Community voices challenge FSC Remedy failures in Indonesia

In June 2024, FPP-led field investigations in North Sumatra, Riau and East Kalimantan, Indonesia, led to our filing a formal complaint challenging the integrity of FSC’s Remedy process and calling for reform.

Under the FSC Remedy framework, companies seeking to re-gain FSC certification must address social and environmental harms caused by their plantations between 1994 and 2020—potentially benefiting hundreds of communities.

Our complaint, which we submitted to FSC, APRIL Group, and Remark Asia, is supported by our public report with testimonies from 9 communities detailing the failure of all 3 organisations to meet international human rights standards.

The testimonies expose serious flaws in the social baseline assessment process; namely, the exclusion of customary rightsholder communities; the absence of free, prior and informed consent (FPIC); poor transparency; and ongoing rights violations by APRIL subsidiaries, especially PT Toba Pulp Lestari.

Our complaint triggered FSC review processes and commitments to publish baseline assessment summaries. Both APRIL and Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), two of the world’s largest pulp and paper companies, have committed to applying FSC’s Remedy Framework, though FSC has suspended APP’s process pending clarification of its corporate structure.

We have engaged both APRIL and APP on their human rights obligations and worked with our partners to inform affected communities of the remedy process. We continue to push for mandatory engagement with customary rightsholders; transparency; independent verification and oversight; and respect for Indigenous rights and FPIC in the remedy process.