Pekanbaru, (11/5/2024) - Seorang warga Kabupaten Pelalawan, Provinsi Riau, Rahmad (26) dilaporkan meninggal dunia setelah diterkam Harimau Sumatera di Desa Tanjung Simpang, Kecamatan Pelangiran, Kabupaten Indragiri Hilir.
Pekanbaru, 1 Maret 2024 - Jikalahari menerbitkan rilis yang menyoroti indikasi deforestasi dan penebangan hutan alam yang dilakukan oleh Asia Pulp & Paper / Sinar Mas group melalui anak perusahaannya yakni PT Arara Abadi dan PT Riau Indo Agropalma pada Februari 2024 di Indragiri Hilir, Riau.
Pekanbaru, March 1, 2024 - Jikalahari published a release highlighting the indications of deforestation and clearing of natural forests carried out by Asia Pulp & Paper / Sinar Mas group through its subsidiaries, namely PT Arara Abadi and PT Riau Indo Agropalma, in Indragiri Hilir, Riau.
Riau kembali diancam Karhutla. Badan Penanggulangan Bencana Daerah (BPBD) Riau mencatat karhutla di Riau per Senin, 7 Agustus 2023, telah mencapai 1.146,53 hektar. Kebakaran hutan dan lahan (Karhutla) terluas terjadi di Kabupaten Bengkalis yang mencapai hampir 378 hektar.
Sejak medio April 2023, kabut asap akibat Karhutla telah menyelimuti kota Dumai dan Bengkalis. Hingga sepekan ini, karhutla sedikitnya telah menghanguskan lahan gambut berkedalaman 4 meter seluas lebih kurang 60 hektar, demikian data dari BPBD Provinsi Riau. Lokasi kebakaran terjadi di Desa Pelintung, Dumai, dan Desa Tanjung Leban, Kabupaten Bengkalis.
Koalisi Eyes on the Forest menerbitkan Laporan Investigatif menyoroti indikasi deforestasi dan penebangan hutan alam di lahan gambut dan penebangan vegetasi alam di area Nilai Konservasi Tinggi (NKT) oleh Asia Pulp & Paper / Sinar Mas group, di cagar biosfir UNESCO Giam Siak Kecil – Bukit Batu, Riau. Kedua pemasok, PT Arara Abadi (resort Sebanga dan Melibur) serta PT Sekato Pratama Makmur (SPM).
Today Eyes on the Forest published an Investigative Report highlighting indication of deforestation and clearing on High Conservation Value 1 area and peat drainage. Two suppliers of Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) / Sinar Mas in UNESCO Biosphere Reserve of Giam Siak Kecil – Bukit Batu, Riau province, were investigated by EoF in early this year.
PEKANBARU – Koalisi Eyes on the Forest mengapresiasi tindakan cepat Balai Besar Konservasi Sumber Daya Alam kantor Riau dalam menangani kematian gajah sumatera (maximus elephas sumatranus) di konsesi Hutan Tanaman Industri (HTI) dan mulai melakukan penyidikan kematian yang belum diketahui motifnya.
Siaran Pers Perkumpulan Elang -- 10 November 2021. Masyarakat Kampung Dosan, Kecamatan Pusako, Kabupaten Bengkalis, Riau, mengunjungi Lembaga Swadaya Masyarakat (LSM) untuk berdiskusi dan mengadukan perihal konflik yang mereka alami dengan PT Arara Abadi (pemasok Asia Pulp & Paper /APP Sinar Mas Group).
Palembang, August 23, 2021 -- Over 30 civil society organizations on Monday sent a letter to investors of Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), part of the Sinar Mas Group, explaining why the expansion of APP’s OKI Pulp and Paper Mill in Sumatra, Indonesia would risk the respiratory health for millions of people in Southeast Asia and cause more greenhouse gas emissions than many countries on an annual basis.
Kejadian penebangan hutan alam yang sangat masif pernah terjadi di Riau, antara tahun 2000-2008. Kala itu, awal tahun 2000, potongan kayu gelondongan kayu bulat berdiameter mulai dari 20 cm hingga mencapai 1 m kerap ditemukan berjejeran di pinggir hutan. Pemandangan itu selalu menghiasi setiap jalanan beraspal menuju industri sawmill, kayu lapis (plywood) serta industri bubur kertas dan kertas (pulp and paper) di Riau.
Eyes on the Forest bulan ini melakukan observasi pembuktian di lapangan (groundtruthing) akan adanya kebakaran hutan dan lahan di konsesi-konsesi Hutan Tanaman Industri (HTI) seperti yang terpantau oleh satelit NASA FIRMS VIIRS kurun Februari – Maret 2021.
Pandemi covid belum usai, masyarakat Riau kembali dihadapkan dengan ancaman kebakaran hutan dan lahan. Berdasarkan data dari BPBD Provinsi Riau, sejak Januari 2021 hingga kini luas lahan yang terbakar mencapai lebih kurang 248 hektar. Dilansir dari harian detik (24/2), Kepala Pelaksana BPBD, Riau Edwar Sanger, mengatakan karhutla sudah melanda 8 daerah di Riau. Luas lahan terbakar bervariasi, dari 4 sampai 82 hektar.
10 tahun lalu, tepatnya 3 Desember 2010, Eyes on the Forest merilis sebuah laporan yang menyingkap bagaimana dua perusahaan raksasa pulp dan kertas – Asia Pulp & Paper milik Sinar Mas Group (SMG / APP) yang berkantor pusat di Shanghai/Cina dan Asian Pacific Resources International Holdings Limited (APRIL) milik Raja Garuda Mas Grup yang berkantor pusat di Singapura – terus mengkonversi hutan alam dan gambut dalam di propinsi Riau.
Memasuki bulan bersejarah bagi negara Indonesia dan provinsi Riau, puluhan titik panas muncul lagi, di tengah kurangnya intensitas hujan. Dilansir dari Riau Mandiri, Senin (10/8), BMKG mencatat ada 88 titik panas yang tersebar di seluruh kabupaten dan kota di Riau. Sedangkan sehari sebelumnya, yakni pada Minggu (9/8/2020), terdeteksi 38 titik panas.
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.
Di tengah perjuangan menghadapi pandemic virus corona, Indonesia khususnya Sumatera dan Kalimantan juga dihadapkan dengan ancaman kebakaran hutan dan lahan (karhutla). 29 Juni 2020, titik api muncul di Riau. Kekuatiran akan bergabungnya bencana karhutla bersama dengan pandemi penyakit virus corona-19 (covid-19) semakin membuncah.
Perselisihan tentang tanah atau batas adat, penggusuran, pelemahan mata pencaharian masyarakat ataupun tindakan kekerasan terhadap petani merupakan konflik sosal di konsesi perusahaan HTI yang hingga saat ini belum menemukan titik akhir.
Jakarta, 4 June 2020 - The National Coalition to Preserve Natural Resources (GN-PSDA) has called on the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry to stop ignoring the environmental and criminal destruction caused by Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), one of the world’s largest paper producers. (1)
Civil Society Open Letter About APP’s Recurrent Violation of Farmers’ Land Rights in Jambi, Indonesia Dear Madam/Sir, We are contacting you about the destruction of community food resources in the village of Lubuk Mandarsah, Tebo Regency, Jambi Province, Indonesia, perpetrated by PT. Wira Karya Sakti (WKS). WKS is an industrial pulpwood producer affiliated with Asia Pulp and Paper Sinar Mas (APP Sinar Mas), one of Indonesian main pulp companies. On the morning of 4 March 2020, a drone sprayed poison on the community’s rubber trees, vegetables, and palm trees. This is the way PT Wirakarya Sakti resolved its conflict with the local community: by jeopardising the safety of their food and livelihood in the middle of the Covid-19 crisis.
Produksi pulp and paper merupakan salah satu penyebab utama deforestasi dan degradasi hutan gambut di Sumatera. Menurut perkiraan, APP dan APRIL sudah memusnahkan 2 juta hektar hutan di Propinsi Riau sejak pertengahan 1980-an, yang merupakan setengah dari hutan hujan tropis yang ada di Riau saat itu. produsen pulp dan kertas yang terkemuka di Indonesia tersebut dan anak perusahaannya sangat mengandalkan kayu rimba campuran (mixed tropical hardwood atau MTH) yang berasal dari kegiatan pembukaan hutan alam.
Some stakeholders quit Jambi Regional Social Working Group (KKSR), multi-stakeholders forum initiated by Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), to resolve social conflict involving the corporate against communities in Jambi. They leave the working group due to disappointment on lack of progress and performance of APP-funded forum which consist of civil society organizations and government agencies, Gatra.com website reported in October.
Analysis on fire hotspots distribution as detected by satellite NASA FIRM VIIRS showed that Asia Pulp & Paper’s timber suppliers dominated the list of timber corporate group razed by fires in South Sumatra province during October 2019.
Jakarta, 9 October 2019—
The Koalisi Anti Mafia Hutan released a report today finding that Indonesia’s two largest pulp and paper producers
Kebakaran hutan hebat 2015 tak membuat jera. Investigasi Eyes on the Forest (EoF) terkini menemukan 3 dari 7 perusahaan pemegang konsesi HTI, yang jadi tersangka kebakaran hutan dan lahan pada 2013-2014, diduga tidak mengindahkan peraturan perlindungan dan pemulihan gambut. Apakah ini akibat lemahnya supervisi dan koordinasi pemerintah?
Severe fires 2015 does not change anybody’s behaviour. Eyes on the Forest (EoF) coalition’s investigation found three of seven industrial timber plantation companies – that has been named in previous cases as suspects to forest and land fires case in 2013-2014— are once again apparently breaching protection and restoration regulations. Is this caused by poor supervision and coordination by the Government?
EoF analysed that fire hotspots that NASA Fire VIIRS satellite detected more in Riau province either in peatland or mineral soil as 179 hotspots found in industrial timber plantations (HTI) concessions alone.
Sumatra, Carbon stock, Biodiversity loss, Pulp & paper, Palm oil, APP, APRIL, burnings, fires, forest, KPK, Land, peat, tax
Eyes on the Forest updated that more pulpwood plantation and palm oil companies were caught having fire hotspots on 28-30 July in Riau Province. Meanwhile, fewer fire hotspots detected by NASA satellite in Tesso Nilo National Park compared to 26 and 27 July analysis.
At least six industrial timber plantation concessions in Riau province were detected to have fire hotspots on 26 and 27 July as Eyes on the Forest team analysed based on satellite data by NASA FIRM VIIRS with confidence of nominal (medium).
Jikalahari said industrial timber plantations also drove forest and land burnings, not only palm oil plantations and minings.
JAKARTA, 15 MEI 2019—Masih hangat di ingatan publik kasus kebakaran hutan dan gambut yang melibatkan raksasa penghasil kertas Sinar Mas (dikenal dengan merek dagang Asia Pulp & Paper—APP) beserta perusahaan pemasok kayunya. Kini, APP harus jujur dan komprehensif mengungkap informasi penerima manfaat perusahaan-perusahaan dalam rantai pasok APP dan secara transparan menjalankan menjalankan komitmen pelestariannya.
Jakarta, 15 May 2019 -- A group of NGOs under the Anti Forest Mafia Coalition, including WWF-Indonesia, published a joint report highlighting that Sinar Mas Group’s Asia Pulp & Paper (SMG/APP) continues to be involved in deforestation, peatland destruction and fires even after they had committed to zero deforestation in 2013.
Hasil pengecekan lapangan oleh Eyes on the Forest menemukan adanya kebakaran hutan dan lahan di konsesi Hutan Tanaman Industri (HTI) di kabupaten Rokan Hilir dan kawasan prioritas restorasi gambut serta areal peta indikatif penundaan pemberian izin baru (PIPPIB) pekan lalu.
Eyes on the Forest coalition conducted last week series of ground checking on burned areas and found a concession of industrial timber supplier in Rokan Hilir district and peat restoration priority areas in Bengkalis razed by fires. The restoration areas were also situated on land of indicative map on new permit issuance suspension (dubbed as PIPPIB).
Jakarta, 30 May 2018—A new report published today by the Koalisi Anti Mafia Hutan is calling on the Government of Indonesia to take firm actions against global pulp and paper producer Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) after unmasking their corporate links with wood fiber plantation companies (HTI). The report entitled Removing the Corporate Mask reveals an apparent close relationship between the Sinar Mas Group, the parent conglomerate of APP, and 24 declared wood suppliers that APP has called "independent partners". The report also traces out the ownership structure of the forestry business group within the Sinar Mas Group, which extends to a network of companies in numerous offshore jurisdictions.
Langkah tegas Pemerintah Indonesia untuk melindungi dan memulihkan lahan gambut patut didukung, termasuk di antaranya kebijakan pelarangan pembukaan atau eksploitasi lahan gambut oleh perusahaan hutan tanaman industri (HTI). Setidaknya 16% atau setara dengan 2,1 juta hektar dari 12,9 juta hektar total luasan, telah ditetapkan pemerintah sebagai daerah prioritas restorasi gambut.
Sejumlah lembaga swadaya masyarakat (LSM) menyampaikan pernyataan bersama dalam menyambut 5 tahun diluncurkannya Kebijakan Konservasi Hutan (FCP) oleh Asia Pulp & Paper (APP). Pernyataan Bersama menyimpulkan APP belum berada pada jalur yang tepat dan kemajuan pelaksanaan komitmen tersebut belum memadai.
Several green organizations criticized Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) for lack of progress in some areas which made the company has yet to be on sustainable track, while its Forest Conservation Policy (FCP) is entering the fifth year this week.
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Indonesia released today “Advisory to Buyers and Investors of Sinar Mas Group / Asia Pulp & Paper (APP)” . It is the latest version of the Advisory that received by EoF News today.
EoF News -- Today, WWF-Indonesia together with Auriga, Forest Peoples Programme, Hutan Kita Institute, Jikalahari, KKI Warsi, Rainforest Action Network, Titian, WALHI Riau, WALHI Jambi, Wetlands International, and Woods& Wayside International published Evaluating the Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance Performance of Sinar Mas Group (SMG) and Royal Golden Eagle (RGE) Companies-Criteria and Indicators for Assessing and Verifying Performance.
Hari ini WWF-Indonesia bersama dengan Auriga, Forest Peoples Programme, Hutan Kita Institute, Jikalahari, KKI Warsi, Rainforest Action Network, Titian, Walhi Riau, Walhi Jambi, Wetlands International, dan Woods& Wayside International mengeluarkan “Evaluating the Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance Performance of Sinar Mas Group (SMG) and Royal Golden Eagle (RGE) Companies -Criteria and Indicators for Assessing and Verifying Performance”.
Video amatir diunggah di satu akun Facebook menampilkan seekor harimau berada di kawasan HTI milik PT Arara Abadi. Harimau besar itu berjalan mendekati pekerja perusahaan yang sedang panen akasia.
Asia Pulp & Paper’s $3 billion mill locks in high carbon emissions and fire threat for decades. NGOs call on company to stop using drained peatlands for pulpwood plantations and to restore degraded areas.
Pabrik senilai $3 milyar milik Asia Pulp & Paper dibayangi emisi karbon dan ancaman kebakaran. Organisasi Masyarakat Sipil (CSO) mendesak APP berhenti mengeringkan lahan gambut untuk produksi tanaman serat kayu dan merestorasi area yang terdegradasi.
Indonesian House of Representatives will set up a working committee to tackle case closures involving 15 companies in Riau by inviting related sides in a hearing.
A new study by twelve international and Indonesian NGOs shows that in spite of its high-profile commitment to “zero deforestation”, Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) is building one of the world’s largest pulp mills in the Indonesian province of South Sumatra without a sustainable wood supply.
PT. Bumi Mekar Hijau, an APP timber supplier in South Sumatra, was cleared by panel of judges in Palembang district court last week from a lawsuit filed by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry
A new report by Deltares commissioned by Wetlands International conclude that plantations in Kampar Peninsula, Riau province, are not sustainable and economically unviable due to subsidence, drainage and flood problems.
Eyes on the Forest commended the Ministry of Environment and Forestry for issuing a letter and instructions regarding peat management for the prevention and control of fire.
Carbon stock, APP, emission, fires, forest fires, gambut, haze, palm oil, peatland, Riau, sawit, wood supply
Fires in Indonesia continues unabated. An early estimate by the Indonesian government of the haze crisis cost this year was as high as 465 trillion rupiah (US$34 billion).
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.
President Joko Widodo called stern measures against companies involved in forest and land fires burning by rescinding their licenses, media report said today.
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.
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.
Sumatra, Tenurial rights, Pulp & paper, APP, bukit tiga puluh, deforestasi, deforestation, EoF, illegal logging, Indra, jambi, Jikalahari, killing, Lubuk Mandarsah, palm oil, Pelani, petani tebo, serikat petani tebo, sinar mas, sinar mas brutal, sinarmas, Tebo, violence, WALHI Jambi, WALHI Riau, Wira Karya Sakti, WKS
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.
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.
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.
Sumatra, Carbon stock, Biodiversity loss, Pulp & paper, What companies can do, APP, breach, commitment, EoF, FCP, First Resources, Hutan Riau, Inhil, Jikalahari, kerumutan, kerumutan, msk, Mutiara Sabuk Khatulistiwa, palm oil, perusahaan perusak lingkungan, SAL, sinar mas, sinar mas brutal, sinarmas, Singapore, violation
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.
Sumatra, Pulp & paper, APP, APRIL, corruption, deforestation, EoF, forest crime, Hutan Riau, indonesia, Indonesia Corruption Watch, Jikalahari, koalisi anti mafia hutan, Korupsi Hutan, KPK, Riau, Riau Corruption Trial, Rusli Zainal, Transparency International Indonesia, walhi, WALHI Riau, Yayasan Auriga
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.
The Ministry of Environment (MoE) has named three companies suspects of forest and land fires that hit Riau in February-March this year, a senior official said last week.
WWF cautiously welcomes the restoration and conservation initiative announced today by the Sinar Mas Group’s Asia Pulp & Paper (APP).
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.
The result of corruption trial of former governor of Riau Rusli Zainal (RZ) which was held on Wednesday (12/3) at Pekanbaru State Court sentenced RZ to 14 years in prison and a liability to pay a fine of Rp 1 billion subsidiary of 6 months imprisonment after being pleaded guilty for corruption on forestry sector and National Games (PON) 2012, media reported.
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.
The second week of month showed the most fire hotspots found in Riau province since fires and haze returned from January. There are total 1605 hotspots detected accumulatively in the province based on NASA Modis Fire monitoring in period of 13-19 February.
After being free from haze and fires since September 2013, Riau’s annual problem, haze and wildfires, returns to Riau since the end of January 2014. The increasing hotspots which are found in plantations’ concessions as well as outside concessions which have caused the worsening air quality in the province, as schools closed and thousands people infected by respiratory infections.
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.
Riau Forest Rescue Network (Jikalahari) reveals massive deforestation by industrial plantation companies during 2013 that also includes the green group’s doubts on paper giant company’s commitment to save Riau’s natural forest and peatlands seriously.
A Kalimantan-based NGOs consortium dedicated to monitoring deforestation in Indonesia’s part of Borneo released an investigative report on Tuesday, December 17th 2013, which reveals APP’s violation to its own self-imposed moratorium by the clearance of up to 1,400 ha natural forest.
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.
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.
Sumatra, Lack of governance, Biodiversity loss, Pulp & paper, APP, APRIL, Azmun Jafar, Bhakti Praja Mulia, corruption, forest crime, Merbau Pelalawan Lestari, Mitra Hutani, Mitra Taninusa Sejati, permit, PON XVIII, pulp, pulp and paper industry, pulp suppliers, Putri Lindung Bulan, RAPP, Riau Governor, Rimba Mutiara Permai, Rusli Zainal, Satria Perkasa Agung, Selaras Abadi Utama, Seraya Sumber Lestari
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.
Sumatra, Carbon stock, Biodiversity loss, Pulp & paper, Palm oil, APP, APRIL, Asia Pulp & Paper, BBHA, deforestation, Eyes on the Forest, forest fires, palm oil plantations, pulp and paper industry, pulp suppliers, pulpwood, RAPP, Ruas Utama Jaya, Sakato Pratama Makmur, Sinarmas Group, Sumatera Riang Lestari, WWF Indonesia
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.
As the man-made catastrophe of forest fire and haze returns to Riau, citizens of Pelalawan have to leave their homes and be on the alert to prevent fire coming to their remaining land, while some students fainted as schools closed in the district and the province’s capital city.
People living in Siak riverside protested pulp mill belonging to Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), PT Indah Kiat Pulp & Paper, due to waste pollution caused by the mill for over nearly four months they have been suffering, media reports said.
Last month’s Riau forest fire catastrophe apparently comes to re-occur in this month. Meteorology Climatology and Geophysics (BMKG) of Pekanbaru recorded a significant increase on the numbers of hotspots detected in Riau Province in the last five days which reached to 230 hotspots.
Eyes on the Forest today published photos from field verification trips on 17, 27 and 28 June 2013 in its Google Earth based online Sumatra database. NASA’s FIRMS MODIS fire locations data recorded 9,236 hotspots in Sumatra between 1 and 28 June. 89% were recorded in Riau province (8,229). Majority of the hotspots were recorded on peat soil, suggesting massive carbon emissions.
WWF released yesterday an advisory presented to buyers and investors of Sinar Mas Group/Asia Pulp & Paper (SMG/APP).
Sumatra, Carbon stock, Biodiversity loss, Pulp & paper, Palm oil, APP, Asia Pulp & Paper, bukit tiga puluh, carbon, corporate, deforestation, Diamond Raya Timber, EoF, Eyes on the Forest, fires, forest fires, haze, hotspot, Hutani Sola Lestari, NASA, palm oil companies, palm oil plantations, peat fire, peatlands, pulp & paper, pulp and paper industry, pulpwood, RAPP, RGE Group, Riau, Siak Raya, sinar mas group, smoke, tesso nilo, wood supply
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.
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.
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.
Sumatra, Lack of governance, Carbon stock, Biodiversity loss, Pulp & paper, Alam Jaya, APP, APRIL, Bhakti Praja Mulia, corruption, deforestation, Harapan Jaya, human rights abuses, ICW, Madukoro, Merbau Pelalawan Lestari, Mitra Hutani Jaya, Mitra Tani Nusa Sejati, Mutiara Lestari, pollution, pulp and paper industry, Putri Lindung Bulan, RAPP, Riau, Rimba Mutiara Permai, Satria Perkasa Agung, Selaras Abadi Utama, timber supplier, Trio Mas FDI, Tuah Negeri, Uniseraya, water pollution, wood supply, Yos Raya Timber
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.
Kalimantan, Biodiversity loss, Pulp & paper, APP, Asia Pulp & Paper, Asia Tani Persada, commitment, Daya Tani Kalbar, deforestation, FCP, forest clearing, Gerbang Benua Raya, HCVF, Investigation, Karya Utama Tambang Jaya, land clearing, peat canal, pulp and paper industry, RPHK, sinar mas group, stakeholders, TFT, timber supplier, violation
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.
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.
A consortium of West Kalimantan civil society organizations accused Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) of breaching its own Forest Conservation Policy (FCP) announced last month where suspension on natural forest and peatland clearance started since 1 February 2013.
Greenomics Indonesia, an NGO based in Jakarta, this week published a report entitling APP’s artful deception: After pulping its remaining forests, APP positions itself as a conservation leader with new policy showing “how little natural forest and forested peatland will be saved by the New APP Forest Conservation Policy.”
An independent monitoring on legal wood certification in Riau province urged the government and certification agencies to be responsible for passing Timber Legality of Assurance System (TLAS) certificates to forest management units as some of timber companies targeted by anti-corruption commission for further probe on graft scandals.
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."
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.
At least sixty environmental and social non-governmental organizations sent joint letters to banks and financial institutions not to invest in increasing pulp mill capacity of Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) or other companies associated with Sinar Mas Group until “reforms have been achieved,” a press release issued last week said.
On 5 September, APP published "Highlights of First Quarterly Progress Report" for its “Sustainability Roadmap 2020”, launched on 5 June 2012. Eyes on the Forest had analyzed the original Roadmap in “SMG/APP: The Pulping Continues”, calling it a roadmap to clear more natural forests in Indonesia. APP’s Roadmap failed to protect any additional natural forest while allowing its pulp mills to continue pulping Indonesia’s tropical forest unabated.
National Human Rights Commission concluded temporarily that a farmer died near concession of PT Suntara Gaja Pati (SGP), a timber supplier associated to Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), in improper manner and needed further investigation.
Sumatra, Lack of governance, Biodiversity loss, Pulp & paper, Alam Lestari, APP, APRIL, Balai Kayang Mandiri, Bina Daya Bintara, Burhanuddin Husin, corruption, deforestation, forest graft, license, logging, Mutiara Lestari, NTFP, Persada Karya Sejati, pulp and paper industry, pulpwood plantation, RAPP, Riau Corruption Trial, Rimba Mandau Lestari, Selaras Abadi Utama, Siak Raya, timber supplier, Tuah Negeri
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.
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.
Asia Pacific Resources International Limited (APRIL) timber suppliers are protested by communities in several pulpwood concessions in Riau Province, Sumatra, early this month, over long-standing conflicts between villagers and companies.
Sumatra, Carbon stock, Biodiversity loss, Pulp & paper, acacia, APP, APRIL, Arita Abadi, Artelindo Wiratama, Bina Daya Bentala, Dexter Timber Perkasa, fire hotspots, hotspot, monitoring, pulp companies, pulpwood plantation, Rimba Lazuardi, Rimba Rokan Lestari, Rimba Rokan Perkasa, Satria Perkasa Agung, Sumatera Riang Lestari, timber plantation
As rain rarely pours Riau Province many fires hotspots found recently including in timber concessions and protected areas. At least 613 hotspots detected within three weeks in this month as the total of hotspots in the province are 1573.
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.
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 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.
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.
Asia Pulp and Paper is still clearcutting tropical rainforest as realities found by Eyes on the Forest investigation in the company’s subsidiary, PT Arara Abadi of district Nilo, in Tesso Nilo forest block, Sumatra’s Riau Province.
Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) claims of independent sustainability certification for its operations aren’t supported by the certification schemes and assessors it has nominated, a WWF survey has found.
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.
Sumatra, Biodiversity loss, Pulp & paper, APP, APRIL, Arwin AS, Azmun Jaafar, Balai Kayang Mandiri, Bhakti Praja Mulia, Bina Daya Bintara, corruption, EoF, forestry corruptors, ICW, KPK, logging license, Mitra Taninusa Sejati, NTFP, Putri Lindung Bulan, Rimba Mandau Lestari, Rimba Mutiara Permai, Selaras Abadi Utama, Seraya Sumber Lestari, Syuhada, timber supplier, Tuah Negeri
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.
PEKANBARU (EoF News) – Greenomics Indonesia, an independent NGO, published a report recently that clearly explains how APP even now still try to conduct misinformation to defame EoF and how they are clearly cutting in their own agreed tiger sanctuary. This report also highlights how the government has gone as far as forbidding APP to claim they are setting aside areas for conservation from now on.
A document released today by Eyes on the Forest confirmed that a supplier to paper giant Asia Pulp & Paper is clear felling natural forest the company designated as tiger sanctuary.
An Eyes on the Forest investigation finds that a wood supplier of Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) has been clearcutting tropical forest inside the Senepis Tiger Sanctuary in Sumatra – a sanctuary that APP advertises globally as part of its purported commitment to tiger conservation.
EoF News (PEKANBARU) – Former Siak Distric Head whom is prosecuted in Corruption Crime Court here asked Prosecutors to present more key witnesses including Riau Governor Rusli Zainal and Kampar District Head, reports said.
EoF News (PEKANBARU)— In the latest example of Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) threatening the survival of the Sumatran tiger, a tiger living inside a pulpwood plantation concession of APP was recently caught, raising questions from environmentalists.
PEKANBARU (EoF News)—Jikalahari, environmental organization’s network to save natural forest in Riau, sent a letter to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono last week to order the police and prosecutors office to prosecute 14 timber companies which allegedly committing environmental destruction.
PEKANBARU (EoF News)—Following the death of an exhausted Sumatran tiger in a concession of Asia Pulp & Paper affiliated company in Pelalawan District, Riau, in August, fresh human-tiger conflict broke out in another concession of the group recently.
(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.
Natural forest clearance by PT RML remains highly questionable to its legality of the operation. At least 1500 hectares of natural forest on peat ecosystem of Giam Siak Kecil is cleared by PT Rimba Mandau Lestari as EoF investigation confirmed.
This report updated some information and photos related to natural forests clearance by PT Suntara Gaja Pati and PT Ruas Utama Jaya in 2009 and 2010.
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.
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.
(Kara Moses, the Ecologist, 3rd December, 2010)-- Controversial Indonesian company Asia Pulp & Paper has come under fire from environmentalists because of 'false claims' over Sumatran rainforest carbon reserve.
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.
Riau is and will be Indonesia’s epicenter for climate change from loss of natural forest and peat drainage. It had the country’s highest rate of natural forest loss and of peat soil degradation and their respective associated emissions in recent years. It has the largest volume of peat soil in Indonesia and the second largest area of natural forest in Sumatra. Most of all, much of the natural forest loss and peat degradation in Riau is “planned, legal deforestation,†which would be easy to stop if government had the will to do so.
PEKANBARU (EoF News )– A farmer was shot to death by police during a bloody rally in Jambi’s river that protested Sinar Mas / Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) pulpwood supplier’s takeover of 7,224-hectare land in 2001 as claimed by Senyerang villagers.
EoF News (PEKANBARU)—Former Riau Forestry Service Head was sentenced to 5-year imprisonment last week by Anti-Corruption Court for receiving bribes from pulpwood plantation companies within 2002-2005 which caused the State loss amount to Rp 889.2 billion (US$ 98.8 million).
EoF News (PEKANBARU)—A village leader in Giam Siak Kecil – Bukit Batu forest block said that forest and land fires in the area worsened this week, where 500 hectares of community plantations and Sinar Mas pulpwood plantation raged by fires.
EoF News (PEKANBARU)— At least 172 hotspots accumulatively detected by Modis Terra Aqua satellite in Riau Province this week, during 18-21 October, which put 48% of total hotspots recorded in pulpwood concessions. The rest 90 hotspots found in various lands that could be palm oil plantations, wasteland and forest.
PEKANBARU (EoF News)— A Sumatran tiger that last month believed attacking a palm oil farmer to death in Riau province eventually also died last week (Thursday, 30/09/2010), only four hours after being caught by villagers that supervised by Natural Resources Conservancy Main Agency of Riau Office (BBKSDA) and nongovernmental organization YPHS (Yayasan Pelestarian Harimau Sumatra, Sumatran tiger conservation foundation).
PEKANBARU (EoF News)— A palm oil farmer was found dead after being attacked by a Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) on Monday evening (20/9/2010) inside concession of PT Sakato Pratama Makmur, a pulpwood supplier of Sinar Mas’ Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), in buffer zone of UNESCO Man & Biosphere of Giam Siak Kecil in Riau province, Sumatra.
PEKANBARU (EoF News)—At least 300 residents from three villages near Kerumutan peat forest block or in Gaung and Gaung Anak Serka sub-districts staged rally at office of PT Bina Duta Laksana, a pulpwood supplier affiliated to Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) last week, media reports said.
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.
PEKANBARU (EoF News)— An 18 year-old rubber farmer was killed by Sumatran tiger (panthera tigris Sumatrae) last week, Monday (9 August 2010), and the location of deadly human-tiger conflict was only 1,8 kilometer away from PT Ruas Utama Jaya’s pulpwood concession, a pulpwood supplier of Asia Pulp & Paper (APP).
PEKANBARU (EoF News)—Scores of environmental organizations in Europe mainly have sent an open letter to “inform as many buyers in Europe as possible of the reality behind APP’s claims of sustainability.” EoF reproduce the letter without displaying its "supporting documents" section as follow:
The two companies together pulped five percent of the remaining natural forest in Sumatra’s Riau Province, twice the size of Indonesia’s capital Jakarta, an analysis of 2009’s annual cutting licenses (RKT) shows that these licenses were issued for the extraction of high timber volumes per hectare.
PEKANBARU (EoF News)— Coalition of Eyes on the Forest today published Investigative Report on two Asia Pulp & Paper (APP)/ Sinar Mas Group (SMG) wood suppliers who conducted natural forest clearance in Kerumutan peat forest.
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.
Indonesian NGOs today published a joint press release and open letter calling buyers and investors of Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) to stop doing business with the giant pulp & paper producer operating in Indonesia and China. The NGOs urged APP to stop the destruction of natural forests and peatlands, respect community rights and tenure, resolve existing disputes and retract misleading statements about their low carbon footprint.
PEKANBARU (EoF News)—Villagers in Kampar Peninsula protested a pulpwood plantation company associated to Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) for failing to pay off profit sharing fee over timber felling cooperation in 12,000 hectares of natural forest converted to pulpwood concession in Serapung village.
PEKANBARU (EoF News)—Minister of Forestry visited a pulpwood plantation concession in peat Kampar Peninsula forest block, Riau province, in an attempt to solve conflict between local community and PT Riau Andalan Pulp & Paper (RAPP), an associated company to Asian Pacific Resources International Holdings Limited (APRIL).
PEKANBARU (EoF News)— Riau Police office had admitted that they had closed illegal logging probe in June 2009 which involved PT Ruas Utama Jaya, an Asia Pulp & Paper (APP)/ Sinar Mas Group (SMG) associated company, two months before annual forest clearing for the pulpwood supplier issued by the Ministry of Forestry.
PEKANBARU (EoF News)— The State Finance Audit Agency (BPK) vowed to quest the companies and officials who allowed deforestation illegally as the Minister of Forestry had terminated mining operation on peat forest by PT Arara Abadi, an Asia Pulp and Paper (APP)’s/Sinar Mas Group associated company in Riau province, thanked to the agency’s report.
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.
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.
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.
Judges of a court case in Tembilahan District Court, Indragiri Hilir District, Riau, Sumatra last week (Oct 8) sentenced two poachers (M. Ajad bin Abdullah & Mistar bin Ajad) for 1 year imprisonment and Rp 2 million fine for the killing of three Sumatran tigers.
(EoF News)-- Australian Orangutan Project published letters from a group of stakeholders who come together to call on APP/SMG and Indonesia's government for protection of Bukit Tigapuluh forest. Leading institutions including United Nation's GRASP, IUCN, World Association of Zooes and Aquaria, have written letters of concern calling on APP and the Indonesian government to act immediately and protect this area.
Bangkok – As world leaders gather to negotiate a new global climate deal, one pulp and paper company in Indonesia is proceeding with plans to pulp up to 170,000 hectares of natural forest in Sumatra’s Bukit Tigapuluh. The forest landscape is key habitat for critically endangered Sumatran tigers and Sumatran elephants, and the site of the world’s only successful Sumatran orangutan reintroduction program.
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.
PEKANBARU (EoF News)— Two Sumatran tiger poachers were tried in Tembilahan District Court, Riau, for allegedly slaughtering three Sumatran tigers in Pelangiran sub-district in February this year.
(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.
PEKANBARU (EoF News)-- Firefighters desperately struggled to extinguish forest and land fires in Riau Province as residents suffered upper respiratory problems due to worsening quality of air, while airport administrators delayed flights, media reports said.
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.
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.
PEKANBARU (EoF News)—At least 229 hotspots were detected by satellite in Riau province during 1-15 June 2009 where pulpwood plantation concessions (HTI) had 79 hotspots, and Selective Logging Concessions (HPH) have been hit with 66 hotspots.
PEKANBARU (EoF News)-- On May 7, the Australian Orangutan Project, Humane Society International, Zoos South Australia, Dreamworld, Auckland Zoo and Australia Zoo, published an open letter to Asia Pulp & Paper regarding the proposed conversion of 33,776 hectares of forest to pulp paper production in Sumatra, Indonesia.
PEKANBARU (EoF News)-- At least seven Sumatran elephants (Elephas maximus sumatranus) were killed within recent two months in Riau province which believed as the severest conflict erupted this year as all of them were poisoned.
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.
PEKANBARU (EoF News)-- Villagers in Kerumutan forest block, Riau province, accused acacia plantation development conducted by an Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) associated company of causing thousands of coconut trees in 1,500 hectare-land killed off by Rhino beetle [xylotrupes gideon].
PEKANBARU (EoF News)—New approval to natural forest clearing issued by the Minister of Forestry recently sparked criticism and protest by environmental as well as local community groups in Riau province, media reported Wednesday.
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)-- Villagers in human-tiger conflict area complained that timber companies drive threat of human-tiger conflict to residents following several incidents occurred in Kerumutan forest block.
Most violent incidents between people and tigers in Sumatra’s Riau Province in the past 12 years have occurred near forested areas being cleared by paper giant Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) and associated companies, under the umbrella of its holding group, Sinar Mas Group (SMG), according to an analysis of human-tiger conflict data.
Kebanyakan insiden konflik antara manusia dan harimau di Provinsi Riau dalam kurun 12 tahun terakhir telah terjadi di dekat kawasan hutan yang ditebangi oleh perusahaan-perusahaan kelompok raksasa pabrik kertas Asia Pulp and Paper (APP)/Sinar Mas Group (SMG), demikian menurut analisa data konflik manusia-harimau.
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)— The National Police Chief General Bambang Hendarso Danuri told House of Representatives’ Law Commission that decision to close Riau illegal logging cases is final despite there is still a chance to resume them if new evidence available and court orders it.
PEKANBARU (EoF News)— Majority of forest and land fires in Riau Province recently detected by satellite from 17 January to 28 January 2009 occurred in peatlands where hotspots found in several concessions of pulpwood plantations (HTI) and palm oil. Protected Area (Kawasan Lindung) and proposed expansion of Tesso Nilo National Park were also raged by fires, Eyes on the Forest analyzed.
The police helped by the company’s security guards and paramilitary groups evicted villagers who accused of occupying PT Arara Abadi plantation area by using two helicopters and guns with rubber bullet, media reported last week. Arara Abadi is a main supplier of fiber for Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) mill in Riau.
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)—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.
Nov. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Indonesia's Supreme Court validated $500 million of bonds sold by a unit of Asia Pulp & Paper Co., reversing its decision of two years ago and ruling in favor of creditor banks including Morgan Stanley.
Komitmen Indonesia yang baru diumumkan untuk menyelamatkan hutan alam Sumatera pada Kongres Konservasi Dunia IUCN dua pekan lalu menghadapi ujian awal, menyusul terungkapnya aktivitas salah satu perusahaan kertas terbesar dunia, Asia Pulp & Paper (APP)/Sinar Mas Group (SMG).
Just 10 days after Indonesia announced a commitment to save Sumatra’s critical ecosystems at the IUCN World Conservation Congress, an investigation finds that companies associated with one of the world’s largest paper companies, Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), have built a 45-kilometer, legally questionable logging highway through prime tiger habitat in Sumatra.
Jeremy Hance, mongabay.com, August 10, 2008-- Last week Woolworths announced it was dropping its contract with Asian Pulp and Paper (APP). Woolworths had come under considerable fire for carrying APP, which has a notorious record of environmental degradation on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Previously APP has lost contracts with several other large companies including Office Depot, Wal-Mart, and Staples. APP has also fallen foul of several environmental groups like the World Wildlife Fund, the Rainforest Alliance, and the Forest Stewardship Council, which certifies sustainable wood products.
(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.
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.”
BWI website - 30 May 2008 -- In August 2007, the Australian union CFMEU's Pulp and Paper Workers' Branch contacted Woolworths, a major Australian retailer, demanding that the company cease buying tissue and paper products from Asia Pulp & Paper, APP, a leading paper manufacturer based in Indonesia.
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)— Siak District Administration has reportedly warned an Asia Pulp & Paper affiliated company, PT Arara Abadi, who built canals in Kampar Peninsula forest block as it is allegedly against the Environment Law, a daily newspaper reported Tuesday (20/5/2008).
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)—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.
The road would allow APP and affiliated companies to restart clearance of natural forest and destruction of deep peat soil at any time in a globally recognized conservation area, according to Eyes on the Forest, a coalition of local NGO network Jikalahari, Walhi Riau, and WWF-Indonesia. The Kampar peninsula is one of the world’s largest contiguous tropical peat swamp forests, with more carbon per hectare than any other ecosystem on Earth.
In an investigative report published today by Eyes on the Forest, evidence shows that a new logging road in Riau Province -- strongly indicated as illegally built by companies connected to Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) -- is cutting into the heart of Sumatra’s largest contiguous peatland forest, a rare hydrological ecosystem that acts as one of the planet’s biggest carbon stores.
Dalam sebuah laporan investigasi yang dipublikasikan hari ini oleh Eyes on the Forest, bukti-bukti menunjukkan bahwa perusahaan-perusahaan gabungan Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) belum lama ini membuka sebuah jalan logging yang memotong jantung hutan gambut penting di Semenanjung Kampar, Riau.
Pekanbaru (EoF News)—National human rights commission has found alleged human rights abuse committed by PT Arara Abadi, main pulpwood supplier for Asia Pulp & Paper in Riau, against communities in Riau as the body visited four villages in separate districts last week, media reports said.
Turning just one Sumatran province's forests and peat swamps into pulpwood and palm oil plantations is generating more annual greenhouse gas emissions than the Netherlands and rapidly driving the province's elephants into extinction, a new study by WWF and partners has found.
Office-supplies giant Staples Inc. has severed all contracts with Singapore-based Asia Pulp & Paper Co. Ltd., one of the world's largest paper companies, in a move that shows concerns over forest destruction and global warming are having an impact on big U.S. paper buyers.
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.
Pekanbaru (EoF News)-- Residents of Lubuk Mandarsah, Tebo District of Jambi province, ran amok and burned 11 excavators and one car belong to PT Wira Karya Sakti (WKS), a subsidiary of Sinar Mas Group or Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), as the pulp company first cleared three-year-aged oil palm plantation of a villager.
By Fred Pearce, New Scientist -- 1 December 2007 (part 1)
By Fred Pearce, New Scientist magazine -- 1 December 2007 (part 2)
By Fred Pearce, New Scientist magazine -- 1 December 2007 (part 3)
Pekanbaru (EoF News)—Rainforest Alliance announced that it has terminated contractual agreement with Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) in auditing and verification on its China forestry operations after wisely considering the long-standing conversion by the pulp company in Indonesian natural forests.
By Tom Wright and Jim Carlton -- Wall Street Journal, 30 October 2007 --The environmental group that runs a widely recognized labeling system to identify "green" wood and paper products has acknowledged that some companies using its label are destroying pristine forests and says it plans to overhaul its rules.
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)— 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).
Woolworths, Australia's biggest supermarket chain, has been caught telling shoppers that two of its home brand products are environmentally sustainable, when the company has never independently checked the validity of those claims. Packaging on the company's Select brand of toilet paper and tissues states the products come from an environmentally managed company, that is certified as being environmentally, socially and economically responsible. But ABC Radio's PM program has found at least two reports, plus an independent audit of the Indonesian company that supplies the pulp to Woolworths, that completely discredit that claim. Woolworths has now admitted it is still awaiting proper accreditation of its suppliers' operations in Indonesia from the industry's peak independent assessment body. Australia's biggest supermarket chain sources those products from APP, short for Asia Pulp and Paper, the world's largest pulp producer. A report by Indonesia's Centre for International Forestry Research last year found that APP relies on the clearing of natural forests in Sumatra for 60 to 70 per cent of its wood supply. Nazir Foead is the director for governance community and corporate engagement at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in Indonesia. "I think it's fair for us to say that Indonesian logging practices is still far from sustainable," he said.
Pekanbaru (EoF News)-- Following his raid to an Asia Pulp Paper's subsidiary concession in Indragiri Hilir two weeks ago, Chief of Riau Police Brig.-Gen. Sutjiptadi pledged to conduct aerial observation as he believed the forestry companies clearcut the forests in remote area. At a discussion held by Walhi Riau in Pekanbaru Tuesday, the Chief of Riau Police said that he and his team has confiscated felled logs from natural forest in the concession of PT Citra Sumber Sejahtera, a partner pulpwood company of Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings Limited (APRIL).
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)-- 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)-- The Riau Police Office has reportedly submitted a request to the President of Indonesia Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to summon Minister of Forestry Malam Sambat Kaban as the witness over issuance of 17 licenses of Selective Logging Concession in the province, a newspaper said.
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) – Eyes on the Forest, a coalition of three environmental NGOs in Riau, Sumatra releases its Investigative Report March/April/June 2007 today. The EoF Investigation found Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) to be involved in forest clearance operations in some concessions in Giam Siak Kecil, Kampar Peninsula, and Senepis forest blocks.
Pekanbaru (EoF News) – Eyes on the Forest, a coalition of three environmental NGOs in Riau, Sumatra releases its Investigative Report February 2007 today. The EoF Investigation found Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) to be involved in forest clearance operations in a concession in Kerumutan forest block, as it continued the report of November 2006 edition.
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)-- Local newspapers reported today that a contractor working for Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) subsidiary's concession in Kampar district, Riau, hired a child for acacia plantation as well as did not pay the workers' wages for five months. The workers told that they eat monkey in an attempt to survive in the plantation.
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).
The day before the International Day for Biological Diversity, Greenpeace publicly congratulated Idisa Papel, part of the Portuguese Irapa group, on its decision to cancel its commercial relations with Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), a paper company involved in destroying forests of high environmental value in the province of Riau, on the Island of Sumatra.
Pekanbaru (EoF News) – Eyes on the Forest, a coalition of three environmental NGOs in Riau, Sumatra releases its Investigative Report December 2006 today. The EoF Investigation found Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) involved in illegal logging in a concession belonging to its competitor in Kampar Peninsula forest block. APP’s partner, PT Arara Abadi, has illegally clearcut over 4,500 hectare-natural forest on overlapping concession of PT Triomas FDI. APP’s response on EoF’s Investigation Report December 2006 showed the implicit APP acknowledgment that its associate company/partner (PT Arara Abadi) conducted illegal logging in natural forest of Kampar Peninsula.
(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)-- At least 500 villagers representing some traditional villages of Rimbamelintang sub-district in Rokan Hilir district, filed a petition rejecting logging expansion that conducted by PT Ruas Utama Jaya, associated to Asia Pulp & Paper (APP).
Pekanbaru (EoF News)--- A hearing between district legislative council (DPRD) of Kampar and PT Arara Abadi, a forestry company associated to Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) last week disclosed that the subsidiary are sued by community for 16 land dispute cases covering 20,000 hectares totally in the province.
Pekanbaru (EoF News) – Eyes on the Forest, a coalition of three environmental NGOs in Riau, Sumatra releases its Investigative Report November 2006 today. The EoF Investigation found Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) to be involved in forest clearance operations in a concession in Kerumutan forest block.
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
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.
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.
Riau NGO coalition calls Government to stop selling largest remaining natural forest block in Sumatra ’s Riau and Jambi: 130,000 hectares of Sumatran tiger and elephant forests under siege
Pekanbaru (EoF News) – Rainforest Alliance has terminated its contract with Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) in HCVF monitoring audits in Sumatra which will take into effect on February 17, 2007, due to “the company has not demonstrated a comprehensive, consistent or dedicated approach toward conservation management necessary to maintain or enhance the forest ecosystems fundamental to the survival of the HCVs present there.” Through its public statement that available to Eyes on the Forest on Monday Rainforest Alliance announced the termination of SmartWood’s involvement in APP’s HCVF monitoring audits.
Pekanbaru (EoF News) --- Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) is “responsible for the large-scale destruction of Indonesia’s forests” as well as has “generated a number of conflicts with various community groups in Indonesia which have yet to be settled.” Those are quotes found on Social conflict and environmental disaster: A report on Asia Pulp and Paper’s operations in Sumatra, Indonesia, compiled by Rivani Noor and Rully Syumanda.
(Pekanbaru, EoF News) – Riau provincial legislative council (DPRD Riau) pledged to forward complaint filed by villagers of Pinggir sub-district of Bengkalis over alleged land seizure committed by PT Arara Abadi, a plantation timber company belongs to Asia Pulp & Paper (APP).
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.
Pekanbaru (EoF News) – Coalition of three environmental NGOs in Riau, Eyes on the Forest, releases Investigative Report July 2006 today. The EoF’s investigation found violation allegedly perpetrated by both Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings Limited (APRIL) and Asia Pulp & Paper (APP).
Pekanbaru (EoF News) – Tera Modis satellite detected that there were 521 hotspots appeared from Oct.1 to Oct.7. It escalated quite higher than Sep 22-30 period with only 103 hotspots.
Pekanbaru – (EoF News) – In responding back the replies from APP on Investigative Report June 2006 and from APRIL on IR May 2006, Eyes on the Forest learns that the two companies did not pay attention much to findings which highlighted on conservation concerns.
Pekanbaru (EoF News) --- Eyes on the Forest, a coalition of three NGOs in Riau, published Investigative Report June 2006 today. The investigation in this edition was conducted in Giam Siak Kecil, Senepis, and Kerumutan forest blocks. Due to the investigation related mostly to companies associated to Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), EoF asked response from the related company to our findings through a letter EoF sent earlier this week. APP responded to EoF investigation as a three-page letter dated September 27 th 2006 sent by Aida Greenbury, Vice Director of Sustainability and Stakeholder Engagement.
Despite the officials in Riau claimed that hotspots detected by satellite has vanished, fires still occur inside Tesso Nilo forest on Monday as observed by WWF monitoring officer. The fires are currently set by the encroachers that occurred in coordinate point of South 00.04.38.9 and East 101. 47. 40. 9 (see picture 1 ).
A Greenpeace team of investigators has discovered widespread destruction of Sumatra's ancient forests, caused by fires which are threatening to burn out of control.
The two companies, long scorned by green groups, have been working for years to put out a more environmentally friendly message.
A new WWF monitoring report showed that Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) was threatening crucial forests despite commitments made to its buyers.