STATEMENT FROM DARREL WEBBER, RSPO SECRETARY GENERAL On the forest fires in Sumatra July 15, 2013

On June 24th, the RSPO requested five of its member companies, which the media reported to be implicated in the forest fires in Sumatra, to submit digital maps of their concession areas in Indonesia.
 
As of July 9th, 4 of these 5 companies, namely: Sime Darby, Kuala Lumpur Kepong (KLK), Golden Agri Resources (GAR) and Tabung Haji Plantations had submitted digital maps on the basis of which RSPO has produced a statement which is available on https://rspo.org/news_details.php?nid=175.
 
On Jul 10th, PT Jatim Jaya Perkasa submitted its concession information in the required format. Fire alerts within company boundaries have been analysed separately by the World Resources Institute (WRI) as well as Malaysian scientist and Geographic Information System (GIS) expert Dr. Khali Aziz Hamzah from the Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM).
 
Statement from WRI:  “WRI’s independent analysis of the NASA fire alerts within the HGU* license boundaries provided by PT Jatim Jaya Perkasa found 74 fire alerts within the HGU boundary.”  These findings are consistent with Dr. Khali's analysis as well.
 
*Editor’s Note: HGU (or Business Use Rights License) are concession licenses that are issued by the National Land Agency.

Results, data, and map for PT Jatim Jaya Perkasa are available for consultation here: https://rspo.org/wp-content/uploads/PT-JatimJayaPerkasaGoogleEarth_forWeb.pdf
 
The conclusions that the RSPO has made from these findings: 

1. 74 hotspots were within PT Jatim Jaya Perkasa’s concession in the period from the 1st to the 26th of June, 2013.
2. These hotspots either lasted consistently for several days or appeared on a recurring basis.

The RSPO will now have to determine whether the origin of the fires within the hot spots was a result of systemic failure in managing environmental related risks or otherwise. The matter will now be directed to the RSPO Complaints Panel to deliberate, evaluate and decide upon.
 
In the meantime, RSPO urges PT Jatim Jaya Perkasa to act with urgency in addressing the fires that may still be active within their concession.
 
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