Palm fruit illegally grown inside critical wildlife areas continues to taint palm oil entering the supply chains of 24 global traders and brands who have made zero deforestation commitments, an Eyes on the Forest (EoF) report published today found. The protected areas lost to illegal palm oil plantations include some of the last habitats for critically endangered Sumatran elephants, tigers and orangutans in Indonesia.

Eyes on the Forest coalition last week published an investigation conducted last year in PT Artelindo Wiratama, an affiliated company to Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), that located in Bukit Tigapuluh landscape.

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 News (PEKANBARU) -- Eyes on the Forest today launched an investigative report on PT Citra Sumber Sejahtera (CSS), an affiliated to Asian Pacific Resources International Holdings Limited (APRIL), which found breaking the group's commitment in protecting High Conservation Value Forest (HCVF).

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.

This evening, four Indonesian Ministries and Sumatran Governors will be launching a document of “The Road Map for Saving Sumatra Ecosystem: Sumatra’s Vision 2020.”

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.

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.

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.

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

(TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta, 15 July, 2009)--Environment activists in Jakarta protested against a project to build transport access in a forest in Tebo Regency, in Jambi Province by a pulp and paper company on Wednesday and accused the company of breaching a conservation area.

Husin, a head family of Orang Rimba who inhabits in Suo-suo village of southern Bukit Tigapuluh, in Jambi, complained over 45-km logging road that constructed by PT Wira Karya Sakti (WKS), an APP/Sinar Mas Group associated company.

PEKANBARU (EoF News)—Australian Orangutan Project published an online petition recently targeted to Asia Pulp & Paper (APP)/ Sinar Mas Group in an attempt to urge the company to stop forest clearing and destruction of rainforest in Bukit Tigapuluh landscape.

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.

(wwf.or.id)-- In July 2008, WWF Indonesia and WARSI traveled through Sumatra’s provinces of Riau and Jambi. They visited a group of the local tribe of Orang Rimba in the buffer zone of Bukit Tigapuluh National Park. Only about 3000 members of this tribe survive mostly in Jambi.

JAKARTA May 7 -- A massive new logging road will threaten the backyard of the only Australian zoo-born orangutan released into the Indonesian wilderness, environmentalists warn.

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.

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.

By Charles Clover, Environment Editor (The Daily Telegraph, 31 October 2007)-- Some of Asia's rarest and most endangered species including tigers, elephants, sun bears and clouded leopards have been found by scientists in Sumatran forests currently being allocated by the Indonesian government for oil palm plantations.

Pekanbaru (EoF News)-- A Sumatran elephant was found dead in Bukit Tigapuluh forest landscape, Riau, where his tusks were probably taken out by poachers.

Pekanbaru (EoF News)-- Bukit Tigapuluh block forest inevitably will be dominated by acacia planted forest soon as the Ministry of Forestry allowed two giant pulp companies to convert around 138,000-hectare natural forest into pulpwood plantation.

Today Eyes on the Forest (EoF) released its report of December 2005 investigation . It confirmed that Asia Pulp and Paper’s (APP) partners logged in Giam Siak Kecil Forest Block; Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings Ltd’s (APRIL) partner logged in Kerumutan Forest Block; and PT. Sumatera Timber Utama Damai’s partners logged in the buffer zone of Bukit Tigapuluh National Park. In response to the findings, APP and APRIL have sent their comments to EoF.