Papel y pulpa

The pulp and paper industry is growing all over Indonesia. The Toba Pulp Lestari (TPL) company, is expanding its eucalyptus plantations on the lands of the indigenous communities of Pandumaan-Sipituhuta in North Sumatra.

The communities have lived and worked on their lands for 13 generations. They are peacefully resisting to defend their forests and their livelihoods. But their defence of their lands comes at a heavy cost as they are criminalised.

Please stand together with this community at the front-line of the global land grab that is putting profit ahead of rights.

Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) is coming under intensifying scrutiny over its renewed promises to bring its giant mills and supply chains into compliance with best practice norms for sustainability and its new promises that it will respect the rights of local communities and indigenous peoples. Recently, Marcus Colchester, as Co-Chair of the High Conservation Values Resource Network and Director of FPP, and Patrick Anderson, FPP's Policy Advisor in Indonesia, met with APP's Head of Sustainability, Aida Greenbury, and her team of advisers and consultants, to clarify the company's commitments.

Click here to read the Down To Earth Newsletter in English or in Bahasa Indonesia which includes articles on The Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate (MIFEE).

From the introduction...

Strong communities for a sustainable future

Por:Rini Ramadhanti

A mediados de 2009 empecé a visitar el pueblo de Teluk Meranti con regularidad para reunirme con las mujeres y hablar de sus actuales condiciones de vida y de las cuestiones que les preocupaban. Teluk Meranti es un pueblo de unos mil habitantes situado junto a la península de Kampar, cubierta de bosques pantanosos ricos en turberas, en la provincia de Riau de la isla de Sumatra, Indonesia.

Durante mi primera visita hablamos de su temor a perder sus tierras agrícolas y sus bosques, y de su deseo de desarrollar sus jardines y sus pequeños negocios. A las mujeres les preocupaba un plan del Gobierno y la empresa de papel y pasta de papel APRIL de crear una plantación de madera para pasta que cubriría 56 000 hectáreas y ocuparía un bosque que su comunidad había manejado durante generaciones.