Wirakarya Sakti (WKS), a fibre supplier to Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) has achieved sustainable forest management under the Indonesian Ecolabelling Institute (LEI) standard, which WKS claims makes it the owner of the largest certified plantation forest in Indonesia.
The certification process, which covers over 240,000 hectares of pulpwood plantation forest in Sumatera, Indonesia, was done by TUV International Indonesia (TUV Rheinland Group), an LEI accredited certification organisation and a leading provider of environmental assessment services worldwide.According to APP, the certification process is made up of several stages, including public consultation, which allows key stakeholders, primarily the inhabitants of the local community whose lives are impacted by the operations, to provide input on the process.
During the certification process, time is allotted for a panel of experts consists of auditors from TUV and several local expert representatives, to recommend improvements.
In this case, the panel recommended that the company be more proactive in identifying potential conflicts with local communities and improve its conflict resolution process, with WKS claiming it is following this recommendation.
Meanwhile APP claims its other pulpwood plantations are currently preparing for LEI’s Sustainable Forest Management certification.
APP’s legal origin verification and chain-of-custody systems are subject to the LEI’s standard for wood fibre supply and raw material, and are also evaluated for timber legality and traceability verification and verified legal origin by an independent third-party auditor.
