APP's pledge on Indonesia's forests brings hope

Last week, one of the biggest paper companies in the world announced a new forest conservation policy that, if implemented, will end the company's long and controversial history of deforestation. Asia Pulp & Paper has pulp and paper mills both in Indonesia and in China, and is one of several companies that together dominate the China and Hong Kong paper market.

Sometimes, it has felt as if stopping the destruction of Indonesia's rainforests is all but impossible. The easy availability of vast areas of forestland in Indonesia, coupled with the ineffective enforcement of its laws, has made the country economically attractive to international corporations. They profit as the rainforests and peatlands - home to thousands of communities and countless endangered plants and animals - give way to inefficient wood pulp and oil palm plantations.

Many of China's paper mills are supplied with pulp that comes from felled Indonesian rainforests.

But today, the prospects for what remains of these precious rainforests look brighter. Asia Pulp & Paper has committed itself not to establish further plantations or develop peatland on forested land. The company announced the immediate suspension of all natural forest clearance and peatland development in its concessions.

The move - following a similar announcement two years ago in the palm oil sector by Golden Agri-Resources, its sister company in the Sinar Mas Group - has the potential to transform Indonesia's industry. It demonstrates that Indonesia's development need not come at the expense of its natural environment.

Asia Pulp & Paper is one of just two companies with a history of making large volumes of pulp from Indonesia's natural rainforests. Between them, the two account for about 80 per cent of Indonesia's recent pulp production. The other company, Asia Pacific Resources International, also supplies the Chinese market with pulp. Will it now risk being seen as the laggard in environmental protection?

Indonesia's pulp and palm oil industries have relied on rainforest peatland destruction for far too long.