APRIL - Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings Limited

Large areas of rainforest on the wildlife-rich island of Sumatra in Indonesia are being destroyed by paper-pulp company APRIL.

Since 1995, APRIL has logged over 220,000 hectares of Indonesian rainforest (about the one and a half times the size of Greater London). It's home to species such as:

Sumatran Tiger
Sumatran Elephant
Gibbon

If their habitat continues to be destroyed, it is likely these species will become extinct.

Piechart showing proportion of Indonsian rainforest destroyed Did you know?

Nearly 3/4 of Indonesia's rainforests have now been destroyed.

Global Forest Watch

Destroying forests...

One of APRIL's clear-cut logging sites is Tesso Nilo, regarded as the most biodiverse lowland forest on the planet.

Map of Indonesia showing the location of the Tesso Nilo site in Sumatra

Following pressure from Friends of the Earth, APRIL stopped clearing forest in Tesso Nilo. However, they still intend to clear another 150,000 hectares of rainforest in Sumatra.

...and causing social conflict

APRIL has also been in conflict with local communities. 40,000 hectares of APRIL's logging area have been claimed by local people. A local villager was even stabbed to death during a protest over land.

Resource

Paper Tiger, Hidden Dragons 2: April Fools
(PDF†) format) Feb 2002
Briefing summarising the forest destruction and damaging social impacts of APRIL

Paper Tiger, Hidden Dragons 2: April Fools
(PDF†) format - 290K) Feb 2002
Detailed report revealing the destruction and social conflict caused by APRIL - and the paper merchants and financial institutions who have supported it.

Indonesian rainforests pulped to extinction
Special report by The Guardian on how illegal logging is threatening wildlife and the environment.

†To view PDF files you will need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader. Visually impaired users can get extra help with these documents from access.adobe.com.

Images © Hank Hammat, Friends of the Earth Finland, Craig Kasnoff, WWF/Susan Mikota/Dan Lebbin

The sumatran tiger image appears courtesy of ImagineAnimals.

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Main image © Hank Hammat, Friends of the Earth Finland, Craig Kasnoff, WWF/Susan Mikota/Dan Lebbin

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