Today WWF-Indonesia together with Auriga, Forest Peoples Programme, Hutan Kita Institute, Jikalahari, KKI Warsi, Rainforest Action Network, Titian, Walhi Riau, Walhi Jambi, Wetlands International, and Woods & Wayside International issued "Evaluating the Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance Performance of Sinar Mas Group (SMG) and Royal Golden Eagle (RGE) Companies-Criteria and Indicators for Assessing and Verifying Performance".

This is motivated by the fact that many NGOs and companies consider the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) to be a credible verification system for responsible forest management. Unfortunately, the FSC system cannot currently be used to assess the performance of Sinar Mas Group (SMG) and Raja Garuda Emas (RGE), because:

• SMG Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) was de-associated by FSC in 2007, due to public information proving that APP was involved in forest destruction practices that were contrary to FSC's mission.
• RGE APRIL was de-associated by FSC in 2013 due to massive deforestation activities in Indonesia that had negative social and environmental impacts in high conservation value areas.

In July 2017, FSC created a Stakeholder Working Group (SWG) to develop APP's roadmap. Many of the authors of this document are also members of the SWG, and have monitored APP and RGE operations for nearly two decades. So we developed the Criteria and Indicators document, which is now a system outside of FSC, as an answer for buyers and others to independently verify the performance of APP and APRIL, as we realize that the process of re-associating the two companies will take a long time.

In developing this document, the authors have consulted with other NGOs and buyers. So that the document, which consists of 3 obligations, namely obligations related to the environment, social and corporate governance, can serve as:

• Criteria and Indicators that buyers and investors in the pulp & paper sector, NGOs, community groups and others can use to develop specific, measurable and independent on-the-ground performance assessments for SMG and RGE companies.
• These Criteria and Indicators can be used as part of a roadmap to end SMG and RGE disassociation with FSC.
• The Criteria and Indicators can be used as reference material for the development of national FSC standards and strengthening/improvement of FSC forest management and controlled wood standards.

This document is divided into four parts, namely:

• Section I presents the Criteria & Indicators of the three categories and also presents their intersection with the FSC standards for Forest Management and Controlled Wood which can facilitate the integration of these in the roadmap. It also provides a basis for buyers and investors to assess and verify whether pulp & paper producers are meeting the environmental, social and governance categories where the FSC system is unable to do so.
• Part II presents recommendations for the roadmap.
• Part II presents recommended Criteria and Indicators material that can be used as reference material in the development of FSC roadmaps and national standards, and buyers and investors can use this document to independently develop and communicate the performance they expect from SMGs and RGEs.
• Section III presents the minimum standards for conducting an audit that can be judged as professional, and independent.
• Section IV provides definitions of terminology