Pekanbaru, 1 May 2021--Eyes on the Forest (EoF) coalition condemns environmental permit granted to Asia Pacific Resources International Limited (APRIL) group to expand pulp production capacity of Riau Complex PT RAPP and urged the Government for banning natural forest clearing by the company in their attempt to obtain mixed tropical hardwood (MTH) for their operation.

In June 2020, Jikalahari NGOs network found a plan of natural forest clearing by a supplier of Asia Pacific Resources International Limited (APRIL), PT Nusa Prima Manunggal (NPM). Jikalahari revealed that the 1,565-hectares forest clearing’s plan was located in Desa Pulau Padang, Kuantan Singingi district.

In 2009, a pulpwood plantation (HTI) development company affiliated with Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings Limited (APRIL), one of the world’s largest paper companies, is clearing natural peat swamp forest with likely High Conservation Values under legally questionable circumstances.

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.

Jakarta, 20 Januari 2020— Selama satu tahun sejak akhir 2018 hingga 2019, koalisi 9 CSO di Indonesia tersebar di 7 provinsi melakukan pemantauan dan kajian sebagai bentuk aksi korektif masyarakat sipil terkait kebijakan yang berhubungan dengan industri pulp dan kertas.

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.

Asap kebakaran hutan dan lahan kembali mengepung kota Pekanbaru. Kondisi ini telah berlangsung sejak dua bulan yang lalu dan terhenti sekitar sepekan akhir Agustus. Selasa pagi (10/9), jarak pandang bahkan berkisar antara 800 meter hingga 1 kilometer.

Eyes on the Forest melakukan analisa titik api terhadap konsesi Hutan Tanaman Industri (HTI) di Riau. berdasarkan data satelit NASA FIRM VIIRS. Setidaknya terdapat 15 perusahaan yang terdeteksi memiliki titik api pada periode 28-30 Juli 2019, yang mana 2 perusahaan merupakan eks APP, 10 perusahaan anak perusahaan dari APRIL / Royal Golden Eagle dan 3 perusahaan termasuk ke dalam APP / Sinar Mas Grup. Total titik api yang terdeteksi mulai dari tanggal 28-30 Juli 2019 yakni 74 titik.

At least six industrial timber plantation concessions in Riau province were detected to have fire hotspots on 26 and 27 July as Eyes on the Forest team analysed based on satellite data by NASA FIRM VIIRS with confidence of nominal (medium).

Kabut asap akibat kebakaran hutan dan lahan kembali menyelimuti Kota Pekanbaru, Riau, pagi ini. Sebanyak 263 titik panas terdeteksi di Riau sejak 17 Juli hingga 24 Juli 2019, berdasarkan pantauan satelit NASA FIRMS VIIRS yang dianalisa oleh tim Eyes on the Forest.

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.

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.

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) -- World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Indonesia released this week Advisory to Buyers and Investors of Royal Golden Eagle / Asia Pacific Resources International Limited (RGE/APRIL). Herewith the full version of the Advisory:

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.

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.

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.

Eyes on the Forest coalition analyzed distribution of fire hotspots during week 1-7 August 2017 as its number on peatland in Sumatra reached 351 (NASA FIRM The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite /VIIRS) sensor.

Dua lobi industri sektor kehutanan dan perkebunan mencabut uji materi Undang-Undang Nomor 32/2009 tentang Perlindungan dan Pengelolaan Lingkungan Hidup di Mahkamah Konstitusi (MK), sebuah langkah yang tetap menyisakan keraguan publik terhadap komitmen kelestarian oleh perusahaan.

Analysis by Eyes on the Forest coalition finds that Bengkalis district hit the most fire hotspots during March 2015 and PT Riau Rokan Lestari (RRL), a non-affiliated timber supplier concession got the most along with APRIL-affiliated PT Sumatera Riang Lestari (SRL).

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.

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.

On the first anniversary of APRIL’s “Sustainable Forest Management Policy”, Eyes on the Forest, Gapeta Borneo and RPHK call on APRIL to stop natural forest clearance and peat canal development immediately.

Two environmental groups sent letters to 26 banks in several countries as attempt “to express their concerns regarding the pulp and paper companies Asia Pacific Resources Limited (APRIL), Toba Pulp Lestari (TPL) and their sister companies under the conglomerate Royal Golden Eagle Group (RGE), due to their involvement in large scale deforestation and social conflicts.

Today, 10 months after APRIL published its Sustainable Forest Management Policy (SFMP) and established a “Stakeholder Advisory Committee (SAC)” to “ensure transparency and implementation of this SFMP”, EoF submitted its grievance report on APRIL’s flawed SFMP implementation in Pulau Padang to the SAC.

National Joint Team from some Government agencies revealed that 17 timber and plantation companies in Riau province failed to perform Compliance Audit in preventing forest and land fires, a joint inter-department task force said Friday.

Asia Pacific Resources International Limited (APRIL) allegedly violated its self-declared Sustainable Forest Management Policy (SFMP) commitment as it continued natural forest clearance in Bagan Melibur village of Padang Island, Riau province, an environmental group said.

Three green groups working in Kalimantan launched an investigative report this week depicting deep peat forest clearance by a timber supplier of Asia Pacific Resources International Limited (APRIL), PT Adindo Hutani Lestari (AHL), in Sesayap sector, North Kalimantan province.

WWF cautiously welcomes the restoration and conservation initiative announced today by the Sinar Mas Group’s Asia Pulp & Paper (APP).

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.

Up to 1,400 ha peatland forest cleared in violation of APP’s forest conservation policy

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.

Approximately 200 hundred residents of four villages in Merbau sub-district, Meranti Islands District, Riau, flocked in Lukit Village. It was Saturday, 12 October 2013, at 8 a.m, when hundreds of residents walked through the footpath surrounded by sago and rubber farm through the thatch heading to Tanjung Gambar, Lukit Village of Pulau Padang (island), Meranti district of Riau province.

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.

Giant pulp and paper company, Asia Pacific Resources International Ltd (APRIL), prepared a new restoration project to work on the heavily degraded peatlands in Kampar Peninsula, Riau province, Sumatra. Last month Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) banned the company to associate the giant’s products with the certification agency.

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.

Independent monitoring alleges the company’s wood supplier in Sumatra toviolate APP’s forest conservation policy and clearance moratorium

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.

Despite promising to its customers that they would only use plantation fiber to feed its pulp mill by 2009. Wood supply to global pulp giant Asia Pacific Resources International Limited (APRIL), has resulted natural forest loss double the size of Singapore, in Riau Province since that deadline.

A powerful new mapping tool from Indonesian NGO coalition Eyes on the Forest and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) allows the public to visualize Sumatra’s forests and wildlife such as rhinos, tigers, elephants and orangutan, providing vital information in the race to protect forests, save some of the world’s most important biodiversity and help local communities.

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.

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 (PEKANBARU)— In the latest example of Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) threatening the survival of the Sumatran tiger, a tiger living inside a pulpwood plantation concession of APP was recently caught, raising questions from environmentalists.

(Herald Sun / AAP, 4 Aug 2011) -- Environmentalists have praised Fuji Xerox for cutting ties with a big paper manufacturer accused of wrongfully logging Indonesian rainforests.

Today Eyes on the Forest, a coalition of Sumatran environmental NGOs, called on all companies who are clearcutting natural forests based on Industrial Timber Plantation Licenses (IUPHHK-HT) issued by Governors or Heads of Districts to immediately issue a moratorium on all such operations.