4.1.6. "We are not logging natural forests"

APRIL has often, when confronted with criticism regarding it's forestry practices, argued that it does not cut down natural forests. This argument does not stand up to scrutiny, as APRIL's sister company in the Raja Garuda Mas (RGM) group, RGM Panel has been logging natural forests for years for timber to use in its sawmills and plywood factories. APRIL in turn co-operates closely with RGM Panel. The RGM group does not shy away from using natural rainforests but rather first selectively logs the prime specimens for use as timber before clear-cutting the areas and turning them into plantations for APRIL's pulp mills.

It is quite conceivable that parts of APRIL's concession forests are still in a natural state. This is especially true for APRIL's second concession area, which has not yet been utilised, and which, based on the maps provided by the company, have very few roads (e.g. SGS, 1998). For example, APRIL's largest concession sector in Riau, Pelalawan, is, based on the maps, practically roadless. The area lies in one of the most valuable existant rainforest areas of Riau (Wuryantari, 1998; WCMC, 1998). In "The Last Frontier Forests"-report of the World Resources Institute, this forest area that streches from Riau's coast to the interior is ranked as one of four remaining unfragmented, natural rainforest areas left on Sumatra. It is only in these last remaining frontier forests that the above-mentioned endangered species stand a chance of long-term survival.