As paper giant APP stops Indonesian deforestation, calls made for Nippon to stop logging Australia's forests

MEDIA RELEASE Thursday, February 7, 2013

The Wilderness Society, Friends of the Earth, Environment East Gippsland, GECO
 
Local environment groups are calling on pulp companies engaged in logging Australia's own forests to follow the lead of global logging giant Asia Pulp & Paper, and wind up logging operations in high conservation value forests.
 
"APP's decision is a fantastic outcome for irreplaceable tracts of rainforests in Indonesia. It is a positive step forward, after a long international campaign by Greenpeace and others," said The Wilderness Society's Victorian Forest Campaigner, Amelia Young.
 
Closer to home, though, Australia’s most controversial logging company is Japanese-owned Nippon Paper. Their subsidiary, Australian Paper continues to log Victoria's Mountain Ash forests to make their office paper, Reflex.
 
"Nippon Paper continues to buy logs for paper pulp from high conservation value forests and threatened species habitat in Victoria, WA and NSW," aid Friends of the Earth spokesperson, Lauren Caulfield.

“If Asia Pulp & Paper can stop logging rainforest in Indonesia, Nippon and Australian Paper can stop logging Mountain Ash forest here in Victoria, and protect threatened species habitat from falling to the chainsaws for low value paper pulp," said Ms Caulfield.
 
Nippon Paper's subsidiary, Australian Paper Ltd, is the subject of an ongoing Australian consumer campaign targeting the Reflex paper brand, for its pulp content from native forest logging.

In Indonesia, Sumatran Tigers number only a few hundred in the wild. Rare Australian wildlife like the Fairy (Leadbeater's) Possum is similarly endangered, with populations plummeting due to logging for paper pulp.

Scott Poynton, executive director of The Forest Trust, which brokered the agreement said that the decision by APP decision sent a signal throughout the region.

"Asia Pulp & Paper have decided being associated with forest destruction just isn't worth it,” said Ms Young.
 
“As a result of APP’s decision, habitat for endangered species, like the Sumatran Tiger should remain intact. Here in Australia, Nippon has a key role to play in ensuring the Fairy Possum has a home to live in, and must immediately shift out of native forests," said Ms Young.


For more information please call:

Amelia Young 0404 074 577
Lauren Caulfield 0408 748 939