amsterdam/arnhem, 2 december 2002
friends of the earth netherlands
confronts company with chainsaw
akzo linked tropical rainforest
destruction plans
Friends of the Earth Netherlands
(Milieudefensie) has hung a "jungle curtain"
in front of the entrance of Akzo Nobel's head
office in Arnhem, the Netherlands. Staff and
visitors are being greeted by the sound of
chainsaws. Friends of the Earth is protesting
against Akzo's plans that involve cutting
down approximately 48 thousand hectares of
Indonesian tropical rainforest area. There is
a ban on this kind of clear cutting in
Indonesia.
Akzo Nobel has signed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MuO) with a Singapore company
that plans to build a pulp factory on the
Indonesian island of Kalimantan. Akzo has
agreed to build a chemical plant that will
manufacture bleaching agents for this
factory. Nearly 48 thousand hectares of
tropical rainforest area will be cut down and
replace by plantations to supply the pulp
factory with wood pulp.
Indonesia's pulp and paper industry
demands far more wood than its plantations
can supply. As a result more and more
tropical rainforest area is being destroyed.
Between 1988 and 1999 a mere 8 percent of the
wood used for pulp originated from
plantations, the remaining 92 percent came
from tropical rainforests.
In past decades, tropical rainforest
destruction in Indonesia has reached extreme
proportions. The current annual rate of
deforestation is two million hectares. At
this rate, Kalimantan will have no
rainforests left by 2010.
Friends of the Earth Netherlands has
repeatedly asked Akzo Nobel to withdraw from
this project. The company has refused to
comply. There is no indication that Akzo
Nobel intends to withdraw from the Memorandum
of Understanding, despite the obvious
negative environmental impacts of the
resulting project.
A MoU is an agreement for a certain period
of time. At the end of this period, parties
have the option to continue or discontinue
the agreement. Akzo has a chance to step out
of its Mou at the end of this year.
Milieudefensie says that it should seize this
chance: Akzo cut it out!
Akzo is the second company in the Filthy
Five series of Friends of the Earth
Netherlands. The series highlights Dutch
companies that are not taking their corporate
responsibility seriously in foreign
countries. The alarming situations uncovered
in these cases illustrate the need for
binding international legislation for
multinationals.
For more information:
Press Office Friends of the Earth
Netherlands (Milieudefensie), tel: +31 20
5507 333 on site today :+31 6 2959 3872
The English version of the report Paper
from Forest Giants- Akzo Nobel's plans in
Indonesia can be dowloaded from
www.milieudefensie.nl/wto/publicaties/index.htm
. Paper copies are also available
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