On February 25th Aidenvironment Asia celebrated the official opening of its office in Bogor, Indonesia. A number of our highly esteemed clients and relations came over to celebrate this joyful event with us, including Samdhana, WALHI (Friends of the Earth Indonesia), Sawit Watch, Down to Earth, Solidaridad and Forest Peoples Programme.

Executive director Peter de Haan flew in from the head office in Amsterdam to welcome our guests. Senior consultant Eric Wakker, who has been active on the oil palm issue for many years, recounted his personal experience from the very beginning of the oil palm campaign. Adri Zakaria explained about the verification research he recently carried out for Unilever, which once again showed the importance of the truth and the neutral position Aidenvironment takes, irrespective of NGO, corporate or government interests. Albertus Hadi Pramono elaborated on our illipe nut project, which unites producers, local communities and companies. New colleague Meri Orth presented the research she did on the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme. The acceptability of the scheme as a warranty for sustainable timber is currently under review, although on the ground sustainability cannot be guaranteed.

We thank all those who were there to celebrate this memorable occasion with us.

For more information contact Adriani Zakaria.