"Indonesian protesters dismiss Bonn Challenge as mask for APP’s ‘corporate crimes’", 11 May 2017

Residents of Palembang, Indonesia... carried out a high-profile protest at the launch of the Asian leg of the Bonn Challenge, a United Nations-backed programme to restore degraded forest land.

The protesters...say the challenge is being used to mask “corporate crimes” by Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), the controversial Indonesian paper giant they say has been using land without prior consent and continues to put South Sumatra’s dwindling forests under pressure.

Though the protesters do not explicitly name a company, APP is the only private sector backer of the Bonn Challenge...

...The protest group said: “Thousands of hectares of lands and forest have been used for industrial plantations, for the production of commodities like pulp and paper and oil palm to supply international markets. Those plantations often were developed without our knowledge or consent. In most cases, these projects have not benefitted us.”

APP has been accused of many of these violations in the past, including the death of a villager at the hands of an APP-owned company’s security guards in 2015 that dealth a major blow to the company's human rights record.     

Protestors said: “We must not make the same mistakes of failing to involve the people who have rights to the land and forest and who live and depend on these lands and forests.”

These groups must be given clear information about planned initiatives in advance, and their consent must be sought for decisions that will affect their lives... adding that it wanted to participate in the design and implementation of forest restoration efforts in South Sumatra. The group also claims that APP’s recent launch of one of the world’s largest paper and pulp mills in South Sumatra - the US$2.6 billion Ogan Komering Ilir (OKI) mill... lwas built without adequate consultation with local communities...

In response to the protesters' concerns about the restoration of forest land without their consent, APP told Eco-Business that one of the key elements of the company's forest conservation policy is free prior and informed consent (FPIC).