Strengthening Community Ties: International Paper’s Commitment to Local Stakeholders and Forest Conservation
Originally published in International Paper's 2023 Sustainability Report
Working with community stakeholders
The future of forests and the future of local communities are closely intertwined. Forests don’t just play a critical role in the local socio-economic fabric; they also directly impact the quality of life of people living nearby. Bearing this in mind, we have made it a priority to engage in meaningful partnerships with community stakeholders. This approach fosters a sense of shared responsibility and helps build resilient communities that are economically and environmentally connected to the forests.
Promoting social equity
Our commitment to promoting social equity entails re-examining certain barriers that prevent equal access to sustainable resources. Heirs’ property is land passed down from generation to generation informally, often because landowners die without having written a will. In the absence of a will, the land is considered jointly owned by all heirs and split between multiple family members regardless of whether they have set foot on the land, lived on the property or paid the taxes. Since its ownership is unclear, the land often ends up in forced sale, leading to forest fragmentation. This disproportionally affects Black families, contributing to over 11 million acres of land lost in the last hundred years and counting.
That’s where the Center for Heirs’ Property Preservation® (CHPP) comes in. Working in partnership with International Paper, CHPP supports historically underserved communities to build intergenerational resilience. In 2023, International Paper announced its partnership with CHPP. The center works alongside the Mississippi Center for Justice to provide legal services, assistance and resources to help historically underserved Mississippians, with support from World Wildlife Fund and Kimberly-Clark Corporation. This effort, known as the Mobile Basin Heirs’ Property Support Initiative, is designed to help families in Mississippi protect and keep their forestland, build intergenerational wealth and promote productive, sustainably managed forests.
Longstanding partnerships with conservation groups
2023 was a milestone year for our work with conservation organizations. As we celebrated a decade of partnering with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, we also continued our endeavors to preserve and protect our planet’s delicate ecosystems together with other strategic conservation partners.
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF)
International Paper and NFWF began working together to restore and enhance forested ecosystems in 2013. Our Forestland Stewards Partnership (FSP) has delivered many significant accomplishments, including establishing or enhancing more than 700,000 acres of native forest and wildlife habitat to date, including the iconic longleaf pine ecosystem. Now entering its second decade, FSP has funded 177 projects across 13 states that, once completed, will restore, enhance or protect more than 1.6 million acres of forest habitat. The FSP was recently renewed for another five-year period, with International Paper committing $10 million for wildlife and working forest conservation. To learn more about our work with NFWF, visit this website.
The Nature Conservancy (TNC)
Start-of-the-art forestry practices have been at the heart of our collaboration with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) since 2018. This work reaches beyond International Paper’s traditional supply chain in an effort to identify nature-based climate solutions that can be replicated anywhere around the world. For instance, the first phase of the Reduced-Impact Logging for Carbon (RIL-C) initiative provided land managers in Indonesia and Gabon with practical, science-based toolkits to improve carbon sequestration in working forests. The second phase of this engagement saw the expansion of TNC’s RIL-C toolkit to new geographies in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico and the Republic of Congo. This funding also allowed TNC and partners at the University of Wisconsin to develop bioacoustics monitoring protocols, which use sound recordings to measure forest a closer look biodiversity and understand the impacts of logging and other disturbances to forestbased wildlife species.
With the first two phases completed, our partnership is now scaling up efforts to inform responsible forestry, carbon sequestration and biodiversity monitoring on the ground in the Central Appalachian region of the U.S. and in Mexico.
American Bird Conservancy (ABC)
Since 2020, International Paper has been partnering with the American Bird Conservancy, an organization dedicated to conserving wild birds and their habitats, to promote forest bird awareness and conservation within our supply chain. Our work engages IP’s Fiber Supply Team, academia, forestry and wildlife experts, our wood suppliers and forest landowners in our mill basins in the Southeastern U.S. Specifically, we hold field-based bird workshops, conduct bird surveys, collaborate on academic research and implement bird-friendly forest management practices on strategic sites identified via ForSite™. In 2023, our work was recognized by the AF&PA with the Leadership in Sustainability Award for Resilient U.S. Forests (see page 32).
The Arbor Day Foundation
Our partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation dates back to 2019 and continued to flourish and deliver tangible benefits for people and the planet in 2023.
In the past, we have joined with the Arbor Day Foundation to strengthen community resilience through the Community Tree Recovery Program. This public-private partnership distributes free trees to residents in communities affected by natural disasters and supports the restoration of affected forestland. As one of 17 founding members of the Arbor Day Foundation’s Evergreen Alliance, we also champion the Foundation’s ambitions to plant 500 million trees focusing on neighborhoods and forests of greatest need in the next five years.
World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
After working with WWF for more than a decade on responsible sourcing and landscape investments, International Paper was one of the first five U.S. companies to join WWF’s Forests Forward program for corporate action in support of nature, climate and people. Forests Forward engages with companies and other stakeholders around the globe to deliver effective nature-based strategies for forests that help achieve their business and sustainability goals. Most recently, we partnered with WWF to support the Mobile Basin Heirs’ Property Support Initiative in a closer look the Southeastern U.S. (see page 35).
Other strategic partnerships to advance forest sustainability
- American Forest Foundation (see page 67)
- Celebrate Planet Earth • WBCSD Forest Solutions Group
About International Paper
International Paper (NYSE: IP) is a global producer of sustainable packaging, pulp and other fiber-based products, and one of the world's largest recyclers. Headquartered in Memphis, Tenn., we employ approximately 39,000 colleagues globally who are committed to creating what's next. We serve customers worldwide, with manufacturing operations in North America, Latin America, North Africa and Europe. Net sales for 2023 were $18.9 billion. Additional information can be found by visiting internationalpaper.com/.
About International Paper - EMEA
In Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA), International Paper focuses on the production and marketing of fiber-based packaging and specialty pulp, employing approximately 4,400 people. As a leading supplier of high-quality corrugated containers for a multitude of applications, we serve customers throughout the region from our network of two recycled containerboard mills and 23 box plants in France, Italy, Morocco, Portugal and Spain. Specialty pulp is made in Gdansk, Poland. Other products available from International Paper in the region include a variety of Kraft linerboard and other pulp products.
