LEI certification helps them get trust. Several big buyers in Europe have accepted products with LEI certification," he said.

LEI, a constituent-based organization established in 1998, consists of panels representing NGOs, indigenous people, academics and business associations. Besides promoting certification systems for forestry, marine and agricultural products, LEI also takes a role in conflict resolution and policy advocacy.

He said LEI had two schemes of certification -- under third party assessment and under recognition over claim -- to asses the sustainability of forestry entities.

"Under the first scheme, selected assessors represent the certification body in conducting assessments, and under the second, a guarantor body represents the forestry managing community in conducting an assessment," Gladi said.

He said that although certification followed two different schemes, the overall process consisted of field pre-assessments, field assessments, gathering public input, performance evaluation, decision making and certification.

He said LEI certification, valid for five years, had three levels: gold, silver and bronze. He said a company that obtained bronze certification would be evaluated five times in a five-year period, silver two or three times and gold just once.

"Bronze companies can achieve a higher certification level if the evaluation result is good. On the other hand, if the result is bad, LEI can suspend the certification," Gladi said.

Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper (RAPP), which has bronze certification, says it is improving the sustainable management of its 159,500 hectare concession forest to upgrade its current certification.

President director of RAPP Rudi Fajar said the company hoped to raise its certification level from bronze to silver within two years to give it greater access in the international market.

Environment manager of RAPP Eliezer P Lorenzo said LEI certification was more difficult to process than certification from the Germany-based international organization Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), because the whole process had to be restarted if an applicant failed to meet any of the requirements needed to obtain certification.

Rudi said with LEI certification, orders for the company's paper products from overseas buyers had gone up because the buyers were sure the raw materials used in production were obtained from sustainable management practices.

"We will have a road show to disseminate this achievement because we want to make LEI certification a market strength," Rudi said. (tic)

Ecolabel certified timber products the only way forward

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Indonesian Ecolabelling Institute (LEI) said it was working toward better managing the increased demand for ecolabel-certified timber products from Indonesia.

Indonesia's furniture and handicraft group (Asmindo) and furniture maker PT Setyamitra agreed on the weekend via a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to work together with LEI.

By signing the MOU, all groups have committed to preserve the environment, market products made from certified forests and to improve the quality of timber products using available new technologies.

LEI said it would ensure Setyamitra would supply high-quality seedlings for reforestation programs and would use modern wood-turning technologies.

"The MOU shows our commitment to boosting the growth of certified community forests," LEI executive director Taufiq Alimi said in a press statement.

"We are confident this cooperation and a certification program on community forests will mean we are able to protect community forests, improve the community's welfare and improve our furniture exports," Taufiq said.

LEI had also helped find enterprises in Wonogiri, Central Java, to partner Setyamitra in its new focus on ecolabel-certified, export-quality products, he said.

The furniture company said it would open a marketing office in Yogyakarta and a furniture outlet in Kemang, South Jakarta.

Asmindo chairman Ambar Tjahjono said his association had been interested in Setyamitra's green program because it was committed to use timber from well-managed industrial forests.

"We want all furniture companies and those using forest products as raw materials to follow Setyamitra's example in preserving the environment and rejecting the use of illegal logging," he said.

Alimi said Indonesia's forested areas had declined to 90 million hectares.

He said only 1.1 million hectares were managed in accordance with the sustainable development program.

"We expect to certify community forests along the southern part of Java," he said.

"And we are pushing certification for customary forests in Sui Utik village, Kapuas Hulu in West Kalimantan.

"There are some major forestry firms currently in the process of certification.

"Hopefully, some 3 million hectares of forest will get LEI certification by 2009", he said.

LEI's communication manager Indra Setia said the growing demand for ecolabel-certified wood products had had a profound impact on the furniture sector, including buyers, agents and industry associations.

"Most are asking LEI how and where to get ecolabel-certified timber to meet their clients' demands," Indra said.

"We usually refer them to companies that have received ecolabel certification from LEI, particularly community forests in the southern part of Central Java."

Wonogiri regency in Central Java and Gunung Kidul regency in Yogyakarta have 5,200 hectares of community forest areas that are ecolabel certified.

The forests have an annual production of 90 cubic meters of wood.

Only six out of 60 timber firms eco-friendly, says global certifier

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Of the more than 60 forestry concessionaires operating in Indonesia, only six produce eco-friendly timber products based on sustainable forestry practices, an international green-forestry certifier says.

SmartWood, a non-profit organization established by the Rainforest Alliance that promotes green-forestry certification, said that the low number of companies securing eco-friendly certificates was due to a lack of public awareness about the need for forest protection.

"It is now up to the public to force forest companies to promote environmentally sustainable practices in their operations by purchasing only certified timber and timber products," Aisyah Erawati Sileuw, SmartWood's forest management coordinator for the Asia Pacific region, said Tuesday.

Toronto, Canada-based SmartWood offers the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certificate, the only international green-forestry accreditation available to date

However, there is no obligation on forestry firms to obtain such a certificate.

Products crafted from certified wood include furniture, plywood, moldings, flooring and window frames.

The Rainforest Alliance has so far certified more than 1,400 companies holding concessions extending to more than 31 million hectares worldwide.

The six Indonesian forest concessionaires that have received certification account for only 847,750 hectares out of a total concession area of 600 million hectares.

Certification involves compliance with 10 principles, including enhancing the social and economic benefits for local communities, and conserving forest diversity.

Aisyah said that certification enabled consumers to chose products that were manufactured in accordance with strict environmental guidelines.

However, as there was no demand for certified timber products from local buyers, the six companies exported all of their certified products to such markets as the United States and the European nations.

Indonesia is a key exporter of timber, paper and palm oil to China, Japan, South Korea and a number of European nations.

Aisyah said that greater public awareness about certified wood products would help reduce the rate of forest destruction here.

"Indonesia loses an area of forest equal to six soccer fields every minute. At the present time, 72 percent of our forests is heavily damaged," she said.

Indonesia has long been under pressure to stop rampant illegal logging and forest fires so as to save the country's forests and help contain global warming.

Forest fires have made the country the world's third largest greenhouse gas emitting country after the United States and China.

Illegal logging suspect walks free in Padang

Syofiardi Bachyul Jb, The Jakarta Post, Padang

The Padang District Court freed an illegal logging suspect Wednesday after finding the prosecutor's charges groundless.

Presiding judge Betty Aritonang acquitted Thedy Anthony, a suspect in an illegal logging case on Sipora Island, Mentawai Islands, of all charges.

Thedy, director of PT Andalas Terang Nusantara, was put on trial in 2005, when the Padang Prosecutor's Office accused him of felling trees in a state-owned forest.

The prosecutor demanded he serve six years in jail for causing a Rp 7.3 billion (US$793,478) loss to the state.

Some 13,000 cubic meters of timber, claimed as belonging to the company, was seized by police while being shipped out of Mentawai.

However, the panel of judges found the indictment groundless. The court said it was not proven that the timber came from state-owned land and there was no evidence or witnesses to support the charges.

The company obtained official letters from the West Sumatra Forestry Office, Betty said.

She said it was not proven that Thedy had violated the Corruption Law or the Forestry Law.

Prosecutor Jopi Novelis from the Padang Prosecutor's Office said he was unsure if an appeal would be filed.

Last year, two forestry officials from Mentawai Islands were found guilty by the Padang District Court on similar charges. Each was given a two-year jail sentence. However, the verdict was overturned by higher court and they were released.

Vinno Oktavia, coordinator of Anti-Illegal Logging Community, a non-government organization in West Sumatra, said he was not surprised by Wednesday's verdict.

"Since the beginning of the investigation it has moved at a snail's pace. The case was taken to court in 2005 but the verdict was only made Wednesday. During the trial, prosecutors were unable to present sound witnesses," he said.

Between 2006-2007, seven illegal logging cases were dismissed in West Sumatra.

"It is a terrible outcome and shows the failure of legal enforcement on illegal logging cases in West Sumatra. It's about time for experts to evaluate these verdicts more thoroughly," Vinno said.

Indonesia to import wood to revive collapsed industries

Banjarmasin, S Kalimantan (ANTARA News) - Indonesia plans to import wood to save wood-based industries in various regions in the country that had collapsed because of a shortage of raw materials.

Forestry minister`s expert staff Made Subadya said at a forestry development coordination meeting here on Tuesday, "we are ready to facilitate wood imports to help the industries."

He said several countries that had a stock and had become exporters were among others China, Malaysia and Japan.

The wood from other countries could be used to meet the need for raw material of many wood industries in the country that had collapsed following a shortage of wood stock in forests.

The forestry s ministry had also carried out a smallholders` forest development program covering five million hectares in 2006.

Unfortunately, he said, only 3.5 million hectares had so far been successfully developed, so 1.5 million hectares still had yet to be completed.

The condition of wood-based industries in South Kalimantan was not yet improving and disputes over pay were continuing because of it.

Big business courts the green queen

Companies that used to shun the nonprofit Rainforest Alliance are now actively soliciting its approval.

CNNMoney.com

Matthew Boyle, Fortune writer

April 19 2007: 10:16 AM EDT

NEW YORK (Fortune) -- Twenty years ago, Corporate America and environmentalists squared off regularly and acrimoniously across the globe. Today, large companies can't stop talking about their green initiatives, and groups like Rainforest Alliance (RA) deserve a slice of the credit.

Fortune 500: See the full list

Founded in 1987, the New York-based non-profit is one of the world's largest sustainability certifiers, and has helped Fortune 500 companies like Kraft, McDonald's, Whole Foods, and Goldman Sachs view sustainability in a new light. Annual sales of Rainforest Alliance-certified bananas, coffee, and cocoa just passed $1 billion dollars, and RA is the world's leading certifier of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) forestlands, which are managed under strict environmental and labor standards. Executive director Tensie Whelan recently sat down with Fortune's Matthew Boyle to talk about how far her organization has come, and what still needs to be done.

The Rainforest Alliance turns 20 years old this year. How have your focus and methods evolved over the past two decades?

We spent the first couple years figuring out how to address this issue of tropical deforestation that everyone was worried about, but no one was doing anything about. We started by saying, we don't want to do boycotts. People are cutting down forests for economic reasons, not because they are bad people. So how do we reengineer the system to address that? How do we use the market to simulate conservation and change? Now a lot of people talk that way, but back then nobody did.

Read More ....