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Greenpeace: APP damages forests
Greenpeace China yesterday alleged again that a paper and pulp giant is damaging forests in Southwest China's Yunnan Province. The environmental rights group is appealing for Chinese consumers to refrain from using APP paper products for the sake of the dwindling forests in the country. The environment organization also said it is willing to face Asia Pulp & Paper Co Ltd (APP) in court if the company thinks it has been defamed. Greenpeace is contacting other international environmental organizations to push for an international campaign against the Indonesian company, said Greenpeace China Campaign Director Lu Sicheng. APP China sources could not be reached for comment yesterday. Greenpeace yesterday publicized the result of a survey it conducted late last month in remote rural areas of Yunnan, which shows illegal logging and unfair requisitioning of farmland from farmers. Local farmers shown in the video filmed by Greenpeace during the survey say it was APP that cut down large areas of trees and planted non-native eucalyptus trees. The farmers, living in rural areas of Simao, say their farmland has been requisitioned at a price as low as 0.8 yuan (9.7 cents) per mu (0.06 hectare) per year. Such a price is even lower than that for desert land in North China's Inner Mongolia, which stands at 1 yuan (12 cents), said Liu Bing, Greenpeace China's forestry project deputy director. The farmers say to date they have not received their money. Contracts were signed last December. The result is further support of Greenpeace's report on 16 November, which questions a large paper and pulp project, agreed to in 2002 by APP and the Yunnan provincial government. The project involves 1.8 million hectares in the regions of Wenshan, Lincang and Simao. According to Greenpeace's November report, 42 per cent of the area is forest and APP has been cutting trees in natural forests there and planting non-native eucalyptus trees, which are used by the company to produce paper and pulp. APP responded on November 24, saying the claim is "unrealistic and irresponsible." It also filed a lawsuit against the Zhejiang Hotels Association on November 30 for infringement of its reputation, because the association in East China's Zhejiang Province called on its member hotels to resist APP products after reading Greenpeace's report. APP products, which range from office paper to toilet paper, take up a large share of the Chinese market. Lu said yesterday the organization has been contacting APP and demanding the company to stop logging in Yunnan, halt the Yunnan project and respect local farmers' interests. But so far APP has refused to make any promises, he said. If APP wants to sue anybody, it should choose a "correct rival," rather than a social organization such as the Zhejiang Hotels Association, Lu said. The "correct rival" is Greenpeace itself. Du Juexiang, deputy secretary general of the Zhejiang Hotels Association, said yesterday it was for environmental protection that the association called on its members to resist APP products. Several lawyers in Beijing, including Wei Rujiu from the Huicheng Law Firm and Pu Zhiqiang from the Beijing Huayi Law Firm, said there is no ground for APP to sue the association. The association's calling is anything but illegal, Pu said, adding that the move is as legal as advocating that member hotels not organize prostitution and gambling. |
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