Tuesday, March 07, 2017

APP still under investigation in Singapore

The newspaper Straits Times report that Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) is still under investigation by Singapore authorities, as the company has not provided enough information to the investigating the fires and haze that affected Singapore in 2015.
The authorities are investigating according to the Transboundary Haze Pollution Act.
The four APP suppliers under investigations are Bumi Andalas Permai, Bumi Mekar Hijau, Sebangun Bumi Andalas Woods Industries and Rimba Hutani Mas. Straits Times reports that they have not responded to Singaporean investigating authority despite repeated reminders.
According to the Ministry of the Environment and Forestry, APP subsidiary submitted false data about the burned peat.
In October last year, the ministry asked to pulp plantation companies to submit data and maps about the peatland burned in 2015’s fires. According to a new regulation, burned peat areas cannot be replanted with acacia. PT BAP, an APP subsidiary in South Sumatra, submitted incorrect data, omitting large areas of burned peat, as discovered during a field inspection. “The ministry data clearly delineates this broad expanse of land to be composed of burned peat from 2015. In other words, the data submitted by PT BAP to the ministry was false,” said ministry’s director general San Afri Awang to Forest Hints. “First of all, PT BAP claimed that it was not replanting burned areas, and this claim has turned out to be false. Secondly, the company failed to obey the two letters from the minister (ordering the removal of newly-replanted acacia). Thirdly, they reported incorrect data on the distribution of 2015’s burned peatlands to the ministry.”