POLICY
JAKARTA (FORESTHINTS.NEWS) - The number of acacia suppliers of Singapore-based pulp and paper giant APRIL that have been given warning letters by the Indonesian authorities because they have yet to submit their revised 10-year work plans in accordance with Indonesia’s new peat regulations continues to increase.
As previously reported by FORESTHINTS.NEWS (Oct 17), the Ministry of Environment and Forestry had already issued forceful warning letters to two long-term APRIL suppliers because their revised work plans did not comply with the new peat regulations.
According to the latest update received from the ministry (Oct 25), six APRIL long-term suppliers (PT EIT, PT PRT, PT SRL, PT MKS, PT MTS and PT SAU) have now received a warning letter from the ministry demanding that they submit a revised work plan consistent with the new peat regulations, all of them situated in Sumatra's Riau province.
“Peat recovery has a legally clear mandate, so there is no reason to disrupt it or for it to be disrupted. We’ll keep going ahead with this,” the Ministry’s secretary general Bambang Hendroyono told FORESTHINTS.NEWS (Oct 25) while providing an update on the situation at the ministry building.
APRIL's operations depend on more than its acacia supply from its subsidiary PT RAPP. In fact, about 55% of the acacia supply required by APRIL's mill has come from its long-term and short-term suppliers over the last four years, according to ministry data.
One of APRIL's long-term suppliers which was given a warning letter is a pulpwood company that previously had a sanction imposed on it in the form of a permit suspension by the ministry due to 2015's peat fires.
This is just one example of how APRIL's supply chains are associated with the devastating peat fires from that year.
The following Google Earth images show the location of PT SRL’s pulpwood concession, one of APRIL’s most important suppliers, situated on Riau’s Rupat island. This company was proven to be continuing acacia harvesting even during the period of its permit suspension.
Another 15 APRIL suppliers
The Ministry’s secretary general pointed out that it is not just the six APRIL suppliers given warning letters, there are another 15 long-term suppliers of APRIL whose revised work plans are still not in line with the new peat regulations.
Several of these 15 APRIL suppliers are scattered across Riau’s Kampar Peninsula landscape.
“These 15 pulpwood companies will soon be issued with a warning letter if they continue to resist and not comply with the new peat regulations in revising their work plans,” the secretary general cautioned.
Although a top executive of APRIL, Irsan Syarief, announced to the public - in a joint press conference together with top ranking ministry officials (Oct. 24) - that APRIL was attempting to revise its revised work plan to make it compatible with the new peat regulations before the deadline of next Monday (Oct 30), the company also needs to ensure that its suppliers are doing likewise.
There are more than 112 thousand hectares of peat protection zones located in the concession of the APRIL company PT RAPP which, according to the new peat regulations, must be included as a key part of the peat recovery plan to be submitted by the pulp giant to the ministry.
Furthermore, APRIL also has to take responsibility for the recovery of peat protection zones spread across the pulpwood concessions of its long-term suppliers, especially in Sumatra's Riau province.
This involves taking responsibility for far more than 112 thousand hectares, seeing that the amount of peat protection zones incorporated in peat recovery plans at the level of APRIL’s supply chains far outstrips this number.
Put simply, APRIL should not only be focusing on revising its own work plan so that it complies with the new peat regulations, but also has to exert the same amount of effort to ensure that the work plans of its long-term suppliers are appropriately revised, in light of the fact that its sustainable forest management policy covers its operations at the supply chain level.
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POLICY
JAKARTA (FORESTHINTS.NEWS) - The number of acacia suppliers of Singapore-based pulp and paper giant APRIL that have been given warning letters by the Indonesian authorities because they have yet to submit their revised 10-year work plans in accordance with Indonesia’s new peat regulations continues to increase.
As previously reported by FORESTHINTS.NEWS (Oct 17), the Ministry of Environment and Forestry had already issued forceful warning letters to two long-term APRIL suppliers because their revised work plans did not comply with the new peat regulations.
According to the latest update received from the ministry (Oct 25), six APRIL long-term suppliers (PT EIT, PT PRT, PT SRL, PT MKS, PT MTS and PT SAU) have now received a warning letter from the ministry demanding that they submit a revised work plan consistent with the new peat regulations, all of them situated in Sumatra's Riau province.
“Peat recovery has a legally clear mandate, so there is no reason to disrupt it or for it to be disrupted. We’ll keep going ahead with this,” the Ministry’s secretary general Bambang Hendroyono told FORESTHINTS.NEWS (Oct 25) while providing an update on the situation at the ministry building.
APRIL's operations depend on more than its acacia supply from its subsidiary PT RAPP. In fact, about 55% of the acacia supply required by APRIL's mill has come from its long-term and short-term suppliers over the last four years, according to ministry data.
One of APRIL's long-term suppliers which was given a warning letter is a pulpwood company that previously had a sanction imposed on it in the form of a permit suspension by the ministry due to 2015's peat fires.
This is just one example of how APRIL's supply chains are associated with the devastating peat fires from that year.
The following Google Earth images show the location of PT SRL’s pulpwood concession, one of APRIL’s most important suppliers, situated on Riau’s Rupat island. This company was proven to be continuing acacia harvesting even during the period of its permit suspension.
Another 15 APRIL suppliers
The Ministry’s secretary general pointed out that it is not just the six APRIL suppliers given warning letters, there are another 15 long-term suppliers of APRIL whose revised work plans are still not in line with the new peat regulations.
Several of these 15 APRIL suppliers are scattered across Riau’s Kampar Peninsula landscape.
“These 15 pulpwood companies will soon be issued with a warning letter if they continue to resist and not comply with the new peat regulations in revising their work plans,” the secretary general cautioned.
Although a top executive of APRIL, Irsan Syarief, announced to the public - in a joint press conference together with top ranking ministry officials (Oct. 24) - that APRIL was attempting to revise its revised work plan to make it compatible with the new peat regulations before the deadline of next Monday (Oct 30), the company also needs to ensure that its suppliers are doing likewise.
There are more than 112 thousand hectares of peat protection zones located in the concession of the APRIL company PT RAPP which, according to the new peat regulations, must be included as a key part of the peat recovery plan to be submitted by the pulp giant to the ministry.
Furthermore, APRIL also has to take responsibility for the recovery of peat protection zones spread across the pulpwood concessions of its long-term suppliers, especially in Sumatra's Riau province.
This involves taking responsibility for far more than 112 thousand hectares, seeing that the amount of peat protection zones incorporated in peat recovery plans at the level of APRIL’s supply chains far outstrips this number.
Put simply, APRIL should not only be focusing on revising its own work plan so that it complies with the new peat regulations, but also has to exert the same amount of effort to ensure that the work plans of its long-term suppliers are appropriately revised, in light of the fact that its sustainable forest management policy covers its operations at the supply chain level.
RELATED STORIES
