On or about 19 November 2015, Greenpeace published a 38-page report titled “Indonesia’s Forests: Under Fire” where IOI Corporation Berhad’s (IOI) plantation development in Indonesia called PT Bumi Sawi Sejahtera (PT BSS) was cited in a 4-page section to support Greenpeace’s various findings and conclusions.

IOI notes that the allegations raised in respect of PT BSS are largely a rehash or a repetition of the allegations raised by another NGO called Aidenvironment in April 2015. Following the allegations raised by Aidenvironment, IOI has produced two reports, one by its mapping consultant and another by an RSPO–accredited auditor which totalled 66 pages, and were uploaded on IOI’s corporate website together with two explanatory statements.

Thus it comes as a surprise to IOI that Greenpeace has commented in its report that “The company (IOI) made no substantial comments on Greenpeace’s statements.” We also wish to point out that although Greenpeace stated that it informed IOI of its findings, it had omitted to state that it had given IOI only ‘one day’ to respond before the publication of its report. This shows that Greenpeace is not interested to find out the truth and is merely paying lip service to the principles of transparency and natural justice.

IOI would like to make the following responses in reference to some of the specific allegations on PT BSS contained in Greenpeace’s report:

• Contrary to Greenpeace’s report¹ , PT BSS is not covered by 90% forest as the concession contains significant areas of grasslands and shrubs. The actual forested areas, consisting of secondary forest is 867.98 ha being approximately 8% of the entire concession, are protected and not planted. The peat area makes up less than 7% of the concession, where 4% (427.3 ha) is peatland above three metres deep. The peat area and forested areas overlap and there has not been any deforestation nor planting on peat in the development of PT BSS;
  
  
• The report referenced the moratorium by the signatories of the Sustainable Palm Oil Manifesto (SPOM) not to develop on potential High Carbon Stock (HCS) areas, and as mentioned above, IOI set aside the forested areas for protection. These areas are not planted and there was no deforestation of any sort as suggested by Greenpeace. (A carbon stock inventory² was conducted to identify these potential HCS areas for protection);
  
  
• The ground condition and low laying terrain of the concession necessitated for a certain amount of water to be diverted from waterlogged areas via a watergate mechanism which is regular industry practice and does not dry out the land. The destruction of High Conservation Value (HCV) site was the result of external fires spreading inwards³ and not the continued drainage of water as put forward by Greenpeace. The extreme drought compounded by hot weather severely depleted the water allowing fires to spread easily from the surrounding lands into the concession;
  
  
• Please note that all HCV locations are on the Eastern and Northern part of PT BSS and there are NO HCV sites in the South Western areas of PT BSS and neither are there any secondary forest in the South Western or Western part of PT BSS as suggested by Greenpeace⁴ – the landscape there are grasslands, shrubs and bushes;
  
  
• There had been three separate teams of field investigators to PT BSS namely SGS (M) Sdn Bhd, Intertek Certification International Sdn Bhd and Aksenta Indonesia. They have all verified the HCV maps and documentations and also the ground clearance in the fields and have validated the HCV mapping reports and did not find any omissions as stated by Greenpeace;
  
  
• Greenpeace highlights a reporting by Sarwanto concerning sanctions. Sarwanto states that there are 413 companies being investigated and has mentioned ‘PT BSS’. IOI has been checking and seeking information from all the relevant government agencies concerning this matter and has yet to receive any notification or official correspondence from the Indonesian authorities; it is noted that the reference to ‘PT BSS’ may possibly be an acronym in reference to various other names or companies;
  
  
• We would also like to state again that we had taken immediate rehabilitation actions by planting cuttings of indigenous species in the peat areas that were accidentally cleared before February 2014, the size of the area is approximately 140 ha; we regret this unfortunate mistake which was due to the reliance on the consultant’s report and we had noted this mistake prior to Aidenvironment’s report. We would like to add that we did not plant on these peat areas as per our Peat Policy and therefore did not do any drainage;

We would like to reiterate that we have a Zero Burning Policy and that any burnings within the concessions are a result of fires that spread inwards from beyond our concessions. And in view of the extreme conditions in 2015, PT BSS has stepped up and implemented the following additional fire-fighting measures and systems which are over and above the prescribed requirements:

a) The installation of tube wells in vulnerable locations, particularly the peat areas, throughout PT BSS to ensure that there are ready source of water to prevent fires from spreading;

b) Additional extra emergency fire drills for staff and workers; and

c) We will also collaborate with the local government agencies to conduct regular engagements with the local communities to increase awareness to reduce their application of fires for cultivation or hunting purposes.

Finally, we would like to urge NGOs who have any complaints or issues on IOI’s sustainability practices to communicate with IOI and to allow us a reasonable time to respond before the publication of its report. IOI strongly disagrees with the fault finding as opposed to a solutions-seeking approach, employed by some NGOs who appear only interested in sensationalism and shaming their targets. A process of open and genuine engagement followed by an agreed plan of actions should be employed in achieving the real objective of improving the environment.

For enquiries, please refer to Ms Yeo Lee Nya, Sustainability Department, at yeo.leenya@ioigroup.com