The coalition of Indonesian non-governmental organizations known as Eyes on the Forest
(EoF) has released an investigative report accusing two fiber suppliers to Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) of violating Indonesian national and provincial law by conducting harvest operations in deep peat forests and conducting natural-forest harvest operations during a provincial-government-imposed moratorium.
According to the EoF report, LANSAT imagery shows that the SinarMas-managed logging companies PT Bina Duta Laksana and PT Mutiara Sabuk Khatulistiwa cleared areas of natural forest with dense canopy cover that is not allowed to be converted into plantations, and both companies cleared natural forests growing on peat that had a depth of more than three meters deep, a real that also are excluded from conversion to plantations.
According to EoF, the forest-clearance operations in question significantly contribute to global climate change and to the local extinction of Sumatran tigers (Panthera tigris sumatrae). Human-tiger conflict in the Kerumutan forest block rose in 2009 and 2010, according to EoF.
The full EoF report can be downloaded from http://eyesontheforest.or.id/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=178&Itemid=20
Launched in December 2004, Eyes on the Forest is a coalition of three local environmental organizations in Riau, Sumatra, Indonesia: WWF Indonesia's Tesso Nilo Programme, Jikalahari (Forest Rescue Network Riau) and Walhi Riau (Friends of the Earth Indonesia).
