{"id":11939,"date":"2017-11-10T16:53:44","date_gmt":"2017-11-10T16:53:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/april.hellopomelo.space\/2017\/11\/10\/april-rejects-assumptions-made-in-icij-report\/"},"modified":"2025-06-11T07:58:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T07:58:10","slug":"april-rejects-assumptions-made-in-icij-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/april.hellopomelo.space\/id\/articles\/april-rejects-assumptions-made-in-icij-report\/","title":{"rendered":"APRIL Rejects Assumptions Made in ICIJ Report"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li><b>The insinuation in the article that APRIL\u2019s activities contributed to the 2015 fire and haze crisis does not bear scrutiny; APRIL\u2019s fire prevention strategies achieved a significant reduction in the number of fires on its landscape during the worst fire season on record<\/b><\/li>\n<li><strong>In terms of restoration, APRIL continues to implement its US$100 million investment in peatland protection and restoration through its project, Restorasi Ekosistem Riau, in partnership with international NGOs Fauna &amp; Flora International and The Nature Conservancy<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>APRIL&#8217;s commitment to community development in the areas where it operates has remained consistent for approaching three decades, with significant long-term investment in community healthcare, education and social and economic infrastructure<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) has made reference to APRIL\u2019s sustainability credentials in a recent story.<\/p>\n<p>APRIL rejects outright the overall premise of the ICIJ\u2019s article &#8211; headlined <em>\u2018Leaked Records Reveal Offshore\u2019s Role in Forest Destruction\u2019<\/em> &#8211; that its financial arrangements have contributed to deforestation and, specifically, the fire and haze crisis that affected Indonesia in 2015.<\/p>\n<p>APRIL also challenges the reporting of the company\u2019s connection to the haze crisis and the omission of any reference to its successful fire prevention efforts, as well as the article\u2019s incomplete characterisation of a community dispute with the Bagan Melibur community on the island of Pulau Pandang. The mediation process used in the dispute and the use of Free Prior Informed Consent (FPIC) principles has been subject of a best practice <a href=\"https:\/\/april.hellopomelo.space\/en\/2015\/10\/07\/april-included-in-tfd-report-fpic\/\">case study<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Regarding the company\u2019s financial affairs, APRIL complies with all relevant domestic and international laws and regulations in its financial dealings, as part of an overall commitment to good corporate governance and to sustainable business practices. APRIL also meets all tax obligations in the jurisdictions where it operates. As a privately held company, APRIL does not comment publicly on the details of its financing arrangements.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3360\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3360\" class=\"wp-image-3360 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/april.hellopomelo.space\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Global-Forest-Watch-map-June-December-2015-1024x640.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"640\"><p id=\"caption-attachment-3360\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Global Forest Watch map &#8211; June-December 2015<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The insinuation in the article that APRIL\u2019s activities directly contributed to the 2015 fire and haze crisis does not bear scrutiny. In fact, APRIL\u2019s fire prevention strategies <a href=\"https:\/\/april.hellopomelo.space\/en\/2016\/02\/04\/april-group-extends-successful-fire-free-village-programme-in-riau\/\">achieved a significant reduction in the number of fires on its landscape<\/a> during the worst fire season on record. APRIL\u2019s Fire Free Village Programme and existing fire suppression capability saw a 90% reduction in fires in 2015, ensuring that Pulau Padang and the adjacent Kampar Peninsula remained largely free from the fires which mostly originated from South Sumatra and Kalimantan.<\/p>\n<p>APRIL\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/april.hellopomelo.space\/en\/2017\/03\/22\/towards-fire-free-future-carbon-conservation-reviews-aprils-fire-free-village-programme\/\">community-level fire prevention strategies<\/a>, focused on education and capability building at village level, are working and have been <a href=\"https:\/\/april.hellopomelo.space\/en\/2017\/03\/22\/towards-fire-free-future-carbon-conservation-reviews-aprils-fire-free-village-programme\/\">independently reviewed<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.eco-business.com\/videos\/freedom-from-fire\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">reported upon<\/a>. The principles of the programme have been adopted through an APRIL-initiated\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.firefreealliance.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Fire Free Alliance<\/a>\u00a0whose membership includes Wilmar, Sime Darby, IOI Group, Musim Mas, IDH and Asian Agri, and NGO, PM Haze.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3361\" style=\"width: 297px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3361\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-3361\" src=\"https:\/\/april.hellopomelo.space\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Five-Key-Initiatives-of-the-Fire-Free-Village-Programme-287x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"287\" height=\"300\"><p id=\"caption-attachment-3361\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Five Key Initiatives of the Fire Free Village Programme<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Regarding the historical issues raised in the article, APRIL has transparently and publicly addressed in the past each of the matters raised, variously through the independent\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/sustainability.aprilasia.com\/category\/about-\/12\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Stakeholder Advisory Committee (SAC)<\/a>, NGO engagement, community engagement, and through public communication, such as on the company\u2019s corporate blog,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/april.hellopomelo.space\/en\/\">APRILDialog.com<\/a>, and its\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/sustainability.aprilasia.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Sustainability Dashboard<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In relation to the land claim issue with Bagan Melibur on the Island of Pulau Padang, this is an ongoing and <a href=\"https:\/\/april.hellopomelo.space\/en\/2015\/04\/24\/april-group-responds-to-mongabay-story-on-pulau-padang\/\">well-documented<\/a> mediation that began in 2011 at the instruction of the Ministry of Forestry and resulted in the legal exclusion of areas included in PT. RAPP\u2019s licensed concession areas, in respect of claims made by Bagan Melibur and two other villages. Earlier, PT. RAPP had agreed MoUs with 11 of the 14 villages in the area.<\/p>\n<p>APRIL continues to make progress subject to expert independent review. The implementation of its\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.aprilasia.com\/en\/sustainability\/sustainability-policy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Sustainable Forest Management Policy<\/a><u> (SFMP)<\/u>, which includes steadfast commitments to no deforestation and no new development on peatland,\u00a0is subject to the oversight of the SAC, which comprises independent forestry and social experts.<\/p>\n<p>As well as guiding policy implementation, the SAC oversees the independent verification and auditing of <a href=\"https:\/\/april.hellopomelo.space\/en\/2017\/10\/30\/kpmg-assessment-aprils-sfmp-2-0-implementation\/\"> progress against our policy goals<\/a>, most recently conducted by KMPG Performance Registrar Inc.<\/p>\n<p>APRIL continues to implement its US$100 million investment in peatland protection and restoration through its project,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.rekoforest.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Restorasi Ekosistem Riau<\/a>\u00a0in partnership with international NGOs Fauna &amp; Flora International and The Nature Conservancy. Restorasi Ekosistem Riau involved the assessment, identification, protection and ongoing management of 130,000 hectares of richly biodiverse peatland forest on the Kampar Peninsula, and a further 20,000 hectares on the Island of Pulau Padang.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3362\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3362\" class=\"wp-image-3362 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/april.hellopomelo.space\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Restorasi-Ekosistem-Riau-1024x512.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"512\"><p id=\"caption-attachment-3362\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Restorasi Ekosistem Riau<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Supporting these efforts to restore and protect peatland, an\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/sustainability.aprilasia.com\/category\/about-ipewg\/22\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Independent Peat Expert Working Group<\/a><u> (IPEWG)<\/u>, established as part of our SFMP, has developed a roadmap for science-based peatland management.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, APRIL\u2019s production\/protection model has, through conservation and restoration, protected more than 400,000 ha of forest, while managing 480,000 ha of plantation, drawing it close to its 1-for-1 target, where it will protect one hectare of forest for every hectare of 100% renewable plantation fibre.<\/p>\n<p>APRIL&#8217;s commitment to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aprilasia.com\/en\/community-development\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">community development<\/a> in the areas where it operates has remained consistent for approaching three decades, with significant long-term investment in community healthcare, education and social and economic infrastructure.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3363\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3363\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-3363\" src=\"https:\/\/april.hellopomelo.space\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Economic-value-of-PT-RAPPs-operations-to-Riau-province-300x160.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"160\"><p id=\"caption-attachment-3363\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Economic value of PT. RAPP&#8217;s operations to Riau province<\/p><\/div>\n<p>APRIL remains open to constructive criticism and independent scrutiny, but is also clear and confident in the path it is on.\u00a0The information summarized above is widely available in the online reports published by the SAC, IPEWG and KPMG, on APRILDialog.com.<\/p>\n<p>We regret that the ICIJ chose not to reference any of these independent sources and chose instead to reply on assumptions. We remain open to media and other stakeholders, and will continue to host interested media to visit our operations to examine our performance against our sustainability commitments first-hand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The insinuation in the article that APRIL\u2019s activities contributed to the 2015 fire and haze crisis does not bear scrutiny; APRIL\u2019s fire prevention strategies achieved&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":11621,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[38,42],"tags":[82,497,639,993],"class_list":{"0":"post-11939","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-april-dialog","8":"category-perspectives","9":"tag-april","10":"tag-community-development","11":"tag-forest-fire-prevention","12":"tag-riau-forest"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/april.hellopomelo.space\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/april.hellopomelo.space\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/april.hellopomelo.space\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/april.hellopomelo.space\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/april.hellopomelo.space\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11939"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/april.hellopomelo.space\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11939\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14679,"href":"https:\/\/april.hellopomelo.space\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11939\/revisions\/14679"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/april.hellopomelo.space\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/april.hellopomelo.space\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/april.hellopomelo.space\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/april.hellopomelo.space\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}