Of Greenpeace, Orang Utans and Corp Comm specialists
by Corporate Observer Team , 20, July, 2010 1121 hours

SINGAPORE, July 30, 2010 – It’s little wonder that Indonesian plantation giants have been seen out there hiring corporate communications specialists to help them fight their environmental protection war.

Again, the Sinar Mas group which is controlled by Indonesian tycoon Eka WIdjaja has to reassure the market that it doesn’t clear primary forests and peat lands as well as do damage to orang-utans as claimed by Greenpeace activists.

In its latest statement, PT SMART responded to a report by Greenpeace entitled “How Sinar Mas is expanding its empires of destruction” and said all concession areas owned or
managed by SMART and its listed parent company, Golden Agri-Resources Ltd, are located on
degraded land, based on government concessions and in accordance to national laws and
regulations.

Golden Agri said with regard to concession areas in the Papua province, SMART only manages a total of 13,327
hectares (ha) in the Jayapura District, and not 1 (one) million ha as stated in the Greenpeace
report. SMART’s concession in the Jayapura District is located on degraded land and not on
primary forest. On 9 January 2007, SMART announced that the regional government reserved 1
million ha of land in Southern Papua for a biodiesel project, which was put on hold due to
economical, agronomical, social, environmental and legal considerations. At present,

SMART claimed it does not hold any land licenses in this particular area
Should we decide to proceed with this project at a later stage, SMART would obtain the necessary
approvals and licenses, including land licenses, subject to availability of the land.

He said contrary to Greenpeace’s claims, there are no orang-utan habitats in SMART’s concession area
PT Bangun Nusa Mandiri. SMART reiterates that before developing land, it conducts
the necessary environmental assessments, including High Conservation Value
assessments, according to SMART’s sustainability commitment and the Roundtable on
Sustainable Palm Oil guidelines. In the case of PT BNM, the HCV assessments were
conducted by an independent consultant approved by RSPO.

The United Nations Environment
Programme map that was referenced by Greenpeace shows global orang-utan
distribution in Kalimantan, while for the HCV identification assessment organised by SMART, a
specific and detailed map of PT BNM’s concession area was used. The assessment revealed that
there were no orang-utan habitats on the concession, nor any evidence of peat lands. The
concession area did contain 15 per cent of HCV land which SMART has conserved.

Golden Agri recently hired former Singtel and UOB spokesman Peter Heng as head of its corporate communications. Another plantation group owned by Sukanto Tanono is also known to be in the market looking for public relations specialists to help the company fight its PR war.

Indonesian groups have been fighting an on-going war with Greenpeace over various alleged abuses of the environment from their plantation operations. In the last six months, they have taken a more active stance in addressing the concerns and responding promptly to Greenpeace claims.