WWF is still reviewing the policy to understand its full implications. WWF is encouraged by APRIL's commitments, but the policy needs to be strengthened and clearly defined. WWF continues to recommend that companies wait and see before sourcing from and investing in APRIL and their associated business entities, until APRIL/RGE improves the policy, independent 3rd party confirmation that the group has stopped draining peat soils and developing and pulping HCV and HCS areas, and long-standing social issues have been resolved. WWF also urges RGE and APRIL to comply with milestones similar to those developed by the Environmental Paper Network released last September, which can be found here: www.environmentalpaper.org/milestones.

Despite being in business for 17 years and having access to pulpwood supply concessions covering more than 10% of Riau province’s landmass (940,000 hectares), APRIL has continued to rely on clearance of natural forest for its pulping business as late as this year, 2012.

• APRIL’s public commitment to sustainable and natural fiber free operations after 2009 was pure sales talk; greenwashing to win back customers who had left the company due to its dismal sustainability record. Any statements on environmental sustainability made by APRIL today must be viewed with the highest possible skepticism and should not be taken at face value.

Mums reading children’s books about the pristine forests of the world, on paper made partially from destroying these very forests, is a sad reality – still. This study shows the second W WF analysis of children’s books from major publishers in Germany, and concludes that they still contain significant amounts of tropical rainforest fibres. Book imports to Germany from China have increased dramatically in recent years. And indirectly, fibres from forest destruction in, for example, Indonesia, reach German customers. WWF remarks that other book types or paper product ranges could be affected as well.

On the global level, Germany is an important pulp and paper buyer. Also, the German book market is – with a turnover of 9.6 billion EUR in 2011 – quite big. Children’s books achieve the second largest turnover in book sales. W WF Germany decided to have a closer look at the publishing sector to showcase the link between forest destruction in the tropics and paper products on the European market..

Today over 40% of German book imports stem from Asia. The amount of storybooks imported from China and Hongkong has even multiplied by a factor of 12 between 2000 and 2011..

China has become a global player in the paper sector in recent years. Half of the worldwide increase in paper and paperboard production since 1990 is attributable to China. China is however also the world’s largest pulp importer – Out of 23.9 million tonnes of pulp used in China in 2011, 64% or 15.2 million tonnes were imported. It is not surprising that China as an important paper producer without sufficient own fibre resources imports pulp from neighbouring countries, like Indonesia.

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 coalition in a press conference in Jakarta also urged the government to curb logging licenses to companies who allegedly involved in forest corruption cases and bring the timber companies to justice.

 The NGOs consist of Jikalahari, ICW, IWGFF, Walhi, Sawit Watch, Telapak, Greenpeace and Huma held a press conference last week following the coalition’s submission of data on corruption to the national Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

In September, Greenomics Indonesia was afforded the opportunity to make two presentations to the Ministry of Forestry regarding the need for Indonesia to immediately reposition itself as a pulp and paper producer. The presentations were chaired by the Ministry of Forestry’s Secretary General, Dr. Hadi Daryanto. The first presentation, on 12 September, was attended by internal Ministry of Forestry figures, while the second presentation, on 14 September, was attended by representatives of APP (Asia Pulp and Paper) and APRIL (Asia Pacific Resources International Holding Limited).

Peat surface CO2 emission, groundwater table depth and peat temperature were moni- tored for two years along transects in an Acacia plantation on thick tropical peat (>4 m) in Sumatra, Indonesia.  

A total of 2300 emission measurements were taken at 144 locations. 

The autotrophic root respiration component of the CO2 emission was separated from heterotrophic emissions caused by peat oxidation in three ways: (i) by compar- ing CO2 emissions within and beyond the tree rooting zone, (ii) by comparing CO2 emissions with and without peat trenching (i.e. cutting any roots remaining in the peat beyond the tree rooting zone), and (iii) by comparing CO2 emissions before and after Acacia trees harvesting. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Greenomics Indonesia has taken the initiative of assessing the level of concern that is really exhibited by APP and APRIL for the protection of the Sumatran tiger. This initiative is intended to serve as a response to the aggressive and groundless PR arguments of the two companies, which claim that their operations exhibit a high level of concern for the protection of the Sumatran tiger. We frequently read and hear of claims from the pulp and paper industry, particularly APP, to the effect that their operations reflect a high level of concern for the protection of the Sumatran tiger. Many of these claims, however, are based on public relations arguments designed purely to mislead the public. The assessment of APP and APRIL’s concern for the protection of the Sumatran tiger needs to be carried out at the level of each pulpwood plantation concession that supplies timber to the two companies. This is essential in order to evaluate the aggregate level of concern of APP and APRIL for the protection of the Sumatran tiger.

Non-governmental organizations working in Riau Province, Sumatra, urge the Government to include 1.2 million hectares of remaining natural forest in Riau in the two-year moratorium on natural forest and peat conversion that is part of the US$ 1 billion Indonesia-Norway REDD Letter of Intent. 

Maps predicting the moratorium’s impact on Riau -- submitted by Eyes on the Forest to the REDD+ Task Force yesterday -- show that up to 1.2 million hectares, almost half of Riau’s remaining natural forest, is actually inside existing concessions where natural forest and peat conversion can continue, even with the moratorium in place. EoF coalition fears that the worst impact would be in the deep peat areas of Riau, where it would cause huge greenhouse gas emissions, largely undermining the president’s global commitment to reduce them.

Rainforest Action Network developed this report and consumer guide to help consumers make environmentally- friendly choices at the bookstore and to encourage publishers and booksell- ers to make more responsible choices about what paper they buy and what books they sell.

In 2009 Global Paper Giants APP and APRIL set out to pulp 5% of Riau’s remaining tropical rainforest erased identified High Conservation Value Forests deforested and drained legally protected deep peat cleared internationally recognized priority Sumatran tiger conservation forests.

This Eyes on the Forest report focuses on large scale deforestation by APP and APRIL against their own published sustainability policies and commitments to buyers, investors and the general public to protect High Conservation Value Forests, critical species habitats and the climate. Their actions challenge our President’s commitment to reduce the country’s carbon emissions. They undermine Indonesia’s commitment to ensure the survival of the critically endangered tiger.

In 2009 Global Paper Giants APP and APRIL set out to pulp 5% of Riau’s remaining tropical rainforest erased identified High Conservation Value Forests deforested and drained legally protected deep peat cleared internationally recognized priority Sumatran tiger conservation forests.

It is the United Nation’s Year of Biodiversity It is the Chinese Year of the Tiger Yet Asia Pulp & Paper’s clearing of tiger forests in Indonesia’s GSK UNESCO Biosphere Reserve continues.

The report provides an overview of the state of the forests in the province. It documents Riau’s rapid rate of forest loss over the last two decades associated with the expansion of two industries – paper and palm oil. The report illustrates how Riau's pulp and paper industry, dominated by APP and its competitor, APRIL, is the driving force behind this forest loss.

Southeast Asia is one of the regions most exposed to, and least prepared for, the impacts of climate change, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB). It warns that the poor - and especially women - are the most vulnerable.5 Approxi- mately 2.2 billion Asians are subsistence farmers; they are already experiencing falling crop yields caused by floods, droughts, erratic rainfall and other climate change impacts.

Indonesia is a stark example of the need for a robust plan and the provision of international funds to protect tropical forests. According to the latest available figures, it has one of the fastest rates of deforestation.10 This emits so much CO2 that Indonesia is the third largest climate polluter, after China and the US

35 Indonesian NGOs sent a letter to companies to ask them to reduce your company’s consumption and environmental footprint by establishing social and environmental safeguards on procurement and by helping to bring about crucial changes to the Indonesian pulp and paper industry’s practices as well as supporting related government policy reforms. The Indonesian NGOs request that investors adopt similar safeguards in relation to investments in Indonesia’s pulp and paper sector.

Many publishers, printers, paper merchants, and retailers purchase products containing Indonesian fiber or from affiliates of Sinar Mas Group's Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) and Raja Garuda Mas' Asia Pacific Resources International (APRIL). These companies are operating without regard to business best-practices and are linked to social conflict and legal controversy. The ongoing clea- ring of diverse natural rainforests by APP and APRIL is devastating local communities and threatening elephant, tiger, and orangutan populations with extinction. APP and APRIL's practices are also a major source of cli- mate-changing greenhouse gases. Indonesia stands out as the world's third largest greenhouse gas emitter, after China and the U.S., due to its massive emissions from tropical deforestation.

This study deals with ecological condition of peat swamp forests in Kampar Peninsula and Padang Island (Pulau Padang) in the province of Riau, Sumatra, Indonesia. It was conducted to produce basic data to help decision making regarding the faith of these forests. A current issue threatening their existence is an expansion plan of Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper (RAPP), part of an Indonesian-owned pulp and paper company, APRIL. APRIL plans to convert much of the forests in these areas into acacia plantation that would feed its pulp mill. The present study focuses on the planned expansion area of APRIL.

The research was conducted between December 2004 and February 2005. The team leader of ecological research was Mr. Jonotoro, MSi, a professional forester with extensive experience of forests in Riau. Besides the ecological rapid survey dealt with in this paper, also a study of social conditions and attitudes towards the APRIL expansion plan covering 11 villages that would be affected was conducted by the Jikalahari team.

The report documents the result of spot checks by WWF Indonesia's Tesso Nilo Programme Forest Crime Unit in August 2003 and APril 2004. It investigates claims by companies regarding involvement in illegal logging activities, monitors ongoing forest operations in the Tesso Nilo - Bukit Tigapuluh landscape.

The smallest of the Asian elephants, the Sumatran elephant is facing serious pressures arising from illegal logging and habitat loss. Rainforest loss in the Sumatran Tesso Nilo region and the European banks and markets.

The forest destruction, social conflict and financial crisis of Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings Ltd (APRIL), and the role of financial institutions and paper merchants.

This report reveals the damaging environmental and social impacts of Asia Pacific Resources International Holding Ltd, otherwise known as APRIL, one of the biggest pulp and paper companies in the world. It also examines the influential role played by financial institutions and paper merchants in fuelling this damage. It provides recommendations for urgent action to be taken by all these groups in order to help bring an end to the destruction of Indonesia’s forests, one of the most precious and threatened natural habitats on Earth.

The following reports have been produced by this project. The first of these represents a synthesis of the major findings from the nine case studies, accompanied by a historical analysis of forest administration and forestry sector development in Indonesia, and a discussion of the origins and legal-regulatory basis of the nation’s ongoing decentralisation process. Each of the nine case studies is published as a separate report (with the exception of the study districts in Riau, which have been combined) in order to make the information contained therein more readily accessible to decision-makers involved in the decentralisation process.

In 1997, a major financial crisis struck Asia. In the wake of that crisis, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank provided large loans to the Indonesian government in return for their commitment to implement policy reforms intended to stabilize the economy and rekindle growth. Those reforms included various measures explicitly designed to improve forest management, most of which focused on forest concessions run by large Indonesian conglomerates.
The strategy those two agencies adopted had three major flaws regarding forests. First, at the same time that the two agencies were supporting forest policies intended to limit unsustainable logging, they also encouraged several non-forest policies that actually stimulated deforestation and more widespread logging. Second, by the late 1990s large forest concessions were responsible for an increasingly small portion of forest clearing and unsustainable logging. Logging outside concessions and land clearing for agriculture had become the main sources of forest destruction. Hence, focusing on concessions dealt with only a limited piece of the problem. Third, a number of the specific forest concession reforms endorsed by the IMF and the World Bank may have actually increased pressure on Indonesia's forests.

The research conducted for this study was funded, in part, by WWF-Austria, WWF-Switzerland, and the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development. WWF-Indonesia has also assisted in the dissemination of some of the study’s preliminary findings. I gratefully acknowledge the support of each of these organizations. Any opinions presented in the following chapters, however, are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official policy of any of these organizations.

Since the late-1980s, Indonesia’s pulp and paper industries have undergone very rapid expansion to push the country into the ranks of the world’s top 10 producers. The meteoric growth that has occurred in both industries, however, has proceeded far more rapidly than efforts to secure a sustainable supply of raw materia ls through the development of pulpwood plantations. The growth of Indonesia’s pulp and paper industries over the past decade has involved an aggregate capital investment of approximately US$ 12 billion. These large investments have often been justified as enabling Indonesian producers to remain profitable in highly cyclical pulp and paper markets by producing large volumes of product at low cost. Indonesian companies have made investments on this scale without first securing a legal and sustainable raw material supply, however, suggests that many of these projects carry a substantial degree of financial risk. Indonesian pulp and paper companies have been motivated to invest such large sums in high-risk projects because their owners have been able to avoid much of the financial risk involved. Three factors have enabled them to do so: First, the Indonesian government has provided substantial capital subsidies to pulp and paper producers, including the provision of pulpwood fiber at costs well below its stumpage value. Second, the government’s weak regulation of the nation’s financial system has enabled pulp and paper companies to employ a variety of illegal practices to obtain discounted finance. Third, international financial institutions have helped Indonesian producers to borrow billions of dollars from offshore investors without rigorously assessing either the long-term viability of those firms’ fiber supplies or the legality of their financial practices. The current economic crisis has compounded the problems of financial risk and poor corporate governance associated with large-scale pulp and paper investments in Indonesia.