Single Largest Converter of Natural Forest
APRIL is now the single largest converter of natural forest among Indonesia’s pulp producers
APRIL: Indonesia has approximately 131 million hectares of forest estate. The Indonesian Government has zoned 53 million hectares as conservation and protected forests and about 78 million hectares for production forest development.
All of APRIL’s wood supply comes from these development zones, on land that the Indonesian Government has licensed specifically for industrial plantation development (HTI).
Production forest concessions licensed to APRIL were already largely in a degraded state at the point when APRIL took them over. The term “natural forest” used by WWF does not in practice mean those areas are pristine or of high conservation value. Assertions that APRIL establishes plantations in areas of pristine rainforests or conservation areas are misleading and factually incorrect.
In addition to adherence to all laws and regulations governing conservation and peatlands, APRIL has been implementing a High Conservation Value (HCV) policy since 2005. This has resulted in more than 200,000 hectares of conservation forest and indigenous tree zones being set aside and protected in APRIL and its supply partner’s concessions.
