Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings Limited, or APRIL, is a developer of fibre plantations and the owner of one of the world's largest pulp and paper mills with operations mainly in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. APRIL mainly produces bleached

hardwood Hardwood is wood from dicot trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen. Hardwood (which comes from ...

kraft pulp Kraft paper or kraft is paper or paperboard (cardboard) produced from chemical pulp produced in the kraft process. Sack kraft paper (or just sack paper) is a porous kraft paper with high elasticity and high tear resistance, designed for packagi ...

and uncoated,

wood-free paper Wood-free paper is paper created exclusively from chemical pulp rather than mechanical pulp. Chemical pulp is normally made from pulpwood, but is not considered wood as most of the lignin is removed and separated from the cellulose fibers during ...

, including its Paperone brand of office paper. Founded in 1993, APRIL is managed by

Royal Golden Eagle Royal Golden Eagle (RGE, also known as Raja Garuda Emas, previously Raja Garuda Mas) is global integrated, resource-based industrial group, with businesses in paper, palm oil, viscose, construction and energy, property and asset management. Owned ...

and owned by Indonesian business man

Sukanto Tanoto Sukanto Tanoto (; b. 25 December 1949) is an Indonesian businessman primarily involved in the lumber industry. After starting as a supplier of equipment and materials for the state-owned oil firm Pertamina, Tanoto moved into the forest industry ...

living in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

.Paper Tiger, Hidden. Dragons 2: APRIL Fools
LW, February, 2001 Royal Golden Eagle also manages companies in paper,

palm oil Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of the oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 33% of global oils produced from ...

, construction, and energy business sectors.

Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper

APRIL's main pulp and paper subsidiary is Riau Andalan Pulp & Paper. PT RAPP, usually called RAPP Riau, operates in

Riau Province Riau is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the central eastern coast of Sumatra along the Strait of Malacca. The province shares land borders with North Sumatra to the northwest, West Sumatra to the west, and Jambi to the south. Accordi ...

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

, Indonesia. APRIL's pulp and paper mill located at Pangkalan Kerinci in

is capable of producing up to 2.8 million tonnes of pulp and 1.15 million tonnes of paper per year. Beginning operation in 1995,

Friends of the Earth Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) is an international network of environmental organizations in 73 countries. The organization was founded in 1969 in San Francisco by David Brower, Donald Aitken and Gary Soucie after Brower's split with ...

called RAPP the biggest paper pulp mill in the world, with a capacity of 2 million tonnes per year.

Sustainability

Certification

In June 2015, APRIL became the first Indonesian forest company to receive the sustainable forest management certification from the

Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification The Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) is an international, non-profit, non-governmental organization which promotes sustainable forest management through independent third party certification. It is considered the certi ...

. The company previously received their chain-of-custody certification in 2010 for its manufacturing operations. It was later accepted as an international stakeholder member by the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification in February 2016. APRIL's operations are also certified under OHSAS 18001 (Safety Management Systems), ISO 9001 (Quality Management Systems), and ISO 14001 (Environment Management Systems).

Eco-restoration

In 2013, APRIL established the Restorasi Ekosistem Riau project to restore, protect and manage 20,000 hectares of degraded peat forests. The eco-restoration area later expanded to 70,000 hectares in June 2015. The project is implemented in collaboration with

Fauna and Flora International Fauna & Flora International (FFI) is an international conservation charity and non-governmental organization dedicated to protecting the planet's threatened wildlife and habitats. Founded in 1903, it is the world's oldest international conserva ...

The Nature Conservancy The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a global environmental organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. it works via affiliates or branches in 79 countries and territories, as well as across every state in the US. Founded in 1951, The Natu ...

and social non-governmental organization Bidara. APRIL announced at

COP21 The 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 21 or CMP 11 was held in Paris, France, from 30 November to 12 December 2015. It was the 21st yearly session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the 1992 United Nations Framework Conve ...

a US$100 million investment over the course of 10 years focused on eco-restoration and conservation, in addition to doubling the eco-restoration area to 150,000 hectares.

Sustainable forest management policy

APRIL published its sustainable forest management policy in January 2014. As part of the policy, an independent stakeholder advisory committee comprising non-governmental organizations and forestry experts was set up to oversee its implementation Grievances and alleged violations of APRIL's the management policy highlighted by non-governmental organizations and civil society groups are reviewed by the stakeholder advisory committee and reported publicly at APRILdialog.com. In June 2015, APRIL announced its enhanced sustainable forest management policy. The policy was cautiously received by non-governmental organizations and third party organisations.

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth t ...

suspended its campaign against APRIL and announced it would be “watching closely to make sure that today’s announcement leads to real change on the ground.”

World Wide Fund for Nature The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wor ...

also expressed that they cautiously welcomed APRIL's enhanced Sustainable Forest Management Policy. APRIL provides a grievance resolution procedure and a dashboard to monitor all grievance handling process in their website.

Criticism and controversies

Environmental impact

APRIL has been criticised by non-governmental organizations for contributing to deforestation in Indonesia. In 2001,

accused APRIL of fuelling the deforestation of Indonesia. In June 2015, APRIL promised to halt deforestation and announced its enhanced Sustainable Forest Management Policy. As part of the new sustainability policy, APRIL said it was moving up by four years its plans to harvest only wood from its own plantations.

Forest stewardship certification

On August 8, 2013, Germany-based non-profit certification organisation

Forest Stewardship Council The Forest Stewardship Council A. C. (FSC) is an international non-profit, multistakeholder organization established in 1993 that promotes responsible management of the world's forests via timber certification. It is an example of a market-ba ...

announced that it has ended all association with APRIL after a complaint filed by non-governmental organizations

International,

Rainforest Action Network Rainforest Action Network (RAN) is an environmental organization based in San Francisco, California, United States. The organization was founded by Randy "Hurricane" Hayes and Mike Roselle in 1985, and first gained national prominence with a gras ...

and

WWF Indonesia WWF may refer to: Non-profit organizations *World Wide Fund for Nature or World Wildlife Fund, a nature conservation group *World Water Forum, an international forum for water issues *Working Women's Forum, a training, trade and credit union in In ...

alleging violation of the council's policy of association. In response, APRIL in a press statement, said that they “proactively withdrew from FSC certification of their own volition” earlier in July. As of April 2016, the company is seeking re-certification with the council.

Fire and haze issues and management

In 2013, APRIL was named one of the eight companies responsible for sending hazardous level of smog to Singapore and Malaysia. APRIL invests in fire prevention and suppression. The company invests more than $6 million in fire fighting equipment and maintains a 700-member rapid response team. In 2015, it pioneered the Fire-Free Village Programme, an incentive-based initiative that involves working at the community level to encourage alternatives to fire as a land management tool. Under this program, APRIL also conducts community education campaign, monitors air quality and even hires and trains people to be village crew leaders to spread "no-burn" message. In 2016, APRIL became a founding member of the Fire Free Alliance, a voluntary multi-stakeholder platform for members to share information and resources to fight forest fires in Southeast Asia. One programme implemented by the Fire Free Alliance is the Fire-Free Village Programme. In May 2016 APRIL is one of private companies involved in Indonesian Government's pilot project to establish forest fire prevention procedures, through its subsidiary PT RAPP. APRIL management was mired for years in corruption, tax evasion and disputes with former employees. In 2011, after working in APRIL for 14 months, Alain Monie, the former French CEO filed a lawsuit against APRIL in Singapore because he did not receive his salaries, travel expenses, bonus and compensation as promised. Alain Monie was awarded damages after the leadership refused to pay outstandings. This non-payment of dues continues to this day with reports continuously emerging in local and regional media.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Asia Pacific Resources International Limited
Company site.
Asia Pacific Resources International Limited
Company Profile on BankTrack.
Asia Pacific Resources International Limited
APRIL Asia Company Profile.

A documentation on APRIL as part of the ''101 East'' program of

Al Jazeera English Al Jazeera English (AJE; ar, الجزيرة‎, translit=al-jazīrah, , literally "The Peninsula", referring to the Qatar Peninsula) is an international 24-hour English-language news channel owned by the Al Jazeera Media Network, which is own ...

(video, 25 mins)
Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper
News about PT RAPP Riau.
Jobs at PT. RAPP Riau
Find the latest job opening at PT. Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper
April Indonesia Signs $50m Deal With European CompaniesAPRIL Indonesia
APRIL Dialog - APRIL Dialog reports and monitors progress towards the company's sustainability policy commitments. Pulp and paper companies of Singapore