Here in Riau, Indonesia, signs of the struggle to save the last of Sumatra’s forest is everywhere. Daily, the papers cover stories of timber and oil palm companies destroying forests, engaging in corruption, driving land conflicts, sponsoring violence, and marginalizing indigenous peoples.

Today, on the way to a meeting with the local NGO Elang, I passed villagers from the Kampar Peninsula, a carbon-rich and biodiverse ecoystem that is under attack by Sinar Mas’ oil palm operations and their timber division Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), on a hunger strike.

In front of the provincial parliament building, a group of men and women from the village of Kijang Kejo have set up a plastic tarp and banner, announcing to Riau’s elected officials that they will not eat until the oil palm plantation PT Arindo Tri Sejahtera, who stole their land and then paid thugs to kill three of their family members, is brought to justice.

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TELUK MERANTI COMMUNITY LETTER OF REJECTION

TOWARDS RAPP COMPANY (APRIL)

Regarding: UPHOLDING TELUK MERANTI COMMUNITY RIGHTS

To the Honourable,

President Director of RAPP company (April)

With this, the community of Teluk Meranti subdistrict, based on our needs to the land located across the river or land intended to become a part of your company’s operational area, declares that it: REJECTS THE PRESENCE OF THE RAPP COMPANY.

This is done with regard to the below considerations:

1. The land is to be retained for our grandchildren’s future
2. Experiences by other surrounding villages or areas where RAPP company has operated which have impacted negatively on the local community’s rights
3. It has caused loss of agricultural and horticultural land belonging to the community
4. The community will lose the source of its livelihood (economic, social and cultural) from the forest which will be converted to an industrial timber plantation

We, the community of Teluk Meranti, have inhabited and utilised this area in a wise and traditional way far preceeding Indonesia’s independence.

Thus concludes this rejection letter, made with great consideration so that unwanted problems will be avoided in the future.

Respectfully yours,

The community of Teluk Meranti

According to this announcement, Heiko Liedeker is stepping down as Executive Director of the FSC after six years at the helm.

My read of the announcement raises the question of whether his decision was made voluntarily or under pressure stemming from recent controversies?

Those more plugged in to the internal dynamics of the international office may have a more authoritative take, but this smells like a squeeze play to me.

Last month, the international office moved to revoke a certificate issued to Asia Pulp and Paper–the infamous Indonesian logger–during an investigation into the certificate by the Wall Street Journal. Actually, the article indicates that Liedeker himself “rescinded the FSC’s approval of APP products at the same time he proposed a tightening of the FSC’s rules.”

Why quit just after proposing new rules? One way or another it seems that he’s being pushed by politics.

Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal included coverage of “growing pains” at the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Jim Carleton quotes me saying “It’s a question of how do we improve the system, not whether we can keep the system… Because if you look at the alternative systems run by industry, those are even weaker.”

The quote’s accurate, but incomplete. It’s important to fend off half-baked industry schemes like the SFI, but the more crucial point is that the FSC must improve to remain a credible tool for conserving forests.

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