Timber, Pulp and Paper

Driven by growing global demand, the pulp and paper sector is undergoing rapid expansion. Clearing forests and replacing them with plantations of Eucalyptus and Acacia, the  industry has taken over millions of hectares of indigenous peoples’ and forest peoples’ lands, causing severe social and environmental problems. The timber industry throughout the tropics continues to have similar impacts on indigenous peoples and forest peoples, damaging and degrading community forests, and undermining the resource base needed to sustain their cultures and survival. 

Why is it relevant to indigenous peoples and forest peoples?

Despite industry standards designed to reassure buyers that certified timber and paper products are not contributing to rights abuses or environmental degradation, many standards are often weak on indigenous peoples’ rights or poorly implemented. Pulpwood plantations and logging operations routinely take over customary lands without the free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) of the community rightsholders. The absence of secure land rights makes it difficult for communities to oppose such developments. In addition to the damage to their homes, forests, and livelihoods, communities are frequently subjected to violence and displacement, forcing them off their ancestral homes.   

FPP works with local partners to assist communities impacted by the pulpwood and timber industries so that they can assert their rights to their territories, livelihoods and cultures, and force companies to respect their right to give or withhold their FPIC to industrial developments.