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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

As APRIL has been officially banned from using Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) trademark, leading environmental groups WWF, Greenpeace and the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) have called on other forest industry certification schemes to cut ties with the giant deforester.

Three excavators owned by a supplier of Asia Pacific Resources International Limited (APRIL) , PT Rimba Lazuardi (RL), in Pelalawan District were burned by hundreds of local people on Sunday, July 7th 2013, following a land conflict between the company and local society amid intensifying tense since the last two months, media reported.

Greenpeace, the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) and WWF have claimed that the pulp and paper giant Asia Pacific Resources International Limited (APRIL) is dodging an independent enquiry into its deforestation practices in Indonesia by withdrawing from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

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.

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.

Despite a restoration program organized by a company affiliated to pulp giant in Kampar Peninsula, Riau province, launched and endorsed by the Ministry of Forestry, environmentalists criticized it as a manuoevre by wo-faced company which merely seek benefit from credit carbon scheme.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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."

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.

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.

At least 30 European non governmental organizations filed a petition submitted to governments calling not to fund forest destruction in Sumatra as Asia Pulp & Paper plans to build a new pulp mill in South Sumatra.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Indonesian Minister of Forestry suspended temporarily logging operation held by Asian Pacific Resources International Limited’s (APRIL’s) PT Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper (RAPP) Tuesday in a concession situated in outer island Pulau Padang, Riau province.

(from smh.com.au/ AAP) -- A supermarket chain has wiped two toilet paper brands from its shelves following a campaign by environmentalists to save endangered tigers in Indonesia.

(AAP via insideretail.com.au) -- Stationery and equipment retailer Officeworks has ceased doing business with paper supplier APRIL over claims it is illegally logging Indonesian forests.

Independent tests carried out by a US laboratory IPS for Markets for Change (MFC) on the APRIL (1) paper brand Lazer IT , stocked by Officeworks, has found that the paper tested contained over 80% pulp fibre from Indonesian rainforest.

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.

50% or 8,8 millions M3 of PT IKPP and PT RAPP raw material supplies had been extracted from natural forests and the rest 8.9 millions M3 per year are from Plantation Forests. With this lack of raw material supplies from production forest, the remaining natural forests in Riau are threatened as the potential target of raw material supplier.

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.

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.

International consultants Tropenbos will facilitate a public consultation for a High Conservation Value (HCV) assessment for the APRIL pulp and paper operations in the Kampar Peninsula, Riau, Sumatra. This follows a similar consultation in Riau in February that was not attended by Riau based NGOs. For the same - and following - reasons, Greenpeace will not participate in this public consultation.

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.

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.

They say the pen is mightier than the sword, but is it mightier than the chainsaw? Plans are being finalized this summer for a massive controversial logging operation on the Indonesian island of Sumatra to satisfy the ever increasing demand for pulp, paper and palm oil.

The West Australian /thewest.com.au, 11 April 2009 -- A protected Sumatran forest which is home to a Perth-raised orang-utan released into the wild in a worldwide first two years ago could be logged, according to Australian Orang-utan Project president Leif Cocks.

PEKANBARU (EoF News)—Pulp and paper companies in Riau province were criticized for compelling the government for their own interest following their announcement publicly that they were hit by globally financial crisis and needed to dismiss employees.

PEKANBARU (EoF News)-- A concerted campaign is conducted to wake up Australia’s largest retailer Woolworths Ltd for not sourcing paper products of Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), “the least sustainable fiber manufacturer in Asia and one of the worst in the world.”

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.

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.

Pekanbaru (EoF News)--- In a bid to provide a ‘common vision’ on pulp and paper industry globally, non-governmental organizations in provinces which host such industry started a two-day meeting on Friday here in setting up vision and mission to anticipating the industry’s growing problems. The meeting has theme Common Vision for The Transformation of Indonesia Pulp and Paper Industry towards Socially and Environmentally Sustainable Industry. Kabut Riau, Environmental Paper Network, CAPPA, Jikalahari, Walhi Riau and WWF Indonesia supported the meeting that attended by scores of NGOs from Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi and Kalimantan.

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.