Friends of the Earth Finland

3 November 1999

ENVIRONMENTALISTS CALL FOR AVOIDING APRIL'S PAPER TO PREVENT FURTHER RAINFOREST DESTRUCTION AND LAND ALIENATION

Friends of the Earth Finland and Indonesian forest conservation network SKEPHI are stepping up international efforts to induce APRIL and UPM-Kymmene to recognise the land rights of the local communities and to stop destruction of valuable habitats in Riau, Indonesia. To pursue the demand the organisations jointly published today a statement calling on European consumers to avoid using APRIL's paper - marketed in Europe by UPM-Kymmene until the beginning of December. The main product is the copy size paper brand PaperOne. The statement is signed by 28 organisations including Friends of the Earth, Rainforest Action Network, Urgewald, Bruno-Manser-Fonds and Milieudefensie.

The organisations are very concerned about the expansion of pulp and paper production of APRIL in Riau. APRIL is planning to double the pulp capacity of the Riau mill to 2 million tons per year with financial assistance from its partner UPM-Kymmene. This will intensify the destruction of valuable forest habitats and alienation of land from local communities.

Mr. Anwar, leader of the Kerinci village whose land has been alienated by APRIL, states that until now APRIL has not recognised the land rights of the community, although there is clear documentary evidence of the tenure.
- Unless and untill APRIL recongnises our land and cultural rights we have to demand that the mill is closed by the authorities, Mr. Anwar states.
This has already been done with the APRIL's Indorayon mill in North Sumatra which has been down since early 1999.

Campaigner of the forest conservation network SKEPHI, Ms. Theresia Wuryanatari, is astonished to find out that it's a common opinion that UPM-Kymmene's cooperation with APRIL is beneficial to Indonesian environment and people.
- APRIL has not changed for any better after the liaison with UPM-Kymmene. The funding from UPM-Kymmene has enabled them to continue and even increase the environmental destruction and land alienation. Moreover, UPM-Kymmene is the first Western paper company involved in pulping Indonesian rainforests, and this is an international scandal, Theresia states.

Appendix: Declaration by environmental organisations for consumers to avoid PaperOne

More information:
Ms Otto Miettinen
Friends of the Earth Finland/Forest Group
phone: +358-40-574 1162
email: om@sll.fi