4.1.1. The critical state of Riau's forests

As has often been argued by the proponents of the Riau pulp and paper plant, APRIL's concession areas constitute only a few promilles of Indonesia's total forest cover. However, APRIL's concession areas play a vital part in Indonesia's forests and their clear-cutting for use in a pulp plant does nothing to improve the overall situation in Indonesia's forests. The forest situation in the western part of Indonesia, especially in Sumatra, is worse than in other parts of the archipelago. The endangered species and cultures of the Sumatran forests can in no way benefit from the better forest situation in, say, West Papua due to the different ecosystem there. Riau has been the most densely forested province of Sumatra, thus acting as a refuge for endangered rainforest species. The province has however recently been subjected to heavy logging and deforestation, and the rate of loss of its forests is probably the highest in Sumatra and thus in the whole of Indonesia. The state of Riau's forests reflects the general trend in Sumatra.

The reasons for the destruction of Riau's forests are much the same as in other parts of Indonesia. Forest fires, transmigration (i.e. state-controlled migration from more densely populated parts of Indonesia) etc. are steadily reducing the forest cover. In Riau province, the role of the oil-, pulp and paper companies and of the plantations is perhaps more pronounced than in the other parts of the country. For example, a large part of the migrants that have been transferred to Riau work in the factories or on the plantations and have not been given land of their own. Before the large-scale arrival of the logging companies in Riau in the 1970s, oil drilling was directly and indirectly the major cause of deforestation in the province. The rise of timber prices in the 1970s and the geographic vicinity of the port of Singapore made Riau a convenient area for the logging companies to be involved in. These companies destroyed some of the forests but also had far-reaching indirect consequences by affecting the state of the forest beyond their logging areas and by opening up hitherto unattainable areas for migrants in which to live in. In the 1980s, the state supported the activities logging companies open-handedly, thus accelerating the destruction of the forests. Around this time the plantation companies became active in the region, though their effect on the forests was to reach completely new dimensions in the 1990s with the improvement of the road network in the area (Rab 1998).

At first, the plantations were integrated into the so-called agribusiness, i.e. they were companies specialised in the production of raw materials for the food and rubber industries, especially palm oil, often with financial support from the west. Later, plantations have been set up by pulp producing companies, of which there are two in Riau, APRIL (PT RAPP) and PT Indah Kiat. The spread of oil palm, rubber, and pulp plantations have grown to be one of the major and definitely the most visible reason for the destruction of Riau's rainforests. The rate of expansion is extremely high. Several large pulp plants are to be constructed in Riau, the furthest advanced of which, PT Perawang Sukses Perkasa Industri, has a capacity of 350 000 t/a, is to commence production in 2003 (DTE 1996). Compared to the traditional wood-using industries, the various plantation-based industries have a much more profound and destructive impact on the forests. This has led to a large number of conflicts over land use, in which the village communities are on one side, constantly losing the land that they have been traditionally using to the other side, the expanding plantation companies. The situation is highly exacerbated and undoubtedly land use is the most explosive issue in Riau's and Sumatra's politics.

The situation regarding the economically used forests has deteriorated to the point that APRIL and the other plantation-using companies have run into difficulties trying to get new concession areas for future use. In the beginning of 1998, the Indonesian forest minister announced that no more additional plantation concessions were to be made in the Riau and North Sumatra provinces. This includes the companies already active in the area and their plans to get additional concession areas. The reason is that "the forests of Riau and North Sumatra have been almost completely utilised (Reuters March 19, 1998)." As a matter of fact, the Indonesian forestry minister had appealed to all pulp companies active in Sumatra a year earlier not to increase their production capacities any further due to the lack of forest resources (JP July 16, 1997).

The ban on a further granting of concessions will not lead to any improvement of the overall situation of the forests, as practically all of the forests have already been divided up between the companies. According to official sources, 38% of Riau's forests are to be logged (so-called conversion forests). Around 90 % of the original forest area is in commercial use. The reality is even bleaker than the official statistics, as the logging in the commercial forests destroy the forests permanently and the "protected" forests are vanishing despite of their status.

APRIL's concession forests and the other forests in the company's range of influence form an substantial part of Central Sumatra's poorly protected forests. Their loss can neither be compensated for nor justified by the fact that there are millions of hectares of forest in other parts of Indonesia. Considering the current state of Riau's forests, APRIL's forests are far too valuable to be cut down. Nor does the claim that APRIL's pulp plantations would reduce the pressure on remaining natural forests in the area stand up to scrutiny. On the contrary, APRIL's plantations are blatant examples of this destruction of the natural rainforest. Given the situation in Riau, no destruction of a forest area, even if it were on a smaller scale than the concession areas, can be justified by forest conservation arguments.