Investigative Report on APP's Forest Destruction in Yunnan

From the 1990s onwards APP have been targeting the natural forests in south China for their logging operations. In August 2002 Sinar Mas Group-APP China began their so-called "planting forests on barren lands" program which started with the enclosure of a huge forest-pulp base of 27,500,000 mu (1,833,333 hectares) in Southern Yunnan province. However, only 20 per cent of the area is suitable for planting forests. Two Greenpeace field surveys in July and September 2004 found evidence that the company was logging in natural forests. In this report, we have analysed the problems existing in the Yunnan eucalyptus forest-pulp-paper integration project executed by Sinar Mas Group-APP China. Our findings include: - The logging of large-area natural forests, which is against the Forest Law and "The National Natural Forest Protection Project"; - Large-scale planting of eucalypts will bring about severe damage to biodiversity in Yunnan; - The transportation procedures of woodland and timber are not in accordance with the relevant regulations, which lead to the loss of state-owned assets and damage to the legal interests of forest farmers. - From 2002, because of the worsening reputation of Sinar Mas Group-APP China, the world has started to refuse the commercial intrusions of APP. - APP's expansion plans in China cannot be understood. This report unmasks the operations of Sinar Mas Group-APP China transgressing international institutions and seeking substantive profits at the cost of ecological calamity. Greenpeace hopes to use this to warn the concerned departments about the crisis that might occur in Yunnan. Please save the forests in Yunnan and prevent Sinar Mas Group from further enclosing woodland and destroying the forests in China!