News (261)

/ EoF News

Menampung bahan baku dari hutan alam, APP terus langgar komitmen keberlanjutannya

Pekanbaru, 1 Maret 2024 - Jikalahari menerbitkan rilis yang menyoroti indikasi deforestasi dan penebangan hutan alam yang dilakukan oleh Asia Pulp & Paper / Sinar Mas group melalui anak perusahaannya yakni PT Arara Abadi dan PT Riau Indo Agropalma pada Februari 2024 di Indragiri Hilir, Riau.

/ EoF News

Collecting raw materials from natural forests, APP continues to violate its sustainability commitments

Pekanbaru, March 1, 2024 - Jikalahari published a release highlighting the indications of deforestation and clearing of natural forests carried out by Asia Pulp & Paper / Sinar Mas group through its subsidiaries, namely PT Arara Abadi and PT Riau Indo Agropalma, in Indragiri Hilir, Riau.

/ EoF News

Karhutla makin mencemaskan, konsesi HTI pun terdeteksi titik api

Sejak medio April 2023, kabut asap akibat Karhutla telah menyelimuti kota Dumai dan Bengkalis. Hingga sepekan ini, karhutla sedikitnya telah menghanguskan lahan gambut berkedalaman 4 meter seluas lebih kurang 60 hektar, demikian data dari BPBD Provinsi Riau. Lokasi kebakaran terjadi di Desa Pelintung, Dumai, dan Desa Tanjung Leban, Kabupaten Bengkalis.

/ EoF News

EoF temukan penebangan oleh pemasok APP di area NKT 1, gambut cagar UNESCO

Koalisi Eyes on the Forest menerbitkan Laporan Investigatif menyoroti indikasi deforestasi dan penebangan hutan alam di lahan gambut dan penebangan vegetasi alam di area Nilai Konservasi Tinggi (NKT) oleh Asia Pulp & Paper / Sinar Mas group, di cagar biosfir UNESCO Giam Siak Kecil – Bukit Batu, Riau. Kedua pemasok, PT Arara Abadi (resort Sebanga dan Melibur) serta PT Sekato Pratama Makmur (SPM).

/ EoF News

EoF finds clearing by APP suppliers in HCV 1 area and deep peat UNESCO reserve

Today Eyes on the Forest published an Investigative Report highlighting indication of deforestation and clearing on High Conservation Value 1 area and peat drainage. Two suppliers of Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) / Sinar Mas in UNESCO Biosphere Reserve of Giam Siak Kecil – Bukit Batu, Riau province, were investigated by EoF in early this year.

/ EoF Press Release

Kematian gajah di konsesi APP di Giam Siak Kecil, pertanyaan berulang soal tindakan nyata korporat melindungi NKT

PEKANBARU – Koalisi Eyes on the Forest mengapresiasi tindakan cepat Balai Besar Konservasi Sumber Daya Alam kantor Riau dalam menangani kematian gajah sumatera (maximus elephas sumatranus) di konsesi Hutan Tanaman Industri (HTI) dan mulai melakukan penyidikan kematian yang belum diketahui motifnya.

/ EoF Press Release

Perhutanan Sosial solusi konflik berkepanjangan masyarakat Dosan dengan PT Arara Abadi

Siaran Pers Perkumpulan Elang -- 10 November 2021. Masyarakat Kampung Dosan, Kecamatan Pusako, Kabupaten Bengkalis, Riau, mengunjungi Lembaga Swadaya Masyarakat (LSM) untuk berdiskusi dan mengadukan perihal konflik yang mereka alami dengan PT Arara Abadi (pemasok Asia Pulp & Paper /APP Sinar Mas Group).

/ EoF Press Release

Pulp mill connected to fires and respiratory illness plans to triple production

Palembang, August 23, 2021 -- Over 30 civil society organizations on Monday sent a letter to investors of Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), part of the Sinar Mas Group, explaining why the expansion of APP’s OKI Pulp and Paper Mill in Sumatra, Indonesia would risk the respiratory health for millions of people in Southeast Asia and cause more greenhouse gas emissions than many countries on an annual basis.

/ EoF News

Penebangan Hutan Alam Kembali Terjadi di Riau

Kejadian penebangan hutan alam yang sangat masif pernah terjadi di Riau, antara tahun 2000-2008. Kala itu, awal tahun 2000, potongan kayu gelondongan kayu bulat berdiameter mulai dari 20 cm hingga mencapai 1 m kerap ditemukan berjejeran di pinggir hutan. Pemandangan itu selalu menghiasi setiap jalanan beraspal menuju industri sawmill, kayu lapis (plywood) serta industri bubur kertas dan kertas (pulp and paper) di Riau.

/ EoF News

Kebakaran masih menyambar konsesi HTI dua grup besar – Hasil pemantauan lapangan oleh EoF

Eyes on the Forest bulan ini melakukan observasi pembuktian di lapangan (groundtruthing) akan adanya kebakaran hutan dan lahan di konsesi-konsesi Hutan Tanaman Industri (HTI) seperti yang terpantau oleh satelit NASA FIRMS VIIRS kurun Februari – Maret 2021.

/ EoF News

Karhutla 2021 melanda Riau, konsesi HTI terdeteksi hotspot

Pandemi covid belum usai, masyarakat Riau kembali dihadapkan dengan ancaman kebakaran hutan dan lahan. Berdasarkan data dari BPBD Provinsi Riau, sejak Januari 2021 hingga kini luas lahan yang terbakar mencapai lebih kurang 248 hektar. Dilansir dari harian detik (24/2), Kepala Pelaksana BPBD, Riau Edwar Sanger, mengatakan karhutla sudah melanda 8 daerah di Riau. Luas lahan terbakar bervariasi, dari 4 sampai 82 hektar.

/ EoF News

Pada Bulan Ini di tahun 2010 -- EoF menghimbau APP dan APRIL untuk menepati janji mereka

10 tahun lalu, tepatnya 3 Desember 2010, Eyes on the Forest merilis sebuah laporan yang menyingkap bagaimana dua perusahaan raksasa pulp dan kertas – Asia Pulp & Paper milik Sinar Mas Group (SMG / APP) yang berkantor pusat di Shanghai/Cina dan Asian Pacific Resources International Holdings Limited (APRIL) milik Raja Garuda Mas Grup yang berkantor pusat di Singapura – terus mengkonversi hutan alam dan gambut dalam di propinsi Riau.

/ EoF News

Titik panas muncul di lima konsesi HTI, Gubernur khawatirkan bencana ganda

Memasuki bulan bersejarah bagi negara Indonesia dan provinsi Riau, puluhan titik panas muncul lagi, di tengah kurangnya intensitas hujan. Dilansir dari Riau Mandiri, Senin (10/8), BMKG mencatat ada 88 titik panas yang tersebar di seluruh kabupaten dan kota di Riau. Sedangkan sehari sebelumnya, yakni pada Minggu (9/8/2020), terdeteksi 38 titik panas.

/ EoF News

Jikalahari: Arara Abadi sengaja membakar lahannya

Kebakaran lahan PT Arara Abadi di Desa Merbau, Kabupaten Pelalawan yang terjadi pekan lalu menyita kemarahan pembela lingkungan hidup. PT Arara Abadi, pemasok bahan baku untuk Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), diduga sengaja melakukan pembakaran lahan seluas 83 hektar untuk ditanami kembali dengan akasia.

/ EoF News

Titik api terdeteksi di konsesi HTI di tengah pandemi

Di tengah perjuangan menghadapi pandemic virus corona, Indonesia khususnya Sumatera dan Kalimantan juga dihadapkan dengan ancaman kebakaran hutan dan lahan (karhutla). 29 Juni 2020, titik api muncul di Riau. Kekuatiran akan bergabungnya bencana karhutla bersama dengan pandemi penyakit virus corona-19 (covid-19) semakin membuncah.

/ EoF Press Release

Civil society denounces Indonesia’s government siding with companies threatening Indigenous Peoples, endangered species and the environment

Jakarta, 4 June 2020 - The National Coalition to Preserve Natural Resources (GN-PSDA) has called on the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry to stop ignoring the environmental and criminal destruction caused by Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), one of the world’s largest paper producers. (1)

/ EoF News

Civil Society Open Letter About APP’s Recurrent Violation of Farmers’ Land Rights in Jambi, Indonesia

Civil Society Open Letter About APP’s Recurrent Violation of Farmers’ Land Rights in Jambi, Indonesia Dear Madam/Sir, We are contacting you about the destruction of community food resources in the village of Lubuk Mandarsah, Tebo Regency, Jambi Province, Indonesia, perpetrated by PT. Wira Karya Sakti (WKS). WKS is an industrial pulpwood producer affiliated with Asia Pulp and Paper Sinar Mas (APP Sinar Mas), one of Indonesian main pulp companies. On the morning of 4 March 2020, a drone sprayed poison on the community’s rubber trees, vegetables, and palm trees. This is the way PT Wirakarya Sakti resolved its conflict with the local community: by jeopardising the safety of their food and livelihood in the middle of the Covid-19 crisis.

/ EoF News

Menelisik konflik satwa-manusia di konsesi APP

Produksi pulp and paper merupakan salah satu penyebab utama deforestasi dan degradasi hutan gambut di Sumatera. Menurut perkiraan, APP dan APRIL sudah memusnahkan 2 juta hektar hutan di Propinsi Riau sejak pertengahan 1980-an, yang merupakan setengah dari hutan hujan tropis yang ada di Riau saat itu. produsen pulp dan kertas yang terkemuka di Indonesia tersebut dan anak perusahaannya sangat mengandalkan kayu rimba campuran (mixed tropical hardwood atau MTH) yang berasal dari kegiatan pembukaan hutan alam.

/ EoF News

NGOs leave APP-backed conflict resolution forum

Some stakeholders quit Jambi Regional Social Working Group (KKSR), multi-stakeholders forum initiated by Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), to resolve social conflict involving the corporate against communities in Jambi. They leave the working group due to disappointment on lack of progress and performance of APP-funded forum which consist of civil society organizations and government agencies, Gatra.com website reported in October.

/ EoF Press Release

Restorasi gambut tak menentu, peraturan baru menguntungkan siapa?

Kebakaran hutan hebat 2015 tak membuat jera. Investigasi Eyes on the Forest (EoF) terkini menemukan 3 dari 7 perusahaan pemegang konsesi HTI, yang jadi tersangka kebakaran hutan dan lahan pada 2013-2014, diduga tidak mengindahkan peraturan perlindungan dan pemulihan gambut. Apakah ini akibat lemahnya supervisi dan koordinasi pemerintah?

/ EoF Press Release

Peat restoration uncertain, who will benefit from the new regulation?

Severe fires 2015 does not change anybody’s behaviour. Eyes on the Forest (EoF) coalition’s investigation found three of seven industrial timber plantation companies – that has been named in previous cases as suspects to forest and land fires case in 2013-2014— are once again apparently breaching protection and restoration regulations. Is this caused by poor supervision and coordination by the Government?

/ EoF News

Siaran pers KAMH: Menuntut transparansi APP/Sinar Mas tentang perusahaan pemasok kayu

JAKARTA, 15 MEI 2019—Masih hangat di ingatan publik kasus kebakaran hutan dan gambut yang melibatkan raksasa penghasil kertas Sinar Mas (dikenal dengan merek dagang Asia Pulp & Paper—APP) beserta perusahaan pemasok kayunya. Kini, APP harus jujur dan komprehensif mengungkap informasi penerima manfaat perusahaan-perusahaan dalam rantai pasok APP dan secara transparan menjalankan menjalankan komitmen pelestariannya.

/ EoF News

NGO coalition report highlights APP's continued involvement in deforestation despite its zero deforestation commitment

Jakarta, 15 May 2019 -- A group of NGOs under the Anti Forest Mafia Coalition, including WWF-Indonesia, published a joint report highlighting that Sinar Mas Group’s Asia Pulp & Paper (SMG/APP) continues to be involved in deforestation, peatland destruction and fires even after they had committed to zero deforestation in 2013.

/ EoF News

Konsesi HTI dan kawasan prioritas restorasi gambut di Riau terbakar

Hasil pengecekan lapangan oleh Eyes on the Forest menemukan adanya kebakaran hutan dan lahan di konsesi Hutan Tanaman Industri (HTI) di kabupaten Rokan Hilir dan kawasan prioritas restorasi gambut serta areal peta indikatif penundaan pemberian izin baru (PIPPIB) pekan lalu.

/ EoF News

Pulpwood supplier and peat restoration areas razed by fires in Riau

Eyes on the Forest coalition conducted last week series of ground checking on burned areas and found a concession of industrial timber supplier in Rokan Hilir district and peat restoration priority areas in Bengkalis razed by fires. The restoration areas were also situated on land of indicative map on new permit issuance suspension (dubbed as PIPPIB).

/ EoF Press Release

Sinar Mas Group Must Declare the Beneficial Owners of All Affiliated and Related Companies

Jakarta, 30 May 2018—A new report published today by the Koalisi Anti Mafia Hutan is calling on the Government of Indonesia to take firm actions against global pulp and paper producer Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) after unmasking their corporate links with wood fiber plantation companies (HTI). The report entitled Removing the Corporate Mask reveals an apparent close relationship between the Sinar Mas Group, the parent conglomerate of APP, and 24 declared wood suppliers that APP has called "independent partners". The report also traces out the ownership structure of the forestry business group within the Sinar Mas Group, which extends to a network of companies in numerous offshore jurisdictions.

/ EoF Press Release

Kebijakan Land Swap: Setengah Hati Perlindungan Gambut dan Hutan Alam Indonesia

Langkah tegas Pemerintah Indonesia untuk melindungi dan memulihkan lahan gambut patut didukung, termasuk di antaranya kebijakan pelarangan pembukaan atau eksploitasi lahan gambut oleh perusahaan hutan tanaman industri (HTI). Setidaknya 16% atau setara dengan 2,1 juta hektar dari 12,9 juta hektar total luasan, telah ditetapkan pemerintah sebagai daerah prioritas restorasi gambut.

/ EoF News

LSM kritisi APP lamban dalam kebijakan lestarinya

Sejumlah lembaga swadaya masyarakat (LSM) menyampaikan pernyataan bersama dalam menyambut 5 tahun diluncurkannya Kebijakan Konservasi Hutan (FCP) oleh Asia Pulp & Paper (APP). Pernyataan Bersama menyimpulkan APP belum berada pada jalur yang tepat dan kemajuan pelaksanaan komitmen tersebut belum memadai.

/ EoF News

NGOs say APP lack of progress

Several green organizations criticized Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) for lack of progress in some areas which made the company has yet to be on sustainable track, while its Forest Conservation Policy (FCP) is entering the fifth year this week.

/ EoF News

NGOs publish criteria and indicators to evaluate APP, APRIL

EoF News -- 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 published 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.

/ EoF News

LSM rilis Kriteria dan Indikator guna menilai kinerja APP, APRIL

Hari ini WWF-Indonesia bersama dengan Auriga, Forest Peoples Programme, Hutan Kita Institute, Jikalahari, KKI Warsi, Rainforest Action Network, Titian, Walhi Riau, Walhi Jambi, Wetlands International, dan Woods& Wayside International mengeluarkan “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”.

/ EoF Press Release

Pabrik baru Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) mengancam komitmen Indonesia dalam perubahan iklim

Pabrik senilai $3 milyar milik Asia Pulp & Paper dibayangi emisi karbon dan ancaman kebakaran. Organisasi Masyarakat Sipil (CSO) mendesak APP berhenti mengeringkan lahan gambut untuk produksi tanaman serat kayu dan merestorasi area yang terdegradasi.

/ EoF Press Release

“Zero deforestation” champion creates new risks for Indonesia’s forests and carbon-rich peatlands with mega-scale pulp mill

A new study by twelve international and Indonesian NGOs shows that in spite of its high-profile commitment to “zero deforestation”, Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) is building one of the world’s largest pulp mills in the Indonesian province of South Sumatra without a sustainable wood supply.

/ EoF News

APRIL, APP told to phase out drained plantations in rich-peat Kampar Peninsula

A new report by Deltares commissioned by Wetlands International conclude that plantations in Kampar Peninsula, Riau province, are not sustainable and economically unviable due to subsidence, drainage and flood problems.

/ EoF News

A hope for peatland protection, no more business as usual on peat

Eyes on the Forest commended the Ministry of Environment and Forestry for issuing a letter and instructions regarding peat management for the prevention and control of fire.

/ EoF News

These maps, tables show you why Sinar Mas/APP companies linked to forest fires, haze

EoF News (PEKANBARU)— Eyes on the Forest published NASA’s FIRMS MODIS fire hotspots data and satellite images on its interactive map to allow easy monitoring of current and past fires in Sumatran concessions of the Sinar Mas Group/Asia Pulp & Paper and others.

/ EoF Press Release

EoF: Sinar Mas/APP’s denial misleading, they source of haze since ten years ago

Sinar Mas Group (SMG) and Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) last week denied publicly that their companies are involved in ongoing forest and land fires. Eyes on the Forest coalition said that media stunt by the giant company is ridiculous and hard to trust.

/ EoF News

See animation of MODIS: how smoke from APP’s supplier blankets Sumatra since August 17

Eyes on the Forest today published a new animation it produced using MODIS True Color Terra images since 17 August 2015. The animation shows smokes coming out of Asia Pulp & Paper's own PT. Rimba Hutani Mas concession in South Sumatra.

/ EoF News

APP again blames others for fires, NGOs refute

Eyes on the Forest found two Landsat images showing fires in and around concessions of four Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) suppliers in peat areas in Jambi and South Sumatra provinces and heavy smokes from them.

/ EoF News

Ministry to take over concessions raged by fires, APP supplier named suspect

Indonesia Police Headquarters named PT BMH as a suspect of forest fires in South Sumatra and it is the second time the timber supplier of Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) convicted to the crime following its legal status in February last year.

/ EoF News

Again President calls on stern measure against companies burning forest

President Joko Widodo called stern measures against companies involved in forest and land fires burning by rescinding their licenses, media report said today.

/ EoF News

APRIL found clearing natural forest in green belt, supplying natural woods to pulp mill

PT Riau Andalan Pulp & Paper (RAPP), major concession of Asia Pacific Resources International Limited (APRIL), was found clearing natural forest in its concession of district/sector Ukui, Tesso Nilo landscape, Riau province.

/ EoF News

NGOs condemns APP/SMG for brutal murder by their security of a local farmer

Indra Pelani (23) of Lubuk Mandarsah was killed by security guards hired by APP’s sister company PT. Wirakarya Sakti (WKS) in Bukit Tigapuluh landscape, Jambi Province, Sumatra. The village has been in conflict with WKS for a long time over their land tenure for 3,000 ha.

/ EoF News

Bengkalis district most fires hotspot detected

Fires hotspots still haunt Riau province as in recent week there were 114 fire hotspots that analyzed by Eyes on the Forest based on NASA Firms EOSDIS Data, and Bengkalis district still the area mostly suffered by fires with 62 hotspots.

/ EoF News

New report: forestry industry uses 30 percent wood from unsustainable sources

A recent report highlighting gap on timber supply sustainability found that estimated 30 percent of wood used by Indonesia’s industrial forestry sector comes from illegal sources.

/ EoF Press Release

More to conservation than APP's clearing halt

Two years after Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) announced a new “forest conservation” policy, APP’s pledge to halt forest clearing has held, but its forests are still disappearing.

/ EoF News

President to stop companies licenses operating on peatlands

The President of Indonesia Joko Widodo, accompanied by the Minister of Forestry and Environment Siti Nurbaya, came to Riau province last week to monitor the burned forest areas that caused haze in Sungai Tohor village, Meranti Islands District, media reported.

/ EoF News

Jikalahari reveals “new alleged violation” by APP's supplier

A local environmental organization accused Asia Pulp & Paper (APP/Sinar Mas) breached its Forest Conservation Policy and forestry law following a new finding on its pulpwood supplier’s concession that found operating excavator draining peat canal and construct road.

/ EoF News

NGOs coalition lodges corruption cases against 27 pulp suppliers

A coalition of Non-Governmental Organizations lodged corruption cases involving 27 forestry companies in Riau to anti-corruption commission (KPK) in Jakarta Tuesday, media reports said.

/ EoF News

An independent review on SVLK system launched by NGOs coalition

NGO coalition launched an independent study on the Indonesian Timber Legality Assurance System (SVLK) to scrutinize whether it and the actual Timber Legality (LK), Sustainable Production Forest Management (PHPL) and V-Legal certificates can guarantee the legality and sustainability of Indonesian timber products.

/ EoF News

Ex-Riau Governor sentenced to 14 years for corruption

The result of corruption trial of former governor of Riau Rusli Zainal (RZ) which was held on Wednesday (12/3) at Pekanbaru State Court sentenced RZ to 14 years in prison and a liability to pay a fine of Rp 1 billion subsidiary of 6 months imprisonment after being pleaded guilty for corruption on forestry sector and National Games (PON) 2012, media reported.

/ EoF News

Green groups protest against slow haze mitigation

A number of environmental communities and organizations participated in ‘Melawan Asap’ (Fighting against Smoke) action and made speech along their protest in the front of Zapin Monument and Riau Governor Office, Pekanbaru, on Monday (10/3). On this seventeenth ‘anniversary’ of Riau fires and smog disaster, they demanded immediate and serious handling from the central government and the provincial government of Riau.

/ EoF News

Riau blanketed by haze, hotspots detected in concessions

After being free from haze and fires since September 2013, Riau’s annual problem, haze and wildfires, returns to Riau since the end of January 2014. The increasing hotspots which are found in plantations’ concessions as well as outside concessions which have caused the worsening air quality in the province, as schools closed and thousands people infected by respiratory infections.

/ EoF Press Release

1st year anniversary of APP’s FCP: Celebration without conservation triumph

Today marks the 1st year anniversary of the Forest Conservation Policy published by the Sinar Mas Group’s Asia Pulp & Paper (SMG/APP), yet benefit of these commitments’ remain a big question. Our hope is getting weaker but not stronger.

/ EoF News

Jikalahari doubts pulp giant’s green commitment

Riau Forest Rescue Network (Jikalahari) reveals massive deforestation by industrial plantation companies during 2013 that also includes the green group’s doubts on paper giant company’s commitment to save Riau’s natural forest and peatlands seriously.

/ EoF News

Forest monitoring consortium reveals APP’s moratorium violation of 1,400 ha in Borneo

A Kalimantan-based NGOs consortium dedicated to monitoring deforestation in Indonesia’s part of Borneo released an investigative report on Tuesday, December 17th 2013, which reveals APP’s violation to its own self-imposed moratorium by the clearance of up to 1,400 ha natural forest.

/ EoF Press Release

WWF: "Strict sanction for company involved in illegal clearing of ramin trees"

WWF Indonesia urges Ministry of Forestry to follow up on a report published by Greenomics Indonesia yesterday ( Dec 10) and take proper and strict actions for companies involved in felling and supplying ramin trees.

/ EoF News

Ministry: Two APP subsidiaries involved in clearing, supplying Ramin

Latest report published by Greenomics Indonesia, an NGO, disclosed Tuesday that two suppliers of Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) in South Sumatra and West Kalimantan provinces had found clearing and supplying protected Ramin logs.

/ EoF News

Riau Governor tried for issuing permits to pulp suppliers

The first trial on corruption cases involving Riau Governor Rusli Zainal who allegedly paid bribe in PON 2012 national games scandal and accepted bribery in issuing forest logging permits for pulp and paper timber suppliers held on last Wednesday (6/11) in Pekanbaru Corruption Court.

/ EoF News

APP, APRIL suppliers named suspects of fires

At least four pulpwood suppliers and three palm oil plantations named suspects for allegations on Riau wildfires in June-July 2013. Some of these suspected companies are timber suppliers to Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) and Asia Pacific Resource International Limited (APRIL), a newspaper report said this week.

/ EoF News

Belated stories on people suffering wildfires, haze

As the man-made catastrophe of forest fire and haze returns to Riau, citizens of Pelalawan have to leave their homes and be on the alert to prevent fire coming to their remaining land, while some students fainted as schools closed in the district and the province’s capital city.

/ EoF News

Hotspots detected, giant companies play the blind-and-deaf?

Last month’s Riau forest fire catastrophe apparently comes to re-occur in this month. Meteorology Climatology and Geophysics (BMKG) of Pekanbaru recorded a significant increase on the numbers of hotspots detected in Riau Province in the last five days which reached to 230 hotspots.

/ EoF News

Checking fires on the ground – photos published in EoF’s online database

Eyes on the Forest today published photos from field verification trips on 17, 27 and 28 June 2013 in its Google Earth based online Sumatra database. NASA’s FIRMS MODIS fire locations data recorded 9,236 hotspots in Sumatra between 1 and 28 June. 89% were recorded in Riau province (8,229). Majority of the hotspots were recorded on peat soil, suggesting massive carbon emissions.

/ EoF News

Fires, smoke and haze - new in EoF’s online database

Sumatra’s Riau province is suffering Indonesia’s worst fire season in recent years with serious smoke choking the region and neighboring Singapore and southern Malaysia. Eyes on the Forest has been tracking forest and land cover change and those who drive it in Riau since the early 1990s.

/ EoF News

Governor detained for forest graft, probe to companies, ministry needed

Riau Governor Rusli Zainal finally was detained by Corruption Eradicatio Commission (KPK) yesterday for allegedly “abusing power to make money for himself and other people or a corporation” by legalizing five-yearly logging plans to some timber suppliers in Pelalawan and Siak Districts between 2001 – 2007, KPK press release said.

/ EoF News

Child labour in APP’s main supplier revealed

Police have saved eight children working for main supplier of Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) in Pulau Muda, Pelalawan district, and nabbed a contractor recruiting the children from North Sumatra province, media report said.

/ EoF News

APP’s supplier breaches moratorium clearance, report says

Eyes on the Forest investigation last month found natural forest clearing in concession of Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) supplier, PT Riau Indo Agropalma (RIA), in Kerumutan forest block, an important Sumatran tiger habitat in Riau province.

/ EoF News

Indonesian NGOs call for improvement of APP’s Forest Conservation Policy

At least eleven social and environmental civil society groups and networks sent a joint letter to Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) on 24 April 2013, explaining the substantial social and conservation issues APP has failed to address adequately in its Forest Conservation Policy and associated documents.

/ EoF News

APRIL blasted for pollution, unemployment, corruption rants

Students association in Pelalawan district where Asia Pacific Resources International Limited (APRIL) office and mill located protested the company’s main supplier PT Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper (RAPP) over ignorance in providing employment for locals as well as intransparency in handling industrial waste management.

/ EoF News

Kalimantan NGOs: APP’s FCP should embrace more stakeholders

A civil society organizations’ consortium monitoring deforestation in West Kalimantan said last week that The Forest Trust (TFT), a consultant hired by Sinar Mas Group’s Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) should clarify verification on deforestation findings in its two suppliers’ concessions in “a more comprehensive way and to embrace all relevant parties suspected by the consultant in its rebuttal report.”

/ EoF Press Release

APP smoke screens past deforestation in Sumatra

A new analysis by Eyes on the Forest (EoF) finds that the “forest conservation policy” published in February by one of the world’s largest pulp and paper producers, the Sinar Mas Group’s Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), appears to be yet another attempt to hide the vast deforestation and damages.

/ EoF News

APP suppliers in W Kalimantan clear forest, drain peatlands

A consortium of West Kalimantan civil society organizations accused Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) of breaching its own Forest Conservation Policy (FCP) announced last month where suspension on natural forest and peatland clearance started since 1 February 2013.

/ EoF News

Greenomics: APP conservation policy cannot save natural forest, peatland

Greenomics Indonesia, an NGO based in Jakarta, this week published a report entitling APP’s artful deception: After pulping its remaining forests, APP positions itself as a conservation leader with new policy showing “how little natural forest and forested peatland will be saved by the New APP Forest Conservation Policy.”

/ EoF News

Monitoring group questions APP, APRIL timber certificates

An independent monitoring on legal wood certification in Riau province urged the government and certification agencies to be responsible for passing Timber Legality of Assurance System (TLAS) certificates to forest management units as some of timber companies targeted by anti-corruption commission for further probe on graft scandals.

/ EoF News

WWF to APRIL: stop draining our peat soils, converting our forests

Following last week’s announcement by Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) to stop clearing Indonesian forests and peatlands, World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) urged Asia Pacific Resources International Limited (APRIL) to “change their unsustainable business model” immediately.

/ EoF News

Governor named suspect, Green Groups urge KPK to probe timber cases

Indonesia’s Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) named Riau Governor Rusli Zainal suspect for National Games PON 2012 graft case as well as for Pelalawan forestry corruption last week.

/ EoF News

WWF urges buyers to await confirmation of claims

World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) hailed Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) announcement to stop clearing Indonesia's tropical forest and peatlands, but urged paper buyers to "wait for confirmation of the claims through independent monitoring by civil society before doing business with APP."

/ EoF News

Paper conglomerate APP linked to more tiger conflict with deadly consequences

A latest investigative report by Eyes on the Forest coalition is published today focusing on APP deforestation and its link to deadly human-Sumatran tiger conflict in Riau Province of Sumatra.

/ EoF News

60 NGOs send letters to bank, financial institutions

At least sixty environmental and social non-governmental organizations sent joint letters to banks and financial institutions not to invest in increasing pulp mill capacity of Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) or other companies associated with Sinar Mas Group until “reforms have been achieved,” a press release issued last week said.

/ EoF News

Latest APP moratorium in Jambi without conservation gain - again

On 5 September, APP published "Highlights of First Quarterly Progress Report" for its “Sustainability Roadmap 2020”, launched on 5 June 2012. Eyes on the Forest had analyzed the original Roadmap in “SMG/APP: The Pulping Continues”, calling it a roadmap to clear more natural forests in Indonesia. APP’s Roadmap failed to protect any additional natural forest while allowing its pulp mills to continue pulping Indonesia’s tropical forest unabated.

/ EoF News

Human Rights body: farmer’s death in APP’s concession questionable

National Human Rights Commission concluded temporarily that a farmer died near concession of PT Suntara Gaja Pati (SGP), a timber supplier associated to Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), in improper manner and needed further investigation.

/ EoF News

Witnesses unveil irregularities in logging license

Recent trials of forestry corruption with defendant Burhanuddin Husin, former Riau Forestry Service Head at Pekanbaru’s Corruption Crime Court presented witnesses telling irregularities found in ground checking.

/ EoF News

EoF doubts APP’s roadmap as 1.2 million hectares of forest in jeopardy

Eyes on the Forest coalition says that over 1.2 million hectares of remaining forests in Riau are in danger of being cleared by Sinar Mas Group/Asia Pulp & Paper’s “independent suppliers” who can continue to deliver natural forest wood to the company’s mills. EoF published its latest report today analyzing “sustainability roadmap” that announced by SMG/APP recently.

/ EoF News

Two tigers killed by snares, one teenager mauled to death

Human and Sumatran tiger conflicts are escalating in Riau province in recent months as two endangered species were found dead by snares and a teenager laborer attacked to death by a tiger in three separate incidents.

/ EoF News

APRIL concessions protested by communities, one dies at APP site

Asia Pacific Resources International Limited (APRIL) timber suppliers are protested by communities in several pulpwood concessions in Riau Province, Sumatra, early this month, over long-standing conflicts between villagers and companies.

/ EoF News

613 hotspots found in pulpwood concessions within three weeks

As rain rarely pours Riau Province many fires hotspots found recently including in timber concessions and protected areas. At least 613 hotspots detected within three weeks in this month as the total of hotspots in the province are 1573.

/ EoF Press Release

WWF: APP’s announced logging "moratorium" is more greenwashing

Asia Pulp & Paper (APP)’s announcement on Tuesday (May 15th) that it would stop clearing natural forest on its own concessions represents very little gains for natural forest and tiger protection in Sumatra, and represents another example of the company’s greenwashing, WWF said. In Riau, these are areas that the company must protect anyway.

/ EoF News

NGOs: paper products tainted by corruption

A coalition of Indonesia’s NGOs called Anti-Forest Mafia Coalition urged global pulp buyers last week to beware of allegedly corruption-tainted pulp products following an analysis of timber companies’ involvement in graft cases that jailed government officials in Riau province.

/ EoF News

Ministry to sue 14 timber companies by civil case

The Ministry of Environment vowed to bring 14 timber companies in Riau province which allegedly involved in environmental destruction to the court of justice following two meetings among related government agencies, a weekly magazine disclosed.

/ EoF Press Release

APP’s double default on creditors, WWF says

Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) has been accused of a “double default” on international creditors, after an investigation revealed that the company has decimated tropical forests it promised to conserve under “legally binding” debt restructuring agreements.

/ EoF News

APP clearcuts forest where a Sumatran tiger dies by snare

Asia Pulp and Paper is still clearcutting tropical rainforest as realities found by Eyes on the Forest investigation in the company’s subsidiary, PT Arara Abadi of district Nilo, in Tesso Nilo forest block, Sumatra’s Riau Province.

/ EoF Press Release

WWF: APP certifiers distance themselves from sustainability claims

Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) claims of independent sustainability certification for its operations aren’t supported by the certification schemes and assessors it has nominated, a WWF survey has found.

/ EoF News

WWF finds U.S. grocery retailers stocking toilet paper linked to rain forest destruction

A report released by World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in Washington yesterday called on American companies and consumers to be responsible in using tissue and paper towels by not buying products from Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) which linked to rain forest destruction, originating from areas that are the last home for critically endangered species such as Sumatran tigers, elephants, and orangutans.

/ EoF News

Ex-district head sentenced for forestry corruption case

Former Siak District Head Arwin AS was sentenced to four-year imprisonment by Corruption Court in Pekanbaru on Thursday as he was found guilty to make money collaborately by issuing logging licenses to pulp timber suppliers during his service as District Head in 2001-2002.

/ EoF News

Greenomics : APP must withdraw misleading statement,map

PEKANBARU (EoF News) – Greenomics Indonesia, an independent NGO, published a report recently that clearly explains how APP even now still try to conduct misinformation to defame EoF and how they are clearly cutting in their own agreed tiger sanctuary. This report also highlights how the government has gone as far as forbidding APP to claim they are setting aside areas for conservation from now on.

/ EoF Press Release

Report reveals facts behind APP’s conservation claims

An Eyes on the Forest investigation finds that a wood supplier of Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) has been clearcutting tropical forest inside the Senepis Tiger Sanctuary in Sumatra – a sanctuary that APP advertises globally as part of its purported commitment to tiger conservation.

/ EoF News

Jikalahari demands President SBY to reopen logging cases

PEKANBARU (EoF News)—Jikalahari, environmental organization’s network to save natural forest in Riau, sent a letter to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono last week to order the police and prosecutors office to prosecute 14 timber companies which allegedly committing environmental destruction.

/ EoF Press Release

WWF captures rare footage of Sumatran Tiger triplets playing

Our team was thrilled to discover 47 tiger images in our camera traps, from which we identified six unique individuals," said Karmila Parakkasi, who leads WWF's tiger research team in Sumatra. "That was the highest number of tigers and tiger images obtained in the first month of sampling we've ever experienced.

/ EoF Press Release

Once-untouched haven for Tigers, Orangutans, Elephants being systematically targeted by APP/SMG

A forest named by international scientists as one of the top 20 priority landscapes globally for the survival of the tiger is being systematically targeted for pulp production by Asia Pulp & Paper/Sinar Mas Group (APP/SMG), one of the world's largest paper suppliers.

/ EoF News

APP and APRIL undermine REDD-plus in Indonesia

Riau is and will be Indonesia’s epicenter for climate change from loss of natural forest and peat drainage. It had the country’s highest rate of natural forest loss and of peat soil degradation and their respective associated emissions in recent years. It has the largest volume of peat soil in Indonesia and the second largest area of natural forest in Sumatra. Most of all, much of the natural forest loss and peat degradation in Riau is “planned, legal deforestation,” which would be easy to stop if government had the will to do so.

/ EoF News

Hotspots detected in APP, APRIL concessions

EoF News (PEKANBARU)— At least 172 hotspots accumulatively detected by Modis Terra Aqua satellite in Riau Province this week, during 18-21 October, which put 48% of total hotspots recorded in pulpwood concessions. The rest 90 hotspots found in various lands that could be palm oil plantations, wasteland and forest.

/ EoF News

Sumatran tiger's leg broken, then trapped and die

PEKANBARU (EoF News)— A Sumatran tiger that last month believed attacking a palm oil farmer to death in Riau province eventually also died last week (Thursday, 30/09/2010), only four hours after being caught by villagers that supervised by Natural Resources Conservancy Main Agency of Riau Office (BBKSDA) and nongovernmental organization YPHS (Yayasan Pelestarian Harimau Sumatra, Sumatran tiger conservation foundation).

/ EoF News

Farmer dies attacked by tiger inside APP's pulpwood concession

PEKANBARU (EoF News)— A palm oil farmer was found dead after being attacked by a Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) on Monday evening (20/9/2010) inside concession of PT Sakato Pratama Makmur, a pulpwood supplier of Sinar Mas’ Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), in buffer zone of UNESCO Man & Biosphere of Giam Siak Kecil in Riau province, Sumatra.

/ EoF Press Release

No place to hide for Sinar Mas APP

Sinar Mas Group’s Asia Pulp & Paper (SMG/APP) attempted to give itself a clean bill of health last week by covering up its forest destruction in an ‘assured’ long winded report. But there is no place to hide for this company. Satellites images have been capturing and documenting every single hectare that the company has destroyed for years.

/ EoF News

Teenager killed by a tiger just 1.8 km off APP pulpwood supplier

PEKANBARU (EoF News)— An 18 year-old rubber farmer was killed by Sumatran tiger (panthera tigris Sumatrae) last week, Monday (9 August 2010), and the location of deadly human-tiger conflict was only 1,8 kilometer away from PT Ruas Utama Jaya’s pulpwood concession, a pulpwood supplier of Asia Pulp & Paper (APP).

/ EoF Press Release

Pulp industry undermines Indonesian President's commitment

The two companies together pulped five percent of the remaining natural forest in Sumatra’s Riau Province, twice the size of Indonesia’s capital Jakarta, an analysis of 2009’s annual cutting licenses (RKT) shows that these licenses were issued for the extraction of high timber volumes per hectare.

/ EoF Press Release

Indonesian groups reject APP's green claims

As Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) took the podium today at the 12th Annual RISI pulp and paper conference to promote their corporate responsibility and paper products, leading Indonesian NGO’s called on buyers and investors of APP to reject the company’s misinformation and stop purchasing or financing the company until it met conditions articulated in an open letter calling for reforms in Indonesia’s pulp and paper sector.

/ EoF News

400 Indonesian NGOs reject APP's green claims

Indonesian NGOs today published a joint press release and open letter calling buyers and investors of Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) to stop doing business with the giant pulp & paper producer operating in Indonesia and China. The NGOs urged APP to stop the destruction of natural forests and peatlands, respect community rights and tenure, resolve existing disputes and retract misleading statements about their low carbon footprint.

/ EoF News

Minister rejects pulp giants' facilities: report

PEKANBARU (EoF News)—Minister of Forestry visited a pulpwood plantation concession in peat Kampar Peninsula forest block, Riau province, in an attempt to solve conflict between local community and PT Riau Andalan Pulp & Paper (RAPP), an associated company to Asian Pacific Resources International Holdings Limited (APRIL).

/ EoF News

Arara Abadi peat mining operation halted

PEKANBARU (EoF News)— The State Finance Audit Agency (BPK) vowed to quest the companies and officials who allowed deforestation illegally as the Minister of Forestry had terminated mining operation on peat forest by PT Arara Abadi, an Asia Pulp and Paper (APP)’s/Sinar Mas Group associated company in Riau province, thanked to the agency’s report.

/ EoF Press Release

First images of tiger with cubs in Central Sumatra

After a month in operation, specially designed video cameras installed by WWF-Indonesia’s researchers seeking to record tigers in the Sumatran jungle caught the mother tiger and her cubs on film as they stopped to sniff and check out the camera trap.

/ EoF News

Where the Forest Ends

PEKANBARU (EoF News)-- Where the Forest Ends, a radio show aired by Living on Earth (LoE) program of Public Radio International in week of 11 December 2009. The story highlighted deforestation occurred in peat swamp forest Kerumutan and Kampar Peninsula, Riau Province, where communities land taken over by forestry companies. Human and Sumatran tiger conflict escalates due to shrinkage of natural forest in the province.

/ EoF Press Release

Even with LEI certification, APP paper products are unsustainable

The recent certification of an Asia Pulp & Paper (APP)/Sinar Mas pulp plantation by the Indonesian Ecolabelling Institute (LEI) suggests that the LEI standards need to be strengthened, as APP products are not sustainable, a group of non-governmental organizations in Indonesia warned global paper buyers today.

/ EoF Press Release

It may create bad precedence for wildlife crime law enforcement

Judges of a court case in Tembilahan District Court, Indragiri Hilir District, Riau, Sumatra last week (Oct 8) sentenced two poachers (M. Ajad bin Abdullah & Mistar bin Ajad) for 1 year imprisonment and Rp 2 million fine for the killing of three Sumatran tigers.

/ EoF News

Global letters to APP/SMG to protect Bukit Tigapuluh published

(EoF News)-- Australian Orangutan Project published letters from a group of stakeholders who come together to call on APP/SMG and Indonesia's government for protection of Bukit Tigapuluh forest. Leading institutions including United Nation's GRASP, IUCN, World Association of Zooes and Aquaria, have written letters of concern calling on APP and the Indonesian government to act immediately and protect this area.

/ EoF Press Release

Joint press release -The Wilderness Society RAN AOP

Bangkok – As world leaders gather to negotiate a new global climate deal, one pulp and paper company in Indonesia is proceeding with plans to pulp up to 170,000 hectares of natural forest in Sumatra’s Bukit Tigapuluh. The forest landscape is key habitat for critically endangered Sumatran tigers and Sumatran elephants, and the site of the world’s only successful Sumatran orangutan reintroduction program.

/ EoF Press Release

Fires in APP/Sinar Mas concessions add to region’s haze woes, threaten new UN biosphere reserve

Satellite data for the first six months of 2009 show that Riau Province had the largest number of fire “hotspots” in Indonesia: 4,782. And nearly one-quarter of the Riau fires happened within concessions affiliated with Sinar Mas Group’s Asia Pulp & Paper company.

/ EoF Press Release

Kebakaran di konsesi APP/Sinar Mas memperparah" "kabut asap regional dan mengancam cagar biosfir" "PBB yang baru"

Data satelit selama enam bulan perama di tahun 2009 menunjukkan bahwa Provinsi Riau memiliki jumlah titik api kebakaran terbanyak di Indonesia, yakni 4.782.

/ EoF Press Release

Massive logging operation to destroy great apes forest home

A massive logging operation planned by one of the world’s largest paper companies will destroy the forest home of 100 great apes that are part of the only successful reintroduction program for Sumatran orangutans, conservationists have learned.

/ EoF Press Release

Forest clearing by paper giant APP/Sinar Mas linked to 12 years of Sumatran Tiger, human fatalities

Most violent incidents between people and tigers in Sumatra’s Riau Province in the past 12 years have occurred near forested areas being cleared by paper giant Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) and associated companies, under the umbrella of its holding group, Sinar Mas Group (SMG), according to an analysis of human-tiger conflict data.

/ EoF Press Release

Konflik antara manusia dan harimau di Riau terkait dengan 12 tahun operasi penebangan hutan oleh APP/Sinar Mas

Kebanyakan insiden konflik antara manusia dan harimau di Provinsi Riau dalam kurun 12 tahun terakhir telah terjadi di dekat kawasan hutan yang ditebangi oleh perusahaan-perusahaan kelompok raksasa pabrik kertas Asia Pulp and Paper (APP)/Sinar Mas Group (SMG), demikian menurut analisa data konflik manusia-harimau.

/ EoF News

Hotspots detected in companies operating on peatlands

PEKANBARU (EoF News)— Majority of forest and land fires in Riau Province recently detected by satellite from 17 January to 28 January 2009 occurred in peatlands where hotspots found in several concessions of pulpwood plantations (HTI) and palm oil. Protected Area (Kawasan Lindung) and proposed expansion of Tesso Nilo National Park were also raged by fires, Eyes on the Forest analyzed.

/ EoF Press Release

APP dan mitranya mengancam upaya penyelamatan ekosistem Sumatera dan iklim global

Komitmen Indonesia yang baru diumumkan untuk menyelamatkan hutan alam Sumatera pada Kongres Konservasi Dunia IUCN dua pekan lalu menghadapi ujian awal, menyusul terungkapnya aktivitas salah satu perusahaan kertas terbesar dunia, Asia Pulp & Paper (APP)/Sinar Mas Group (SMG).

/ EoF Press Release

Asia Pulp & Paper and associated companies threaten historic pact to save Sumatra’s ecosystems and tigers

Just 10 days after Indonesia announced a commitment to save Sumatra’s critical ecosystems at the IUCN World Conservation Congress, an investigation finds that companies associated with one of the world’s largest paper companies, Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), have built a 45-kilometer, legally questionable logging highway through prime tiger habitat in Sumatra.

/ EoF News

Woolworths drops contract with APP, activist group remains wary

Jeremy Hance, mongabay.com, August 10, 2008-- Last week Woolworths announced it was dropping its contract with Asian Pulp and Paper (APP). Woolworths had come under considerable fire for carrying APP, which has a notorious record of environmental degradation on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Previously APP has lost contracts with several other large companies including Office Depot, Wal-Mart, and Staples. APP has also fallen foul of several environmental groups like the World Wildlife Fund, the Rainforest Alliance, and the Forest Stewardship Council, which certifies sustainable wood products.

/ EoF News

New police chief pledges to wage anti-illegal logging war

PEKANBARU (EoF News)-- Newly officiated Chief of Riau Police, Brig.Gen. Hadiatmoko, pledged yesterday to continue the anti-illegal logging campaign that pioneered by his predecessor, Sutjiptadi, following the installment ceremony held here Tuesday (27/5/2008). Sutjiptadi who initiated waging war against perpetrators of forest crime clearing natural forest in the province for one year had been replaced by Hadiatmoko, former Director Specific Crime Intelligence at the Indonesian Police Headquarters. Sutjiptadi would serve as Governor of Police Academy in Central Java. Asked by the press whether he would continue the anti-illegal logging operation done by his predecessor, Hadiatmoko said he needed consolidation internally first, Riau Terkini website reported Tuesday (27/5/2008).

/ EoF Press Release

EoF Press Release 26 March 2008

The road would allow APP and affiliated companies to restart clearance of natural forest and destruction of deep peat soil at any time in a globally recognized conservation area, according to Eyes on the Forest, a coalition of local NGO network Jikalahari, Walhi Riau, and WWF-Indonesia. The Kampar peninsula is one of the world’s largest contiguous tropical peat swamp forests, with more carbon per hectare than any other ecosystem on Earth.

/ EoF Press Release

New APP logging road threatens one of world’s biggest carbon-storing forests, tigers

In an investigative report published today by Eyes on the Forest, evidence shows that a new logging road in Riau Province -- strongly indicated as illegally built by companies connected to Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) -- is cutting into the heart of Sumatra’s largest contiguous peatland forest, a rare hydrological ecosystem that acts as one of the planet’s biggest carbon stores.

/ EoF Press Release

Pembangunan jalan logging APP mengancam hutan penyimpan karbon terbesar dunia

Dalam sebuah laporan investigasi yang dipublikasikan hari ini oleh Eyes on the Forest, bukti-bukti menunjukkan bahwa perusahaan-perusahaan gabungan Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) belum lama ini membuka sebuah jalan logging yang memotong jantung hutan gambut penting di Semenanjung Kampar, Riau.

/ EoF Press Release

Destruction of Sumatra forests driving global climate change and species extinction: WWF

Turning just one Sumatran province's forests and peat swamps into pulpwood and palm oil plantations is generating more annual greenhouse gas emissions than the Netherlands and rapidly driving the province's elephants into extinction, a new study by WWF and partners has found.

/ EoF News

Governor: APP, community stay away from dispute land

Pekanbaru (EoF News)— Jambi Province Government determined a “status quo” to land situated in Bukit Tigapuluh forest landscape, Jambi, where Asia Pulp & Paper’s (APP) subsidiary PT Wira Karya Sakti (WKS) has conflicted with villagers of Lubuk Mandrasah of Tebo district in managing the 26,500 hectare area.

/ EoF Press Release

APP forest clearing in Bukit Tigapuluh threatens lives of local communities and Sumatra’s endangered species

The destruction of high biodiversity forest in Sumatra’s Bukit Tigapuluh landscape – including the extinction of the endangered Sumatran tiger, elephant, and orangutan- is now in front of our eyes.

/ EoF News

Police chief warns Riau forest to be gone

Pekanbaru (EoF News)— The Indonesian Police warned that Riau’s natural forest might be gone within next 15 years as about 200,000 hectares of forest clearcut annually by logging practices, media reports said. At a hearing with House of Representatives’ Commission III on Monday (17/9/2007), Chief of Indonesian Police, General Sutanto, told that illegal logging legal processes in Riau are still underway, Tempo Interaktif website reported Monday. Sutanto said that not any authority can stop the police to probe the cases, Koran Tempo daily reported Tuesday (18/9).

/ EoF News

Woolworths busted over 'environmental' toilet paper

Woolworths, Australia's biggest supermarket chain, has been caught telling shoppers that two of its home brand products are environmentally sustainable, when the company has never independently checked the validity of those claims. Packaging on the company's Select brand of toilet paper and tissues states the products come from an environmentally managed company, that is certified as being environmentally, socially and economically responsible. But ABC Radio's PM program has found at least two reports, plus an independent audit of the Indonesian company that supplies the pulp to Woolworths, that completely discredit that claim. Woolworths has now admitted it is still awaiting proper accreditation of its suppliers' operations in Indonesia from the industry's peak independent assessment body. Australia's biggest supermarket chain sources those products from APP, short for Asia Pulp and Paper, the world's largest pulp producer. A report by Indonesia's Centre for International Forestry Research last year found that APP relies on the clearing of natural forests in Sumatra for 60 to 70 per cent of its wood supply. Nazir Foead is the director for governance community and corporate engagement at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in Indonesia. "I think it's fair for us to say that Indonesian logging practices is still far from sustainable," he said.

/ EoF News

Police vowed to continue aerial surveillance

Pekanbaru (EoF News)-- Following his raid to an Asia Pulp Paper's subsidiary concession in Indragiri Hilir two weeks ago, Chief of Riau Police Brig.-Gen. Sutjiptadi pledged to conduct aerial observation as he believed the forestry companies clearcut the forests in remote area. At a discussion held by Walhi Riau in Pekanbaru Tuesday, the Chief of Riau Police said that he and his team has confiscated felled logs from natural forest in the concession of PT Citra Sumber Sejahtera, a partner pulpwood company of Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings Limited (APRIL).

/ EoF News

Police raid APP's subsidiary concession

Pekanbaru (EoF News)--- The chief of Riau Police raided a subsidiary of Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), PT Bina Duta Laksana who clearcuts natural forest on peat swamp with more than 3-meter depth last weekend. The concession is situated on Kerumutan forest block or in Gaung of Indragiri Hulu district. The Riau Police Chief, Brig.-Gen. Sutjiptadi, showed a documentary film performing his raid at the company's site to the participants of Judicial Workshop on Forest Fire in Pekanbaru Tuesday. "I told the company's [PT Bina Duta Laksana] boss to stop this clearcutting and I am responsible [for the action]. Its license is clearly breaching the laws," the chief told at the workshop. He and the team of illegal logging fighting flied a helicopter to reach the remote area in Kerumutan forest on Saturday.

/ EoF News

3 APP subsidiary's directors named suspects over illegal logging

Pekanbaru (EoF News)--- Three directors of PT Arara Abadi, subsidiary of Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), were named suspects by the Riau Police Office over illegal logging practices causing the loss of natural forests in Riau. In another case, two former Riau Forestry Service's heads also named suspects for allegedly issuing unlawful logging licenses and other fake documents.

/ EoF News

Investigative Report March 2007 released, APP destroys tiger habitat

Pekanbaru (EoF News) – Eyes on the Forest, a coalition of three environmental NGOs in Riau, Sumatra releases its Investigative Report March/April/June 2007 today. The EoF Investigation found Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) to be involved in forest clearance operations in some concessions in Giam Siak Kecil, Kampar Peninsula, and Senepis forest blocks.

/ EoF News

Investigative Report February 2007 released, APP still destroys forest

Pekanbaru (EoF News) – Eyes on the Forest, a coalition of three environmental NGOs in Riau, Sumatra releases its Investigative Report February 2007 today. The EoF Investigation found Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) to be involved in forest clearance operations in a concession in Kerumutan forest block, as it continued the report of November 2006 edition.

/ EoF News

APP's contractor hires child, workers eat monkey to survive

Pekanbaru (EoF News)-- Local newspapers reported today that a contractor working for Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) subsidiary's concession in Kampar district, Riau, hired a child for acacia plantation as well as did not pay the workers' wages for five months. The workers told that they eat monkey in an attempt to survive in the plantation.

/ EoF News

District Administration stops APP subsidiary's operation

Pekanbaru (EoF News)-- Rokan Hilir district administration told PT Ruas Utama Jaya, a company associated to Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), to stop its questionable logging operations that protested by communities from three sub-districts. Meanwhile, the local environmental agency says that PT RUJ did not comply with the procedure in conducting the environment assessment analysis (Amdal).

/ EoF Press Release

Idisa cancels relations with APP

The day before the International Day for Biological Diversity, Greenpeace publicly congratulated Idisa Papel, part of the Portuguese Irapa group, on its decision to cancel its commercial relations with Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), a paper company involved in destroying forests of high environmental value in the province of Riau, on the Island of Sumatra.

/ EoF News

APP commits illegal logging as found by EoF Investigation Dec.2006

Pekanbaru (EoF News) – Eyes on the Forest, a coalition of three environmental NGOs in Riau, Sumatra releases its Investigative Report December 2006 today. The EoF Investigation found Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) involved in illegal logging in a concession belonging to its competitor in Kampar Peninsula forest block. APP’s partner, PT Arara Abadi, has illegally clearcut over 4,500 hectare-natural forest on overlapping concession of PT Triomas FDI. APP’s response on EoF’s Investigation Report December 2006 showed the implicit APP acknowledgment that its associate company/partner (PT Arara Abadi) conducted illegal logging in natural forest of Kampar Peninsula.

/ EoF News

APP, APRIL, export illegal wood: Police

Pekanbaru (EoF News) – The Indonesia Police Chief General Sutanto before a hearing with House’s Commission III early last week in Jakarta said PT Riau Andalan Pulp & Paper (RAPP, belongs to Asia Pacific Resources International Limited/APRIL) and PT Indah Kiat Pulp & Paper (IKPP, belongs to Asia Pulp & Paper/APP) allegedly involved in forest crimes such as illegally wood export and administrative document fraud.

/ EoF Press Release

Stop selling largest remaining natural forest block in Riau and Jambi

Riau NGO coalition calls Government to stop selling largest remaining natural forest block in Sumatra ’s Riau and Jambi: 130,000 hectares of Sumatran tiger and elephant forests under siege

/ EoF News

Rainforest Alliance terminates APP

Pekanbaru (EoF News) – Rainforest Alliance has terminated its contract with Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) in HCVF monitoring audits in Sumatra which will take into effect on February 17, 2007, due to “the company has not demonstrated a comprehensive, consistent or dedicated approach toward conservation management necessary to maintain or enhance the forest ecosystems fundamental to the survival of the HCVs present there.” Through its public statement that available to Eyes on the Forest on Monday Rainforest Alliance announced the termination of SmartWood’s involvement in APP’s HCVF monitoring audits.

/ EoF News

Report says APP incites forest destruction, social conflicts

Pekanbaru (EoF News) --- Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) is “responsible for the large-scale destruction of Indonesia’s forests” as well as has “generated a number of conflicts with various community groups in Indonesia which have yet to be settled.” Those are quotes found on Social conflict and environmental disaster: A report on Asia Pulp and Paper’s operations in Sumatra, Indonesia, compiled by Rivani Noor and Rully Syumanda.

/ EoF Press Release

APP hides destruction behind false advertisements: New WWF monitoring brief details how company threatens natural forests and wildlife in Sumatra

A new WWF monitoring report released today reveals that Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), one of the world’s largest paper and pulp companies, is going to destroy one of the most delicate of all remaining ecosystems in Indonesia - the peat swamp forests of Kampar Peninsula in Sumatra.

/ EoF News

Investigative Report July 2006 released

Pekanbaru (EoF News) – Coalition of three environmental NGOs in Riau, Eyes on the Forest, releases Investigative Report July 2006 today. The EoF’s investigation found violation allegedly perpetrated by both Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings Limited (APRIL) and Asia Pulp & Paper (APP).

/ EoF News

Investigative Report June 2006 released, APP responds findings

Pekanbaru (EoF News) --- Eyes on the Forest, a coalition of three NGOs in Riau, published Investigative Report June 2006 today. The investigation in this edition was conducted in Giam Siak Kecil, Senepis, and Kerumutan forest blocks. Due to the investigation related mostly to companies associated to Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), EoF asked response from the related company to our findings through a letter EoF sent earlier this week. APP responded to EoF investigation as a three-page letter dated September 27 th 2006 sent by Aida Greenbury, Vice Director of Sustainability and Stakeholder Engagement.

/ EoF News

Fires still flare in Tesso Nilo forest

Despite the officials in Riau claimed that hotspots detected by satellite has vanished, fires still occur inside Tesso Nilo forest on Monday as observed by WWF monitoring officer. The fires are currently set by the encroachers that occurred in coordinate point of South 00.04.38.9 and East 101. 47. 40. 9 (see picture 1 ).

/ EoF Press Release

Forest fires rage again in Indonesia; Greenpeace calls on Government to act to protect ravaged provinces

A Greenpeace team of investigators has discovered widespread destruction of Sumatra's ancient forests, caused by fires which are threatening to burn out of control.

/ EoF News

APP says they stopped sourcing fiber from the APRIL concession

However, APP did not reply to the call by Eyes on the Forest to APP to immediately stop sourcing any wood from anywhere within Libo Forest Block. As shown in the EoF report: Forest to Paper, Forest to Palm Oil and No Place to Live for Riau’s Elephants (published on 18 April), APP has been found by EoF to source wood from three areas in Libo Block, in addition to the Bina Daya Bintara concession. Therefore, EoF continues to call APP to immediately stop any logging or any sourcing of wood from anywhere inside Libo Block.