Combating Illegal Logging

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Combating Illegal Logging A private sector
perspective
A.J. DEVANESAN President Chief Operating
Officer
International Dialogue on Illegal Logging 8-10
March, Conrad Hotel, Hong Kong
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My Presentation

• About APRIL
• Our View of Illegal Logging
• Combating illegal logging
• Our Key Prevention Initiatives
• Key Challenges
• Providing Solutions
• Moving Forward
• Working Together
• Protecting the Forests

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About APRIL

• Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings
  Limited (APRIL) is one of the worlds leading
  fiber plantation developers and manufacturers of
  pulp and paper
• Our main operations in Pangkalan Kerinci in Riau
  Province, Sumatra where we started in 1993
• Our corporate headquarters are in Singapore and
  we recently acquired a mill in China

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About APRIL

• Our fiber supply come primarily from
  government-granted concessions that are being
  developed into sustainable industrial fiber
  plantations
• We have developed 230,000 ha of fiber plantations
  to date in Riau
• We produced 1.82 million tonnes of hardwood pulp,
  347,500 tonnes of paper in 2004
• Our Riau plantations will allow for sustainable
  plantation wood supply from 2009

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About APRIL
Our goal is to be one of the largest, best
managed, most profitable and sustainable fiber,
pulp and paper companies in the world, and be a
preferred supplier to our customers, and the
preferred company to our people
But were not there yet!
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Our View of Illegal Logging

• Illegal logging is the single biggest threat to
  forest biodiversity in Sumatra
• It is destroying ecologically valuable forests
  and it is compromising the development potential
  of communities
• Illegal logging is mainly organised by major
  criminal syndicates
• If its not stopped, it will cause irreversible
  damage to the environment and the people of
  Sumatra

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Our Position on Illegal Logging

• APRIL is totally opposed to all illegal logging
• It is damaging the reputation Indonesias
  legitimate forestry industry
• Illegal logging is bad for our business (as well
  as the environment and people)

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Our Policy on Illegal Logging

• We do not accept any illegal logs
• We strongly condemn the practice
• We rigourously uphold strict checks to ensure our
  supply chain is untainted
• We are committed to working with all of the key
  players to stop illegal logging

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Our Key Prevention Initiatives

• Commissioned Wood Tracking Audits by SGS with WWF
  as observers (02-04)
• Formed a Multi-Stakeholder Task Force to combat
  illegal logging with WWF (2003)
• Introduced improved Wood Procurement System based
  on a clear policy
• Implemented stringent controls on the Kampar
  river ferry previously freely accessible (Sept
  02)

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Our Key Prevention Initiatives

• Deploy rigid controls at the mill gates
• Stopped receiving any logs from third parties
• Have strict controls at mill gate, refusing any
  logs without proper paperwork
• Monitor all trucks using our access roads
• Report all illegal logging activity to the
  authorities

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Our Key Challenges

• Adverse reactions from local loggers
• Road blockades and other protests some violent
• Many trucks have been burnt as well as control
  posts and other property
• Two of our forest rangers have been murdered
• Parliamentary hearings for not accepting
  questionable wood
• Lack of law enforcement and official back-up

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Providing Solutions

• APRIL has been running a Community Development
  programme aimed at providing locals with
  sustainable livelihoods for many years
• We are committed to continuing with this
  education and empowerment initiative
• Other initiatives are required to help find
  alternative incomes for would-be illegal loggers
• APRIL generates 30 permanent jobs for each 100 ha
  managed, which means we have so far created
  70,000 new jobs in Riau

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Moving Forward

• We are committed to developing relationships with
  other key stakeholders
• We want to further strengthen our collaboration
  with WWF
• Recognising that we cannot prevent illegal
  logging on our own, we must get more support from
  law enforcement authorities
• Lack of law enforcement and official back-up

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Working Together

• Illegal logging can only be stopped if all
  interested parties work together, and the
  Indonesian economy moves to a state where illegal
  logging is no longer an attractive option for
  local people
• We must work as an industry, supporting each
  others initiatives
• Business must win the trust of NGOs
• Local communities must be encouraged to
  understand the destruction illegal logging causes
• Government must provide help

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Protecting the Forests

• APRIL plays a vital role in protecting the
  forests
• Forests can only be saved by sound and effective
  management
• Companies like APRIL accountable to customers,
  NGOs and regulators offer the remaining forests
  of Indonesia their only chance of survival
• Other players need to be encouraged to understand
  the benefits of stopping illegal logging
• We will continue to do our part in actively
  working to stop it!

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Thank you!
www.aprilasia.com