Pekanbaru, 30 April 2021--Koalisi Eyes on the Forest (EoF) mengecam keras pemberian izin lingkungan untuk kegiatan pengembangan kapasitas Riau Komplek PT RAPP milik Asia Pacific Resources International Limited (APRIL) dan meminta Pemerintah melarang pembukaan hutan alam oleh perusahaan demi mendapatkan kayu keras campuran (mixed tropical hardwood) untuk operasinya.

Kebakaran lahan PT Arara Abadi di Desa Merbau, Kabupaten Pelalawan yang terjadi pekan lalu menyita kemarahan pembela lingkungan hidup. PT Arara Abadi, pemasok bahan baku untuk Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), diduga sengaja melakukan pembakaran lahan seluas 83 hektar untuk ditanami kembali dengan akasia.

Eyes on the Forest coalition have launched its compilation book on investigative reports one month ago, 23 October.

Thirty Indonesian NGOs and coalitions have sent a letter to 20 banks in China and Europe last week in responding to “the current situation of PT RAPP cancellation, continuing PT RAPP (APRIL main supplier) poor adherence to Indonesia regulation regarding peat protection and management,” Jikalahari said on his website.

Pemerintahan Joko Widodo telah berkomitmen untuk mengurangi emisi gas rumah kaca, salah satunya melalui perlindungan lahan gambut sebagai upaya mencegah kebakaran hutan secara masif berulang. Namun, tampaknya hal ini tidak diindahkan oleh Asia Pacific Resources International Limited (APRIL) melalui PT Riau Andalan Pulp & Paper (RAPP).

Jikalahari melaporkan 49 konsesi korporasi yang terbakar sepanjang 2015 – 2016 di Riau kepada Direktorat Jenderal Penegakan Hukum Kementrian Lingkungan Hidup dan Kehutanan.

Jikalahari melaporkan kebakaran hutan dan lahan di dalam areal dan konsesi 49 korporasi industri HTI dan Perkebunan Kelapa Sawit di Riau sepanjang 2014-2016 kepada Nazier Foead, Kepala Badan Restorasi Gambut (BRG) di kantor BRG Jakarta.

Eyes on the Forest (EoF) supports Riau police to name 16 out of 18 timber plantation suppliers and palm oil plantations suspects of forest and land burning in 2015.

EoF News (PEKANBARU)— Eyes on the Forest published NASA’s FIRMS MODIS fire hotspots data and satellite images on its interactive map to allow easy monitoring of current and past fires in Sumatran concessions of the Sinar Mas Group/Asia Pulp & Paper and others.

Sinar Mas Group (SMG) and Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) last week denied publicly that their companies are involved in ongoing forest and land fires. Eyes on the Forest coalition said that media stunt by the giant company is ridiculous and hard to trust.

Eyes on the Forest today published a new animation it produced using MODIS True Color Terra images since 17 August 2015. The animation shows smokes coming out of Asia Pulp & Paper's own PT. Rimba Hutani Mas concession in South Sumatra.

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.

Indonesia Police Headquarters named PT BMH as a suspect of forest fires in South Sumatra and it is the second time the timber supplier of Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) convicted to the crime following its legal status in February last year.

APRIL published an audit report by its consultant Hatfield which confirmed an Eyes on the Forest report that APRIL’s wood supplier, PT. Adindo Hutani Lestari (AHL) in North Kalimantan, had breached APRIL’s forest and peatland clearance moratorium starting 15 May 2015.

Eyes on the Forest says APRIL unable to provide evidence that PT Adindo Hutani Lestari (AHL) in North Kalimantan, an APRIL timber supplier, did not clear natural forest after 15 May, the day when APRIL pledged to halt its forest clearing in its modified Sustainable Forest Management Policy. EoF had reported this moratorium violation on 22 June.

Riau province is raged by forest and land fires where EoF analyzed based on NASA Firms Eosdis Data that total 426 fires hostspots detected during June 2015.

Commitment on Sustainable Forest Management Policy (SFMP) 2.0 that recently launched by Asia Pacific Resources International Limited (APRIL) on 3 June 2015 is not a blank cheque nor a public relation stunt as usual to business world and public in whole.

PT Riau Andalan Pulp & Paper (RAPP), major concession of Asia Pacific Resources International Limited (APRIL), was found clearing natural forest in its concession of district/sector Ukui, Tesso Nilo landscape, Riau province.

At least 163 fire hotspots detected in Riau between 1-5 March 2015 as NASA FIRMS Eosdis Data that analyzed by Eyes on the Forest this week.

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.

Fires hotspots still haunt Riau province as in recent week there were 114 fire hotspots that analyzed by Eyes on the Forest based on NASA Firms EOSDIS Data, and Bengkalis district still the area mostly suffered by fires with 62 hotspots.

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.

Eyes on the Forest analyzed that 290 fires hotspots accumulatively detected in period of 11 January - 11 February 2015 where Bengkalis district has got 160 of it, the most among the district in Riau Province.

South Sumatra environmental organizations published their monitoring report on “APP’s FPIC implementation on affected communities surrounding PT. OKI Pulp Mill” last month.

The President of Indonesia Joko Widodo, accompanied by the Minister of Forestry and Environment Siti Nurbaya, came to Riau province last week to monitor the burned forest areas that caused haze in Sungai Tohor village, Meranti Islands District, media reported.

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.

Just eight months of ruling as governor, the newly elected Riau governor was caught red-handed by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) at his residence in Cibubur, East Jakarta, late last month.

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.

A local environmental organization accused Asia Pulp & Paper (APP/Sinar Mas) breached its Forest Conservation Policy and forestry law following a new finding on its pulpwood supplier’s concession that found operating excavator draining peat canal and construct road.

A coalition of Non-Governmental Organizations lodged corruption cases involving 27 forestry companies in Riau to anti-corruption commission (KPK) in Jakarta Tuesday, media reports said.

EoF warns today that purchasing screens need to be installed urgently at all transfer points in the chain-of-custody from the production of oil palm fruit (fresh fruit bunches/FFB) to the final product. Illegally produced FFB appears to enter national and global supply chains much too easily.

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).

Field investigator team set up by Ministry of Environment (MoE) found strong evidences of the involvement of 23 plantations and industrial timber plantation (HTI) companies of a total of 43 firms investigated in forest and land fires case which had caused severe haze in the beginning of this year, media reported.

Eyes on the Forest coalition publishes latest investigative report as a consistency in monitoring deforestation in Sumatra, Riau in particular, as this edition highlights natural forest clearing in high conservation value forest (HCVF) by PT Triomas Forestry Development Indonesia, a supplier to Asia Pacific Resources International Limited (APRIL).

Joint military operation in Giam Siak Kecil (GSK) Biosphere Reserve, Bukit Batu, Bengkalis Riau, in late last month revealed the involvement of two former police chiefs, a high-ranking TNI-AU (air force), as well as a number of police and military service members and government officials on the encroachement of the internationally recognized protected area. The area is always burnt annually then converted to plantations, media reported.

Independent evaluation by NGOs reveals fundamental flaws in SVLK allowing certification of illegal and unsustainable timber products

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.

A number of environmental communities and organizations participated in ‘Melawan Asap’ (Fighting against Smoke) action and made speech along their protest in the front of Zapin Monument and Riau Governor Office, Pekanbaru, on Monday (10/3). On this seventeenth ‘anniversary’ of Riau fires and smog disaster, they demanded immediate and serious handling from the central government and the provincial government of Riau.

Today marks the 1st year anniversary of the Forest Conservation Policy published by the Sinar Mas Group’s Asia Pulp & Paper (SMG/APP), yet benefit of these commitments’ remain a big question. Our hope is getting weaker but not stronger.

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.

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.

Anti-Mafia Coalition and WWF Indonesia launched an agenda to push law enforcement to apply to corporates that commit crime in forestry sectors. This was discussed during a media briefing on December 5th 2013 held at Warung Daun about Corporate Crimes in Forestry Sector.

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.

At least 6772 fires hotspots were detected accumulatively in Riau Province in period of 1-23 June 2013, based on MODIS Fires satellite monitoring that analyzed by Eyes on the Forest this week.

Riau Governor Rusli Zainal finally was detained by Corruption Eradicatio Commission (KPK) yesterday for allegedly “abusing power to make money for himself and other people or a corporation” by legalizing five-yearly logging plans to some timber suppliers in Pelalawan and Siak Districts between 2001 – 2007, KPK press release said.

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.

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.

Eyes on the Forest published today a thorough report on Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) deforestation record in Riau and response to company’s forest conservation policy as the coalition said it protected “at most 5,000 hectares of natural forest.

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."

A latest investigative report by Eyes on the Forest coalition is published today focusing on APP deforestation and its link to deadly human-Sumatran tiger conflict in Riau Province of Sumatra.

Fifteen wild Sumatran elephants had been killed in Riau province since January this year following the deaths of three female elephants in Tesso Nilo forest block as officials believed they were poisoned.

Eyes on the Forest coalition says that over 1.2 million hectares of remaining forests in Riau are in danger of being cleared by Sinar Mas Group/Asia Pulp & Paper’s “independent suppliers” who can continue to deliver natural forest wood to the company’s mills. EoF published its latest report today analyzing “sustainability roadmap” that announced by SMG/APP recently.

Human and Sumatran tiger conflicts are escalating in Riau province in recent months as two endangered species were found dead by snares and a teenager laborer attacked to death by a tiger in three separate incidents.

Another wild Sumatran elephant was found dead in Tesso Nilo National Park, in Riau Province, increasing the dead toll to six elephants in recent three months. The latest elephant was found dead in Sungai Tapa near the Park’s Flying Squad trained elephants camp on 31 May, reports said.

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.

Eyes on the Forest coalition is proudly presenting new powerful map that granted by Google Earth Outreach and this project which “is one of the first to be awarded a grant by the Google Earth Outreach team to use Google Maps Engine, a platform for hosting, storing and managing map data.”

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.

Deforestation that conducted by Asia Pulp & Paper affiliated companies continue to indirectly cause suffering to people and wildlife as a fresh human-tiger conflict occurred in APP’s concession last week.

A former Forestry Service head in Riau province was charged of five year imprisonment by Anti-corruption Court in Pekanbaru on Wednesday for found guilty of receiving bribery and fee from companies as he issued logging licenses for several timber companies.

Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) is urged to nab more corruptors, including the untouchables from officials and persons from companies, civil society activists said last week.

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.

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.

Police planned to disperse residents of Padang island whom staged rallies and had been staying near House of Representatives’ compound in Jakarta for one month as eight hospitalized and one treated in a mental hospital.

Former Siak District Head Arwin AS was sentenced to four-year imprisonment by Corruption Court in Pekanbaru on Thursday as he was found guilty to make money collaborately by issuing logging licenses to pulp timber suppliers during his service as District Head in 2001-2002.

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.

EoF confirmed through its chain of custody investigation that all of the logging operators suppl ied wood to PT . Indah Kiat Pulp and Paper (IKPP), a pulp mill of Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) in Riau. EoF investigation is located in Libo Forest Block and Giam Siak Kecil Forest Block.

NGOs have been collecting information on the actual owners or managers of the individual concessions for years and investigators have been tracking the wood from the concession to their final destination

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.

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.