Danone Indonesia's Environmental And Social Performance Achieves Global Gartner Power Of The Professional-Supply Chain Awards

Photo: Special

JAKARTA - Danone Indonesia has just won the prestigious Gartner Power of the ProfessionalTM - Supply Chain Awards in the Social Impact of The Year category. This is a world-class recognition and appreciation given by Gartner, a management consulting institution based in the United States, for Danone Indonesia's commitment to water conservation efforts including the Watershed (DAS), strengthening supply chains and empowering the community.

This community-based annual award program recognizes the extraordinary innovation in the global supply chain that provides benefits to the wider community, as well as encourages sustainable business performance.

Karyanto Wibowo, Senior Public Affairs and Sustainability Director of Danone Indonesia said that the award received by Danone Indonesia was a form of commitment to the Company's sustainability roadmap through Danone Impact Journey (DIJ).

"The initiative that we are doing involves managing water resources in an integrated manner from upstream to downstream, and helping strengthen local water management. This initiative also supports local community empowerment and improving community welfare," explained Karyanto, in a written statement, Saturday, March 1.

As a country with abundant natural resources, Indonesia still faces an imbalance between availability and water needs, especially for the Java and Bali regions.

"The dense population factor and economic activity, including tourism, increase the pressure on water resources, especially in the dry season. Responding to this challenge, Danone Indonesia is actively managing 10 watersheds in Java and Bali," added Karyanto.

Danone Indonesia implements natural-based solutions as well as sustainable practices which include landscape conservation with 2.6 million trees planting to maintain ecosystem balance, construction of 20,000 infiltration trenches (rorak) and 2,500 infiltration wells for groundwater restoration; as well as regenerative agriculture for water efficiency involving more than 1,000 farmers in 500 hectares of land in order to increase productivity and agricultural resilience.

In addition, Danone Indonesia has also provided the benefits of accessing clean water for 563,000 people in the community around operational locations and at the national level. These various initiatives are part of a commitment to realize the Positive Water Impact, namely by returning more water to nature and society compared to the water used for the company's production process.

The calculation of water volume is a process of accurately measuring and monitoring the impact of water management initiatives that have been implemented by Danone Indonesia and have been validated by the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN).

"This program has increased yield productivity by 50 percent, increased annual income by more than 30 percent for more than 150 farmers, also protected upstream farmers from risk of landslides and crop failure. This initiative also plays an important role in increasing the capacity of cultivation practices and managing water resources for 1000 farmers, in fact, has become a pilot project for sustainable agriculture on 150 hectares of cultivated land," explained Karyanto.

This initiative model is a blueprint for water management programs in all operational areas of Danone Indonesia in the future.

"We want to emphasize that the sustainability of supply chains will not only have an impact on business, but also bring positive changes to society and the environment. With this award, Danone Indonesia is increasingly committed to building a strong and sustainable supply chain ecosystem," concluded Karyanto.