SUBJECT
In September 2022, Apical detected land clearing in PT. ATA’s concession. During our engagement process, Apical also detected further land clearance in 2023 and 2024. We also received queries from our deforestation monitoring partner and several customers related to allegations of potential forest clearance linked to PT. ATA.
The chronology of events and actions taken are as follows:
PROGRESS
July 2022
PT ATA conducted an integrated High Conservation Value (HCV) & High Carbon Stock (HCS) assessment for their concession between July 2022 and April 2023. In addition, social surveys and public consultations were held with the local government and community leaders which includes FPIC, Land Tenure and Use Study (LTUS) and Social & Environmental Impact Assessment (SEIA) in June 2022.
March 2023
The completed HCV/HCS reports were first submitted to HCVN for a peer review and resubmitted in July 2023.
October 2023
A meeting was held between PT ATA, farmer cooperatives groups and the local government in which an agreement was made that the plasma development for smallholders shall be developed 2 years from the date of the meeting.
November – December 2023
Road access to PT ATA’s operations was blocked by the local government for more than 1 month and a directive was made for PT ATA to fulfill their plasma development obligations. This was reported in local news.
PT ATA also received pressure from a few farmer cooperatives groups for PT ATA to urgently complete the development of the plasma area as agreed upon. This resulted in PT. ATA withdrawing its HCV/HCS peer review submission from HCVN as this would reflect as a ‘non-satisfactory’ result.
May 2024
PT ATA wrote to the Dinas Perkebunan seeking advice regarding the potential deforestation within the plasma area could against the NDPE commitments. The response received was to proceed with the clearance as it was within the Areal Pengunaan Lain (APL).
November 2024
Apical engaged it’s deforestation monitoring partner to discuss on measures that can be taken by PT. ATA given the challenges and the pressure faced by PT ATA.
December 2024
Upon Apical’s request, PT ATA committed to a recovery plan for their indicative liabilities (2016 to 2024), for any HCV & HCS clearance based on Apical’s deforestation monitoring partners’ estimations. However they were not able continue to process due to their legal obligations.
March 2025
Due to the inability for PT. ATA to comply with NDPE requirements, Apical has decided to stop sourcing from PT. ATA. Apical does not condone NDPE non-compliance which includes deforestation in our supply chain.
We are open to further discussions with PT. ATA in the future for the development and implementation of their remedial actions.
We consider this case closed.
