新加坡的跨國企業 Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) 違反大陸中央於1998年的環保規定, 與雲南地方政府私下簽訂協議, 於雲南山區非法砍伐原始森林:
According to official news agency Xinhua, Wang Zhuxiong, deputy director of the administration's Forest Resources Management Department, confirmed that APP was suspected of illegal logging in the Simao region of Yunnan. "We believe both APP and the local government are responsible for the violation," Wang said, and added that any violation will be punishable according to law. "No violator will escape punishment when this investigation is finished," Wang said.
國家林業部門的調查, 引發國內環保團體和學生團體杯葛APP產品的遊行示威:
Enraged by the SFA's findings, a coalition of environmental organizations and student groups initiated a boycott of APP products. Protests took place in six major Chinese cities, including Beijing and Guangzhou, during May and June 2005, with students demonstrating in front of big shopping centers, calling on customers to avoid purchase of the company's products. Such boycotts are new to China, and mark a new stage of consumer awareness in this fast-emerging market economy.
... Greenpeace and WWF researchers, however, maintain their claim that APP is the logger, and report logging in an area of at least 10,000 mu (660 hectares) of natural tropical forest this year. The full scale of the project is much larger than this: it covers 27,500,000 mu in southern Yunnan that will be turned into eucalyptus plantations, according to a 2002 agreement between APP China and the Yunnan provincial government. ..
APP亦有於海南島投資種植千層木作為紙張的原材料, 千層木的生長非常快, 但對土地養份的需求與吸收亦非常大, 它於海南的種植區面積超出了當地的負荷, 而用作紙張漂白的化學品亦為南中國海岸帶來嚴重污染.
APP's Hainan mill
APP, a Singapore-based company controlled by the Sino-Indonesian Sinar-Mas group, is one of the world's largest paper producers. It began doing business in China in 1996 and operates in the country through a chain of Chinese subsidiaries. Many complaints have been filed in recent years regarding APP's business conduct; investigations have been opened in several countries; and billions of dollars in debt eventually led to the company's delisting from the New York Stock Exchange. Bizarrely, though facing bankruptcy, APP continued to expand in China, and in 2004 began operating the Gold Hai mill on Hainan Island, which is now the biggest paper mill in China.
Environmentalists and the Chinese media have warned that the mill's size exceeds the production capacity of Hainan's plantations, and will therefore necessarily lead to the cutting of natural forest to fill production needs. Greenpeace campaigner Huang Xu has said that there is evidence of the mill creating severe pollution and harming sea life in the South China Sea.
資料來自Asia times online / 亞洲時報中文在線 (專欄管理人按)