Paul Brown, Steven Morris and John Aglionby Tuesday June 26, 2001 The Guardian
Cheap paper made from cutting down Indonesian rainforest, an industry which is endangering some of the world's rarest animals, is flooding into Britain, a Guardian investigation has revealed. Public bodies are among those using the paper produced by Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), despite government calls that only products from sustainable sources should be used.
It has also emerged that APP, Indonesia's biggest pulp and paper producer, and some of its subsidiaries have received considerable financial backing from British banks, including NatWest.
Conservationists say Indonesia is heading for an environmental disaster. It is esti mated the country has lost more than 70% of its forests. A report by the World Bank has warned that 2m hectares - an area the size of Belgium - is being cut down every year and there are fears that by 2020 all of Indonesia's forests could have been destroyed.
The forests are home to 12% of the world's mammal species and almost a fifth of bird species. Unless the destruction is halted, species including the Sumatran rhinoceros, Sumatran tiger and orang-utan could become extinct.
Yet the amount of paper arriving in Britain from Indonesia has increased rapidly. In the late 90s, imports of Indonesian paper rose from 10,000 tonnes a year to 85,000 tonnes.
Last year the G8 leaders endorsed the principle of only using timber from sustainable sources. Environment minister Michael Meacher said Britain would be the first country to insist that government departments and agencies buy timber products (including paper) from sustainable and legal sources.
The government's central procurement agency now says that as much paper as possible comes from recycled sources. But Whitehall has no method of discovering where the timber and paper it uses originates.
There is nothing to stop schools, hospitals and local authorities buying products from APP. The Guardian has spoken to schools which taught pupils the importance of the environment while purchasing paper which could be traced back to APP.
In Britain APP paper is sold either under the names APP or Sinar, or repackaged by paper merchants and sold under their brand names. This paper is distributed through buying groups and suppliers. By the time most customers get their paper it has passed through so many middlemen that they cannot be sure of its origins.
Friends of the Earth produced a report in which it names crucial investors - such as NatWest - whom it wants to pressurise APP to change the way it operates.
Ed Matthew, of the FoE, said: "Huge growth in wood pulp and paper production, fuelled by international investment, has caused destruction of some of the most precious forests on earth."