PT Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper eyes sustainable forestry
PT Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper eyes sustainable forestry
PT Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper (RAPP) is accelerating the
establishment of acacia plantations in the province of Riau as a
sustainable wood source.
The company started harvesting its acacia plantations in 2001
and its Fiber Line 1 will be fully supported with plantation wood
by 2004.
By 2008/9, RAPP's tree plantations will fully support the
company's mill requirements of two million tons or more per year.
"During this year alone, our planting is expected to reach
27,700 hectares on our own concession and another 20,000 hectares
on joint-operation concession areas and community forestry sites,
thereby bringing our total established plantations to about
200,000 hectares by the end of December," environment manager
Canesio P. Munoz said.
RAPP needs 300,000 to 350,000 hectares of fully developed and
productive tree plantations to sustainably support its mill in
Kerinci. The tree plantation program is being carried out
together with RAPP's joint venture partners and community
forestry projects with villagers.
The company, a subsidiary of the Singapore-based Asia Pacific
Resources International Holdings Ltd. (APRIL), plants acacia
mangium in mineral lands and acacia crassicarpa in lowland areas.
Both trees are ready for harvest in five to seven years after
planting.
Munoz said the operation of RAPP's pulp plant with a design
capacity of two million air-dry tons per annum needed continuous
wood supplies from around 300,000 hectares of sustainably managed
acacia plantation land.
As the environmentally sound plantations were still being
developed, the company, under its short-term strategy, utilizes
wood coming from the clearing of land areas authorized and zoned
by the provincial government for agricultural development.
"The use of pulpwood from land-clearing areas imparts an
economic value to the raw materials that would otherwise be
wasted and disposed of by burning," Munoz noted. "Wood
procurement from these legal sources is in line with APRIL's no-
burn policy and helps minimize environmental pollution."
RAPP processes a portion of its pulp output in its own paper
mill in Kerinci, with an annual designed capacity of 350,000
tons, and exports the remainder to Asian and European countries.
Munoz said RAPP had a strong interest in establishing
sustainable forests for the pulpwood supplies, so that it would
be able to recover its investment.
He said that in implementing its sustainable management, the
company conducted forest planning and survey of riparian zones in
advance of the harvesting operations. Streams that were three to
30 meters wide were given 25- to 50-meter protective zones on
both sides, while rivers or other water sources that had widths
larger than 30 meters were demarcated with 100-meter protected
zones on both sides.
The harvesting operation was carried out with manual cutting
teams and the wood was extracted by skidders. Wood residues or
slash such as tops, branches, twigs and leaves were left on the
ground and evenly spread n harvesting compartment preparatory to
planting.
Spreading evenly and leaving behind the slash would minimize
soil erosion, provide additional sources of nutrients when the
materials decomposed, and prevent the growth of competing
vegetation in the early stages of the plantation.
The Environmental Management System (EMS) of RAPP's forestry
operations had been certified as meeting the requirements of the
ISO 14001 EMS Standard. The EMS of six sectors (Teso East & West,
Logas South & North, Ukui and Baserah) were certified in November
2001, and the EMS of the remaining four sectors (Mandau, Langgam,
Pelelawan & Cerenti) in June 2002. SGS Yarsley International
Certification Services (UK) conducted the certification audits.
"The ISO 14001 EMS shall be used as the documentation tool in
achieving forest certification by 2004/5," he Munoz said.
The company plans to use the forest certification standard of the
Lembaga Ekolabel Indonesia (LEI) Criteria & Indicators for
Sustainable Forest Plantation Management or any credible
international standard applicable to Indonesia.
He said that RAPP, in its participation in the curbing of
illegal logging and poaching, took necessary measures such as
involving local community members in its business activities,
introducing community development programs to them and preventing
illegal wood from entering its mill.
Wood delivered to the mill, for example, should pass through
two checkpoints before the entrance of log trucks into the wood
yard.
The first checkpoint was manned 24 hours by government
forestry authorities, who were responsible for checking
documentation on government approvals, while the second one was
manned by internal audit teams to ensure legal compliance.