Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) Sinar Mas and MDA are pleased to announce that they have been awarded top honors and named a project of the year by Environment + Energy Leader magazine. Both companies were recognised for their collaboration in reducing deforestation across APP’s entire supplier network to just under 0.06%.
Asia Pulp & Paper partnered with MDA to track any forest cover changes across its supplier network. MDA’s RADARSAT-2 satellite Forest Alert Service (FAS) is able to capture forest disturbances down to a few trees, allowing APP to monitor, in near-real-time, and react to forest cover change resulting from natural causes, illegal logging, or encroachment. Every 24 days, satellite data is acquired by MDA, assessed for changes against historical imagery, and reported to APP, as ‘Alerts’, within three (3) working days. Alerts are then verified by APP’s staff and provided to the relevant supplier(s) to take the needed actions to mitigate forest degradation.
All Alert data is published and publicly available on APP’s web portal, ‘Sustainability Dashboard’. The dashboard provides APP stakeholders with a landscape view of all APP’s pulpwood suppliers’ concessions including conservation forests, pulpwood plantations, and communities. This near-real-time information provides APP’s customers with unparalleled visibility into their supply chain, resulting in sustainable sourcing assurance.
“This year’s winners showed remarkable innovation and commitment to achieving real-world results,” says Jennifer Hermes Nastu, Content Director for Environment + Energy Leader. “Partnerships like APP and MDA help to stop deforestation while assisting organizations meet their UN Sustainable Development Goals.”
“APP takes a holistic approach to sustainability within its entire operation and is committed to long- term forest protection through our Forest Conservation Policy,” said Elim Sritaba, APP’s Chief Sustainability Officer. “We strive to honour our commitments to forest protection through investing in new technologies that provide protection and full transparency for all our clients ensuring a safe and sustainable supply chain.”
“MDA’s commitment to advancing technologies is enabling ever-increasing diligence for environmental sustainability,” said Minda Suchan, MDA’s Vice President of Geointelligence. “Our partnership with APP has combined spaceborne radar imaging with land management responsibilities, which has resulted in APP adopting MDA’s RADARSAT-2 satellite technology to provide a measureable benefit in Indonesian conservation forest management. MDA continues to be motivated to improve its world-leading technologies and capabilities that can be used to benefit the environment.”