Steering Group for High Carbon Stock (HCS) approach

A group of leading plantation companies with commitments to

eliminate deforestation from their supply chains, NGOs and technical support

organisations met on 25th and 26th August in Singapore to establish a

governance and standardisation body for the methodology, known as the High Carbon

Stock (HCS) Approach, to be used to implement these commitments.

The group will work together to demonstrate that immediate

action can be taken to break the link between deforestation and high-risk commodities,

such as palm oil and pulp and paper. The companies involved are Asia Pulp and Paper (APP),

Cargill, Golden Agri-Resources (GAR), Golden Veroleum Liberia, Wilmar and the

producer members of the Palm Oil Innovation Group, Agropalma and New Britain

Palm Oil. All have agreed to stop any further land clearing for plantations

until High Carbon Stock assessments have been completed and management plans

enacted to protect High Carbon Stock areas. 

The international NGOs involved include Conservation

International, Forest Heroes, Forest Peoples’ Programme (FPP), Greenpeace,

National Wildlife Federation, Rainforest Action Network, Rainforest Alliance,

Union of Concerned Scientists and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), and as

observers, The Nature Conservancy and World Resources Institute as well as the

technical support organisations Daemeter, Proforest and The Forest Trust (TFT).

See the full joint statement here.