WWF Campaign: “Love Your Forests”,  But Not to Death!

News reports about rampant deforestation in Indonesia often refer to alleged corruption, poor law enforcement and the greed of logging and palm oil interests. But sometimes, the reviled companies are also victims, as Bruce Gale reports, and WWF benefitted from the creative work of Leo Burnett, with its cartoon tree character Harry Ficus to promote its “Love Your Forests” campaign.

Bruce Gale in The Straits Times (16 September 2011):

News reports about rampant deforestation in Indonesia often refer to alleged corruption, poor law enforcement and the greed of logging and palm oil interests. But sometimes, the reviled companies are also victims.

Take Singapore-listed Golden Agri-Resources (GAR), a palm oil plantation company in the Sinar Mas group which has recently been working hard to shed its negative image among environmentalists. In June, when environmental watchdog Greenomics Indonesia issued a press statement denouncing a sustainability report issued by GAR, it seemed that the company had been caught red-handed.

The report asserted that none of GAR’s concessions involved forest land. Greenomics disagreed. To prove its point the organisation referred to a map of Central Kalimantan province issued by the minister of forestry on May 31. By this measure, it said, almost all of the company’s concessions in the province involved protected forests. It said GAR was thus in clear violation of Indonesian law and should withdraw its report in order to avoid being accused of misleading the public.

A GAR spokesman told The Straits Times recently that the report was ‘not based on complete information’.

A brief look at the history of palm oil regulation in the province is certainly enlightening. What Greenomics did not say was that the company had become the victim of a power struggle between the central and provincial governments over the conversion of forest land for other uses.

The story begins in 1993, when the provincial government issued a land use decree based on its interpretation of a 1982 decree by the ministry of agriculture.

In September 2000, a letter from the planning department in Jakarta’s ministry of forestry and plantations appeared to legitimise the process. The letter, a copy of which has been obtained by The Straits Times, seemed to accept forest land use maps issued by the provincial government the previous year. Crucially, it noted that land set aside for development, residential and other purposes as determined by the provincial authorities could be used without the need to obtain forestry relinquishment permits from the ministry that would enable the land to be used for other purposes.

In subsequent years, the provincial government encountered little opposition from the forestry ministry when using these maps in the process of awarding important plantation concessions to companies such as GAR.

At the time, Indonesia was still struggling to come to terms with decentralisation laws passed by Parliament in 1999. Repeated Cabinet reshuffles in Jakarta left forestry officials in Jakarta with no strong leadership. In later years, the forestry ministry also experienced a reorganisation after it lost its authority over plantations.

However, the situation changed dramatically in September 2006, when Forestry Minister Malam Sambat Kaban informed the provincial governor that his ministry did not recognise the province’s decisions, and he was revoking the 2000 letter. Mr Kaban also insisted that companies that had acquired concessions on what the ministry regarded as forest land between 2000 and 2006 must obtain permits from Jakarta.

The provincial government has put up a stout defence of its rights, and the status quo has so far remained unchanged. The latest maps referred to by Greenomics nevertheless show that the dispute is ongoing, and that the forestry ministry remains determined to assert its authority.

Unlike Greenomics, most environmentalists I spoke to in Jakarta last month expressed sympathy with GAR. Even Greenpeace, which published a major report in July last year denouncing the company’s environmental track record, conceded that the confusing legal situation in Central Kalimantan is primarily the result of bad governance.

Greenpeace spokesman Joko Arif believes that the saga is a good illustration of why the national moratorium on forest conversion announced in May this year does not go far enough. ‘There should be a review of all concessions given on forest and peat land,’ he said. ‘The aim should be to determine which have been obtained legally and which illegally, and what the circumstances are’.

Lauded by many environmental groups for its positive response to criticism of its environmental record, GAR now boasts one of the most comprehensive forest conservation policies in the industry. ‘If they implement it properly, it will be very good indeed,’ one environmental activist told me.

Source: www.eco-business.com

WWF Report:

Leo Burnett Sydney has launched a spot for WWF that introduces cartoon tree character Harry Ficus, a ‘responsibly made’ tree that can turn into tables, chairs and tissues.

The campaign, which kicks off WWF’s ‘Love your forests’ initiative, includes prints executions and a children’s book – printed on Forest Stewardship Council certified paper – called The Adventures of Harry Ficus.

Lawrence Hennessy, head of marketing for WWF Australia, said: “We know that people want to make the right environmental choices, but often don’t know how. As soon as Leo Burnett presented Harry Ficus we fell in love with him and what he stood for. The Adventures of Harry Ficus is a simple, engaging idea that will educate and encourage people to think about their everyday purchases’.

Love Your Forests is an unique campaign – we are asking business, NGOs and you to come together to ensure our forests survive. Beginning this year the United Nations (UN) in the UN International Year of Forests will be raising awareness of sustainable forest management.To support this WWF and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) along with leading businesses in the forest industry are working to provide a solution to reduce our forest footprint and to love our forests. Starting this year we will be actively promoting and supporting the FSC eco-label.

The FSC is an international network to promote responsible management of the world’s forests – it brings people together to find solutions to the problems created by bad forestry practices and to reward good forest management.

How can I love my forests? WWF believes that you can Love Your Forests in many ways…by recycling, buying recycled, reducing over use of paper and timber and importantly, buying forest friendly timber and paper products. It’s easy! When buying timber and paper products just look for the FSC eco-label. The FSC eco-label is your assurance that the timber and paper product that you bought did not come from illegally logged forests and that it supports well-managed forests.

WWF understands that there is a confusing range of eco-labels out there for you to choose from – we will try to help you find FSC in two ways:

The WWF logo will appear next to the FSC logo on some products that are FSC-certified. Look for us next to the FSC logo.

We will work with businesses to help them provide you with information about timber and paper product choices. See our Love Your Forests Partners

The WWF Love Your Forests campaign has been launched in 2011 to coincide with the UN International Year of Forests. In the past 10 years more than 1.3 million square kilometres of the world’s forests have been destroyed – an area roughly the size of Tasmania every six months. Most of these forests were biologically-rich tropical forests and home to such animals as orang-utans, tigers, and gorillas. Some of this logging is also illegal – it has been estimated that Australia imports more than $400 million worth of illegal timber and wood products each year.

Love Your Forests is a way for you to help stop this destruction. Australians are major consumers of forest products and we use around 6.6 million cubic metres of solid timber and 4 million tonnes of paper every year, or about 550 kg per person. Because we import major quantities of pulp and paper as well as sawn timber, our forest ‘footprint’ extends to over 31 countries. In a number of these countries in Southeast Asia and the Pacific there are serious concerns about the legality and sustainability of forestry.

Love Your Forests is a way for all of us to help reduce the amount of forest resources we consume and switch to more environmentally sustainable forest products. See how you can make a difference…How can I help love my forest?

Source: www.theinspirationroom.com and www.wwf.org.au