UN World Water Day 2012 Recognized at Sustainable Water Management Event

First in a series of actions in preparation for session at Rio +20

JAKARTA, Indonesia--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--On UN World Water Day 2012, March 22, 2012, the Indonesia Water Mandate Working Group hosted a seminar on ‘Collaborative Actions for Sustainable Water Management in Indonesia.’ This seminar supports the Global UN World Water Theme of “Water and Food Security.”

“At a time when the whole world is grappling with the question of how to promote more sustainable development, it is crucial to find new approaches to how we manage water”

As Chair of the Indonesia Water Mandate Working Group, Asia Pulp & Paper Group (APP) is aiming to raise public awareness of the urgency of responsible water management and the importance of taking collaborative actions toward addressing national and international water issues.

The seminar was addressed by Dr. Ir. Mochammad Amron, M.Sc., Director General of the Water Resources, Ministry of Public Works and featured the launch of the UN’s flagship global report on water titled “The United Nations World Water Development Report 4.” Other keynote speakers included, Prof. Dr. Hubert Gijzen on behalf of the UN Resident Coordinator and the President of the Indonesia Global Compact Network, Y.W. Junardy.

This event is the first in a series of activities being undertaken by the Working Group under the Chairmanship of APP and in the run up to a session taking place at the Rio +20 summit in June 2012. Other activities to be completed before June will include a seminar on developing a formal water disclosure standard, the completion of a ‘Save Water’ campaign toolkit, a report on Indonesian best practice in water conservation and a series of practical projects to address community water challenges in Indonesia.

“At a time when the whole world is grappling with the question of how to promote more sustainable development, it is crucial to find new approaches to how we manage water,” said Prof. Dr. Hubert Gijzen, Director and Representative of the UNESCO Office in Jakarta. “Water is probably the single most pressing factor hindering sustainable development: limiting food production, causing death from water-borne diseases, and causing distress and economic damage from water-related disasters,” he added.

Y.W. Junardy, President of Indonesia Global Compact Network, said, “We encourage business participation in the ‘Save Water’ campaign, especially because it represents the collective efforts of companies across Indonesia, collaborating in our Indonesia Water Mandate Working Group. With the launch of this campaign, we hope other Indonesian companies will join our Working Group and partner with us on our quest to address water quality and management issues across Indonesia.”

Aida Greenbury, Managing Director, Sustainability and Stakeholder Engagement, APP, said “As a key member of the Indonesian private sector, we seek to implement the six principles of the CEO Water Mandate in our daily business practices, as well as in the social and environmental commitments that are so important to us. We are dedicated to continually improving our water management internally as well as contributing in addressing water issues in the community surrounding our operations and beyond.”

“We hope that other companies across Indonesia will use Indonesia Water Mandate Working Group’s learning for achieving sustainable water management across their own operations, and in improving the availability of clean water to communities across our country,” added Aida Greenbury.

Some of the ongoing clean water projects being conducted by APP include a Water Footprint assessment in all APP mills; the implementation of a community water supply project in Ujung Kulon National Park; and implementation of community-based water purification system in the Giam Siak Kecil - Bukit Batu Biosphere Reserve.

For more information about Asia Pulp & Paper’s sustainability initiatives please visit www.rainforestrealities.com.