Eyes on the Forest website published a report of joint investigation by WWF-Indonesia and Jaringan Pemantau Independent Kehutanan (JPIK, independent monitoring network) Riau chapter in June 2015. The report analysing implementation of Indonesia’s Sistem Verifikasi Legalitas Kayu (SVLK, Timber Legality Assurance System) in four forestry management units which were timber plantation suppliers located in Riau province.

Situs web Eyes on the Forest pernah menerbitkan laporan investigasi bersama oleh WWF-Indonesia dan Jaringan Pemantau Independen Kehutanan (JPIK) Riau pada Juni 2015. Laporan ini menganalisis implementasi Sistem Verifikasi Legalitas Kayu Indonesia (SVLK, Sistem Jaminan Legalitas Kayu) di empat unit manajemen kehutanan yang merupakan pemasok perkebunan kayu yang berlokasi di provinsi Riau.

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.

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.

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.

Jikalahari and Walhi (Friends of the Earth) Riau suspect the launch of Sustainable Forest Management Policy by APRIL today (Tuesday, 28 January 2014) in Jakarta, as a trick to destroy the remaining natural forest embedded with their illegal and problematic permits in Riau province.

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.

In attempt to mitigate the corporates’ forest crimes, some activists demand Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to immediately seize the company assets of the listed names alleged for corporate crimes involvement.

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.

A recent observation by Eyes on the Forest coalition had confirmed that PT Sumatera Riang Lestari in block Rupat still clearcut protected species, Ramin tree (Gonystylus sp), similar to the thorough investigation in 2010.

I don't often find myself praising Tesco, but – deep breath – here goes. This summer it did something brave and good. It de-listed a supplier: not on its usual commercial grounds but for ethical reasons.

(The Jakarta Globe, 9 June 2010)-- High hopes were raised that the Riau Police would be better able to combat rampant illegal logging in the province after a top police official serving with the Corruption Eradication Commission was appointed as the province’s chief.

(The Jakarta Globe, 23 April 2010)-- A coalition of activist groups on Thursday reported 12 public officials to the presidential Judicial Mafia Eradication Task Force for suspected involvement in a major illegal logging case in Riau province.

(THE JAKARTA POST/ 9 April 2010) -- Several environmental NGOs met Thursday to compile data on illegal logging activities at the request of the President, who has ordered sterner action against the environmental threat. The NGOs included Greenpeace Indonesia, WWF Indonesia, Forest Watch Indonesia, Sawit Watch Indonesia, Conservation International, Tropenbos Indonesia, the Nature Conservancy and the Center for International Forestry Research.

(The Jakarta Post, 8 April 2010)-- For the second time this week, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has expressed concern over illegal logging, ordering the presidential taskforce to probe the practice, which is among the causes of deforestation.

PEKANBARU (EoF News)—Three officials at Indragiri Hilir Forestry Service were questioned by the Riau Province Forestry Service for allegedly manipulating hardwood tax from timber cleared by PT Sumatera Riang Lestari, an associated company to Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings Limited (APRIL).

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.

PEKANBARU (EoF News)— Civil society and environmental organizations in Riau province urged the Minister of Forestry to permanently stop natural forest clearing in all forests in the province.

PEKANBARU (EoF News) –- Ongoing natural forest clearing in Riau province have escalated conflict between communities and pulp company as environmentalists groups vowed to support the villagers’ rights.

PEKANBARU (EoF News)— House of Representative’s Law Commission criticized the Attorney General Office for blocking probe of illegal logging cases in Riau as the latter had no willingness to prosecute the alleged environmental crimes.

PEKANBARU (EoF News)— Environmental groups slammed the Riau Police and Prosecutors Office who closed the cases of 13 timber and pulp companies and pledged it would sue the police for the suspension.

PEKANBARU (EoF News)—Riau Police stops probing illegal logging cases that involved 13 timber and pulp companies as there is no convincing allegation to proceed the dossiers to prosecution.

PEKANBARU (EoF News)— The Indonesian Police Chief General Bambang Hendarso Danuri admitted yesterday that discrepancy between his organization and the Prosecutors Office in interpreting forestry laws caused the progress on Riau illegal logging prosecution has been at stalemate for 22 months.

PEKANBARU (EoF News)— Students and residents allied in a group staged rally here today (19/11/2008) to urge the Riau Prosecutors Office to bring illegal logging and corruption cases to the court amid the acknowledgment uttered by the law enforcer body last week that they give up to do so.

PEKANBARU (EoF News)— Chief of Riau Police reaffirmed yesterday his strong campaign against illegal logging practices in the province following critics uttered by local NGOs as well as report by media that the forest crime widespread due to loosening control by the police.

28 Aug 2008, panda.org --The Indonesian government is to double the size of a national park that is one of the last havens for endangered Sumatran elephants and tigers.

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).

PEKANBARU (EoF News)—One week following a visit of Riau Police Chief Sutjiptadi to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) office last week, the commission soon deployed two teams this week to the province to probe the corruption case on logging license issuance involving Pelalawan District Head Azmun Jaafar as well as to socialize corruption prevention campaign to local legislators.

PEKANBARU (EoF News)—Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and Riau Police Office would synchronize efforts to tackle environmental crime inquiries in the province as the reshuffled chief of police met the popular institution early this week, reports said.

PEKANBARU (EoF News)—Riau Police Chief Brig.- Gen. Sutjiptadi is one of eight provincial police chiefs whom reshuffled recently amid fears that his replacement is caused by pressure from parties resenting probe of illegal logging in the province.

PEKANBARU (EoF News)—Riau Police said that at least 258 persons named suspects of ongoing environmental and forestry crime cases involving pulp and paper companies and government officials.

PEKANBARU (EoF News)—The Government’s team for solving Riau’s Illegal Logging Problem called on pulp and paper industry to await upcoming instruction which recently being prepared by the Supreme Court in dealing with utilization of seized logs raided by the Police, media report said.

EoF News (Pekanbaru)--- President’s special team staff said Riau Police Office are allowed to probe some Riau officials over alleged illegal logging and corruption cases, despite there is no permit issued by from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Pekanbaru (EoF News)—Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told the Forestry Minister, Malam Sambat Kaban, and other officials not to excessively issue more logging licenses to prevent worse deforestation, media reports said. Many forestry concession holders are irresponsible including the pulpwood businessmen, he said.

Pekanbaru (EoF News)--- PT Riau Andalan Pulp & Paper (RAPP), a subsidiary of Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings Limited (APRIL), sued Koran Tempo daily over reports saying the company allegedly involved in illegal logging practices in Riau.

Pekanbaru (EoF News)-- The acquittal of illegal logging defendant in North Sumatra, Adelin Lis, was marred with protests as further legal actions prepared to nab the man at large.

Pekanbaru (EoF News)—Police and an environmental organization supported legal action taken by Pelalawan District Court which appealed against the decision made by Riau High Court to free 25 defendants of illegal logging case, media reported Friday.

Pekanbaru (EoF News)—House of Representatives’ Environmental Commission dismissed a general hearing with PT Riau Andalan Pulp & Paper (RAPP) on Monday due to insufficient data provided by the company, Koran Tempo daily reported today (9/10/2007).

Pekanbaru (EoF News)—A member of parliament who tackles forestry sector urges the Ministry of Forestry to stop issuing any logging license in Riau and review permits granted to companies, the official House of Representatives website (dpr.go.id) reported Monday (1/10/2007).

Pekanbaru (EoF News)— Ad hoc Committee II of Regional Representative Council (DPD) urged President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to immediately issue summon letter to several officials who allegedly involved in illegal logging in Riau, Koran Tempo daily (28/9/2007) reported.

Pekanbaru (EoF News)—House of Representatives’ Commission VII blasted both President Directors of PT Indah Kiat Pulp & Paper (IKPP) and PT Riau Andalan Pulp & Paper (RAPP) who decline to attend a hearing that discussed Riau’s illegal logging issues on Monday (24/9/2007), official House website (dpr.or.id) reported Tuesday (25/9).

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).

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.

Pekanbaru (EoF News)--- The Indonesian National Police said that the probe of illegal logging cases in Riau would be finalized before September this year where all cases would be brought to the court.

Pekanbaru (EoF News)-- More executives of Asia Pulp & Paper's partner companies are probed by Riau Police as PT Suntara Gaja Pati (SGP) directors named suspects, a daily reported.

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.

Pekanbaru (EoF News)--- The Minister of Forestry Malam S. Kaban slammed the Riau Police over probing against forest crimes allegedly perpetrated by companies saying the law enforcers should not meedle with the "government's area."

Pekanbaru (EoF News)-- Environmentalists in Riau urged the provincial police to immediately probe the illegal logging allegedly committed by Asia Pulp & Paper's subsidiary, PT Arara Abadi, in Kampar Peninsula as found by Eyes on the Forest coalition's investigative report published this month.

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).

(Beijing-- Reuters, March 29,2007)-- International environmental group Greenpeace accused Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) of illegal logging in protected forests in southern China.

Pekanbaru (EoF News) -- Riau Police have insisted to probe all out illegal logging cases involving large forestry companies amid worries warned by the provincial legislators as the action would harm investment opportunity in the province.

SmartWood releases APP HCVF verification reports

One of the world’s biggest environmental crimes continues to unfold in Indonesia as efforts by the government to curb massive illegal logging are being severely undermined by a weak and corrupt justice system, environmentalists revealed Wednesday.

Chief of Riau Police Brig-Gen Sutjiptadi told Forum of Riau Community Leaders (FKPMR) in Pekanbaru last weekend that his side had detained 140 suspects of illegal logging along 2007.

Pekanbaru (EoF News) – Eyes on the Forest, a coalition of three environmental NGOs in Riau, Sumatra releases its Investigative Report September & October 2006 today. The EoF Investigation found Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings (APRIL) to be involved in forest clearance operations in two concessions in the Kampar Peninsula forest block. EoF considers these operations illegal as well as destroying potential High Conservation Value Forests (HCVFs) despite APRIL’s own publicly announced policy to protect HCVFs.

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.

Pekanbaru (EoF News) -- The Indonesian Police Headquarters have sent its high-ranked officers to Riau province in supervising anti-illegal logging operations within recent month where 71 cases disclosed, 101 perpetrators detained, and 33,702 large logs seized as well as thousand middle and small sized logs are confiscated. The Indonesian Police have deployed five top officers to Riau last week, including Chief of Crime Intelligence Unit Bambang Hendarso Danuri and General Supervision Inspector Jusuf Manggabarani, to monitor the anti-illegal logging raids in the province.

(EUOBSERVER / Brussels – Dec 1, 2006) --A painful confirmation by the European Commission that its headquarters contain 1,000 square metres of uncertified wood from the Indonesian tropical forest highlights the problem of illegally logged timber in the EU.

(Pekanbaru, EoF News) -- Environmentalists urged law enforcers in Pelalawan district to continue to prosecute scores of legal actions that they feared to be dark numbers. As deforestation escalates in Tesso Nilo forest, Riau, due to rampant encroachment and forest fires, law enforcement should be upheld urgently, they said. Tesso Nilo National Park (TNNP) and its proposed extension partly included in Pelalawan district where several forest crime cases occurred. The Pelalawan police have detained a person named Jaspun as a suspect for selling 10,000-hectare land inside the proposed national park.

WASHINGTON, DC, November 20, 2006 (ENS) - A new agreement to fight illegal logging in Indonesia signed last week by U.S. and Indonesian officials was praised today by the leaders of both nations.

Pekanbaru (EoF News) -- Intervention from officials, poor coordination and light sanction against illegal loggers are some factors impeding eradication against illegal logging, a discussion at House of Representatives concluded last week.

Pekanbaru (EoF News) -- Indonesia and the United States of America will sign anti-illegal logging partnership agreement in September next year in an attempt to eradicate illegal logging and illegal timber trading. The cooperation will emphasize on effort to keep an eye on trade of illegal logging. “From that Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the point is on its implementation,” said Forestry Minister Malam Sambat Kaban last weekend as quoted by Investor Daily as saying. “If terrorism crime is fightable, so is environment crime too,” the minister said. Indonesia government expects the agreement will discourage perpetrators of illegal logging to supply illegal timber from Indonesia to the U.S territories and its allies, said Hadi Pasaribu, director general of Forestry Production of Forestry Ministry.

Pekanbaru (EoF News) – At least 60 hectares of Tesso Nilo National Park is raged by fires amid raids conducted by the Riau Provincial Natural Conservation Agency (BKSDA) confiscating heavy equipments used by encroachers. Meanwhile, four people who were alleged as encroachers detained by the police of Pelalawan sector in selective logging concession of PT Siak Raya Timber.

President Susilo commented on the arrest of timber baron who alleged suspect of illegal logging in North Sumatra, Adelin Lis. The suspect, who is boss of both PT Inanta Timber and PT Keang Nam Development Indonesia, was detained in China last weekend and currently under custody of police in Medan of North Sumatra.

Tesso Nilo, a proposed sanctuary for endangered Sumatran elephants, is under threat, as series of observation conducted by Forest Crime Unit of WWF-Indonesia Riau office has concluded recently.

At the meeting, a senior official of Industry Ministry said pulp and paper industry is also responsible for massive deforestation and urged the authority to revoke their license for sourcing illegal timber, JPNN through Riau Pos reported.

Minister Malam Sambat Kaban said in Medan, North Sumatra, last week that DPR (House of Representatives) has expected such amount, therefore the body should ask the Indonesian Police, Attorney General office, and Forestry Ministry for further responsibilities.

The report by the Indonesian-based Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) said that false assumptions about the origins and cost of wood used in emerging-market mills has led investors to channel billions of dollars into financially risky and environmentally destructive ventures.

"The hot spots must be put out , otherwise the tigers` habitat will be threatened," the head of the local Environmental Impact Management Agency (Bapedal), Khairul Zainal, said. He said the hot spots which had been spotted by satellite would become a serious danger to wild life if the area if they were not extinguished.

Indonesia has enacted laws on environmental protection and has issued a myriad of regulations and rulings to protect forests, in addition to the creation of non-tariff barriers to prevent the trading of illegally cut wood. Yet deforestation continues. Inter-island trade and export of illegally felled timber remains rampant.

Pekanbaru, KOMPAS-- Rampant illegal logging practices in Riau have placed the province on the top list of provinces in Indonesia with the highest rate of illegal timber export, beside Kalimantan and Papua. Every month about 126,000 cubic meters of illegal timber are exported to Malaysia from this province alone.

Pekanbaru, Indonesia (EoF News, May 27, 2005) - New investigations by Eyes on the Forest reveal continued forest destruction in APRIL's concession area. At least 216 hectare of natural peat swamp forest have recently been opened and have brought illegal loggers and squatters to the area.