The massive smoke haze from Indonesian forest fires blanketing much of South East Asia has sparked action from Singapore supermarkets. Some of the largest chains have pulled all Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) products from their shelves, despite the company claiming it is innocent of starting fires.
The move comes after Singapore’s Environment Council (SEC) temporarily suspended the green label of APP's exclusive distributor in the island state, Universal Sovereign Trading. Singapore’s National Environment Agency is taking legal action against APP and four other Indonesian firms it believes to be behind the burning.
The haze from forest fires in Kalimantan and Sumatra has spread to Thailand after blanketing the skies and affecting the air quality in parts of Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines in recent weeks.
APP is hitting back at claims it is responsible for the fires. It says it has deployed thousands of firefighters to bring the fire under control as soon as possible, also building fire breaks on the ground in an effort to keep the fire from spreading. The company rejects the accusation that it is involved with land clearing using fire.
Our focus is on fire prevention efforts – this particularly is done through the implementation of the Zero Burning policy, which is later reinforced by Zero Deforestation policy, the landscape approach to forest management and best practice in peat management. In the past three years since the implementation of the Zero Deforestation policy, APP has invested close to USD 200 million.
The greenhouse gases from the Indonesian fires are estimated to exceed the total from all United States economic activity. The World Resources Institute (WRI) said that carbon emissions from the fires had exceeded average US daily output on 26 out of 44 days.
The Indonesian Government has confirmed the number of blazes is increasing despite a multinational fire fighting effort. The fire crisis is on track to become the worst on record with a predicted prolonged dry season set to delay monsoon rains until the end of the year.
APP says it the fire situation is complex and both the Singapore and Indonesia governments and authorities are still investigating the situation.
We understand why certain stakeholders are pushing for immediate actions, and we feel the same urgency. However, we maintain that accuracy is just as important in addressing the issue. We hope that authorities and influencers such as NGOs, consumer groups and media recognize this, and work with us to find solutions to this problem.