Date: Mon, 7 Nov 1994 15:58:20 -0500 From: David A. Sonnenfeld To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: Asia-Pacific Pulp & Paper Industries Attached is a working abstract for my dissertation on environment and technology and the pulp and paper industries of Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. Comments and discussion welcome, either on the list or directly. Thanks also for passing relevant items my way. My apologies if you get multiple copies as a result of cross-posting. Sincerely, David Sonnenfeld Ph.D. Candidate, Sociology UC Santa Cruz ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ A B S T R A C T Ph.D. Dissertation (in process) TITLE: "Conflict, cooperation & innovation: a social and environmental history of innovation in environmental technology in the pulp and paper industries of Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand" AUTHOR: David A. Sonnenfeld, Ph.D. Candidate, Sociology, University of California, Santa Cruz SUPERVISOR: Professor Andrew Szasz, Board of Studies in Sociology, University of California, Santa Cruz SUPPORT: The Australian-American Educational Foundation (Fulbright Commission); the University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation; Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies, Australian National University; Division of Social Sciences and Sociology Graduate Program, University of California, Santa Cruz EXPECTED COMPLETION DATE: June 1995 KEYWORDS: activism Australia bagasse bamboo bleach chlorine community development dioxin ECF elemental environment government Greenpeace history Indonesia industry innovation kenaf Malaysia NGOs non-wood paper politics pollution pulp regulation science sociology Southeast Asia TCF technology Thailand transfer wastewater wood ABSTRACT: Few industries have grown as fast, or been so conflictual, as the pulp and paper industries of Australasia and Southeast Asia. New world-class pulp and paper mills involve financial investments up to US $1 billion, hundreds of thousands of hectares of natural forest and industrial timber estates; very large quantities of water (and wastewater); and big impacts on people and the natural environment in surrounding areas. During the last decade, major conflicts have erupted in Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand, over pulp and paper mill development and operation. Disputes continue in these countries over the resource rights and pollution impacts of pulp mill development. Despite, and because of, this contentiousness, in all four countries, the pulp and paper industry is moving away from the use of elemental chlorine in pulping and bleaching. Environmental and community activists effectively raised important issues about the dangers of using chlorine. Government regulators responded with tightened regulations, especially for new factories. Industry supply companies rose to the occasion, and to the promise of lucrative markets. Leading pulp and paper companies found ways of meeting the new regulations, reducing operating costs, and establishing claims for "environmentally sustainable" production. As a social and environmental history of technological innovation in the Asia-Pacific pulp and paper industry, this study demonstrates the importance of social and environmental, as well as business, factors in setting a contemporary research agenda for industry. It draws on political sociology, the "new" sociology of science and technology, and environmental history, to broaden and deepen the theory of technological innovation. Data for this study have been collected through direct observation of pulp and paper manufacturing operations in all four countries; interviews of pulp and paper industry officials and researcher engineers, government regulators, public sector research scientists, and environmental activists; attendence at industry conferences and trade shows; and analysis of secondary materials. CONTACT: Mr. David A. Sonnenfeld Sociology Graduate Program Adlai E. Stevenson College University of California 1156 High Street Santa Cruz, CA 95064 USA fax: +1 (408) 429-0146 tel: +1 (408) 459-8466 Internet: sonn@cats.ucsc.edu