APRIL concession permit suspended
After being found guilty to illegal plantation development on peatland (and land-grabbing) - and trying to prevent a high level official inspection, APRIL' RAPP concession has been suspended.
Chief of Indonesia's Peat Restoration Agency, Nazir Foead, has said that the pulpwood concession belonging to PT RAPP, a subsidiary of APRIL, which operates on Pulau Padang, a small island in Sumatra’s Riau province, must revise its 10-year work plan with immediate effect, and meanwhile suspend its operations. “PT RAPP has to designate the peat domes found in its concession as protection zones, and this needs to be incorporated into the 10-year work plan of the company,” Nazir told foresthints.news
According to the peat agency data, about 65% of the roughly 34,000 hectares that make up the Pulau Padang pulpwood concession can be classified as indicative peat domes. Out of the area occupied by these indicative peat domes, 57% has been allocated for acacia plantation blocks, most of which has already been planted with acacia. “This doesn’t take into account the indicative peat domes situated in community livelihood blocks which have also been cleared by the company to plant acacia. If we were to include that, the proportion of indicative peat domes already planted with acacia would be even greater,” explained Nazir. After this acacia is harvested, he continued, PT RAPP is not allowed to replant acacia again in the locations of peat domes. “They must re-vegetate these areas with peatland plants. This forms part of the restoration process of the peat domes. This also forms part of the process of phasing out peat domes from the pulp and paper business.”
Meanwhile, Secretary General of the Environment and Forestry, Dr Bambang Hendroyono, has confirmed that the operations of the pulpwood concession on Pulau Padang have been provisionally suspended.
“The decision to provisionally suspend the operations of the PT RAPP pulpwood concession on Pulau Padang has been made. It will be in effect while we wait for the map on the distribution of protected peat areas in this concession,” he declared in a written statement received by foresthints.news on Friday.
Chief of Indonesia's Peat Restoration Agency, Nazir Foead, has said that the pulpwood concession belonging to PT RAPP, a subsidiary of APRIL, which operates on Pulau Padang, a small island in Sumatra’s Riau province, must revise its 10-year work plan with immediate effect, and meanwhile suspend its operations. “PT RAPP has to designate the peat domes found in its concession as protection zones, and this needs to be incorporated into the 10-year work plan of the company,” Nazir told foresthints.news
According to the peat agency data, about 65% of the roughly 34,000 hectares that make up the Pulau Padang pulpwood concession can be classified as indicative peat domes. Out of the area occupied by these indicative peat domes, 57% has been allocated for acacia plantation blocks, most of which has already been planted with acacia. “This doesn’t take into account the indicative peat domes situated in community livelihood blocks which have also been cleared by the company to plant acacia. If we were to include that, the proportion of indicative peat domes already planted with acacia would be even greater,” explained Nazir. After this acacia is harvested, he continued, PT RAPP is not allowed to replant acacia again in the locations of peat domes. “They must re-vegetate these areas with peatland plants. This forms part of the restoration process of the peat domes. This also forms part of the process of phasing out peat domes from the pulp and paper business.”
Meanwhile, Secretary General of the Environment and Forestry, Dr Bambang Hendroyono, has confirmed that the operations of the pulpwood concession on Pulau Padang have been provisionally suspended.
“The decision to provisionally suspend the operations of the PT RAPP pulpwood concession on Pulau Padang has been made. It will be in effect while we wait for the map on the distribution of protected peat areas in this concession,” he declared in a written statement received by foresthints.news on Friday.
posted by Sergio Baffoni at 10:59 AM
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