Indonesia reacts to forestry’s green image crisis

The lunch meeting, at the Four Seasons in Sydney, was attended by Indonesian diplomats, Australian government officials, paper companies and environmental NGOs.

The forum was addressed by Hadi Daryanto, secretary general of the Ministry of Forestry, who gave insight into the country's environmental initiatives, including its target to reduce greenhouse gases by 26% by 2020. 

Speakers discussed the running conflict with Western NGOs, particularly Greenpeace's campaign against Indonesia's largest paper company, Asia Pulp & Paper.

However, any chance of a change in sentiment toward the Indonesian forestry industry may have been derailed by a report yesterday from environmental group Markets for Change. It claims lab tests of Kmart's Office One envelopes show they contain 19% mixed tropical hardwood sourced from the rainforest.

Markets for Change said the envelopes are manufactured in Indonesia, though it is unclear who makes them.

In August, Greenpeace convinced retail chain IGA to boycott APP, while in New Zealand, Greenpeace said tests of toilet tissue from Cottonsoft found the presence of rainforest hardwoods, a claim the NZ company branded as not credible and "guesswork".

At the Sydney lunch event, Indonesia trade minister Deddy Saleh said: "We think this treatment is unfair. Sometimes these bans come with incomplete information from NGOs and governments."

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