Jakarta, 24 Feb 2023 – On January 27th Golden Agri Resources (GAR) announced that it was dropping its membership of the High Carbon Stock Approach (HCSA) ‘No Deforestation’ initiative. GAR played a major role in developing the HCSA No Deforestation methodology and was a founding HSCA member.
Grant Rosoman, senior campaign advisor to Greenpeace International said: “GAR’s exit from HCSA signals clearly the further weakening of its commitment to NDPE – No Deforestation, No Peatland and No Exploitation. GAR made its commitment to No Deforestation in 2011 and to cleaning up its third-party suppliers in 2014 but many years later in 2018 and 2019 Greenpeace research found it still linked to deforestation and fires.”
Membership of HCSA means committing to the HCSA Toolkit that defines the methodology for putting No Deforestation into practice on the ground, as well as collaborating with other organisations to maintain the toolkit, and transparency and reporting of a company’s implementation of No Deforestation in its concessions and with its suppliers.
“We question now whether GAR is serious about implementing its No Deforestation commitments and contributing to the reform of the palm oil sector. Greenpeace collaborated with GAR to develop the HCSA toolkit in 2011 but ended the collaboration after GAR breached HCSA requirements by clearing around 1000 hectares of forest in Liberia, and its general slowing of implementation and lack of transparency,” Grant said.
“GAR does not want to be held accountable to the HCSA membership requirement of being transparent and reporting on progress. It needs to provide maps of forest areas in or associated with its concessions to prove these areas are actually being protected as it claims. Furthermore, we are concerned that by stepping back it will also not follow through with the agreed forest restoration and social remediation in Liberia for deforestation and not ensuring Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) in its operations there.”
Contact:
Igor O’Neill, Indonesia Forest Campaign, [email protected] +61 414 288 424
Background links:
Greenpeace International GAR Progress Report 2014
Greenpeace Southeast Asia blog on weakening of company no deforestation commitmentsGreenpeace Southeast Asia statement on GAR failings June 2019