TRI Fellows Research Projects, 2005

Yale Tropical Resources Institute

Dr. Lisa M. Curran, Director
Dr. Amity Doolittle, Program Director

School of Forestry & Environmental Studies
210 Prospect Street
New Haven, CT 06511
U.S.A.

phone 203.432.3660
fax 203.436.4404

www.yale.edu/tri

[ to top of page]

[return to A. Fellows by region or B. Condensed tables of Fellows]

TRI Fellows Research Projects, 2005

Africa
Asia

Australia

Central America
South America

Asia

Linda Kramme

Ikuko Matsumoto

Linda Kramme

People, Planet, Profit: Studying the approaches of one pulp and paper company toward sustainable forest management in Indonesia

Deforestation in Indonesia is occurring at an alarming rate. Protected tropical forests, and species such as Sumatran tigers, elephants and orangutans that depend on them, are growing more vulnerable to intensive logging activity. Many Indonesian forest products companies are operating with little consideration of their environmental and social impacts. However, some companies have begun to implement measures to address illegal logging and practice sustainable forest management (SFM).

Acacia mangium nursery

One such company is Asia Pacific Resources International Limited (APRIL). APRIL is one of Asia’s largest pulp and paper companies, with primary operations in Riau Province on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia. For the past several years, the company has been promoting its SFM activities, community development projects and dialogue with both local and international NGOs, partly in response to both NGO pressure and increasing customer demands.
For this study, I sought to gain an ?on the ground? understanding of APRIL’s successes and the problems it faces related to SFM, both in and around its plantation areas. I developed research questions based on the Forest Stewardship Council’s (FSC) 10 ?Principles and Criteria? for well-managed forests. I then gathered data through interviews and participant observation with company staff, local communities and NGOs. I visited company plantations, studied the interactions between World-Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and APRIL in plantation areas adjacent to Tesso Nilo National Park, and studied the interactions between APRIL and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) through participation in a high conservation value forest (HCVF) assessment the company and TNC pursued together for a new plantation area.

Ikuko Matsumoto

Private investment and its Social Impacts in the Philippines: Case study of the San Roque Multi-Purpose Dam Project

Dam affected indigenous village, Dulpirip, Itogon, Benguet, Philippines

My research in the Cordillera region of the Philippines aimed at determining what social mitigation measures the private investment firms, the San Roque Power Corporation had taken regarding their investment, the San Roque hydropower project in Pangasinan, Philippines, which began operating in 2003. I also looked at what factors lead to more or less social mitigation measures related to this economic development project. This research was a collaboration with Cordillera People’s Alliance, a local organization which actively advocates indigenous peoples’ rights related to economic development projects with an international context.

The research consisted of a series of interviews with key informants, collecting documents and making a field visit. This research was valuable for both the local organization and international NGOs, which could use the information for future advocacy activities and research, and will contribute to further improvement of social and environmental consideration in economic development projects initiated by the private sector.

[to top of page]