UPM-Kymmene and APRIL - destruction of rainforests and conflicts over land

Finnish-based UPM-Kymmene is one of the world's largest pulp and paper companies and Indonesian-Singaporean APRIL is the pulp and paper branch of one of the largest multi-industry corporations in South-East Asia. UPM-Kymmene and APRIL announced their co-operation in the autumn of 1997.

Problems with APRIL

APRIL gets most of its raw materials by clear-cutting Indonesia's valuable rainforests. The diverse rainforests with their hundreds of different tree species alone are replaced by plantations of non-native acacia trees, thus sealing the fate of the rainforests permanently. The rainforest provides thousands of animal and plants species with a home. They can not survive in a monoculture plantation environment nor in a different rainforest ecosystem.

APRIL's activities are the cause of numerous land disputes. The locals living on the land claimed by APRIL are forced to move as their fields and forests are taken over by the company. The people are not ready to put up with the loss that have been used by their ancestors for centuries. APRIL has in many cases paid no compensation for the lands, at least not voluntarily.

The role of UPM-Kymmene

UPM-Kymmene defends its co-operation with APRIL by pointing to the necessity of paper in the education and democratisation of Indonesia, by claiming to abide by the strictest environmental standards, by referring to Indonesia's large forest reserves and the pressures of globalisation. Though these arguments can also be easily refuted, the main point remains that UPM-Kymmene is, through its co-operation with APRIL, giving its blessing to the large-scale destruction of the rainforest ecosystem as well as to the human rights abuses linked to the project. As the financing body and co-operation partner, UPM-Kymmene carries the moral responsibility for APRIL's actions, as through its support UPM-Kymmene is making the effects of APRIL's activities worse.

The demands by citizens' organisations

Soon after the alliance was published more than thirty environmental organisations around the world demanded that UPM-Kymmene cancel the alliance with APRIL unless certain preconditions will be met. In 1999 the demands were formulated again and more organisations have joined to support them: The NGOs demand that the co-operation between UPM-Kymmene and APRIL has to end unless it can be shown that APRIL:

  • stops clear-cutting of natural forests
  • gets a permit from local communities, including hunters and gatherers that are hard to reach, for planting of open areas or already destroyed areas
  • compensates losses from past logging and construction of infrastructure to local communities

 

READ MORE ABOUT THE ALLIANCE BETWEEN UPM-KYMMENE AND APRIL:

Excerpts from the book Calculated Risk - UPM-Kymmene in Indonesian rainforests published in May 1999

"In Riau province on Sumatra island, Indonesia, people are loosing their lands, animals and plants their habitats, rainforests. Sumatran tiger is becoming extinct.

This book tells why.

The book reviels the decisive role Finnish tax money and politicians play on the issue. Without the Finnish forest company UPM-Kymmene Indonesian APRIL is not capable of building rainforest destroying and human rights abusing pulp and paper mill in Riau. That is why environmental and citizens organizations around the world demand UPM-Kymmene to withdraw from cooperation with APRIL."