Latest updates on what's happening in RGE Group
Asia Pacific Rayon (APR) has become the newest business group to be managed by RGE. Based in Riau, Indonesia, APR will seamlessly source dissolving pulp from co-located RGE pulp and paper business group APRIL to produce viscose fibre. APR’s mill has an initial annual production capacity of 240,000 tonnes and is set to commence production […]
Tall and slippery, Sialang trees (Koompassia excelsa) can grow up to 88 meters (289 ft) in height. Endemic to lowland tropical forests in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, their slippery trunks attract giant honey bees (Apis dorsata) who hang their huge combs from the branches that tower over the forest canopy. While local farmers […]
On 26 July 2018, leading pulp and paper producer APRIL celebrated the fourth anniversary of its successful Fire-Free Village Programme (FFVP). An evolution of the Village Incentive Programme in 2014, the initiative seeks to engage communities as an on-the-ground approach to address the problem of fire and haze in Indonesia. The event was attended by various […]
The Independent Peat Expert Working Group (IPEWG), a working group of global peatland experts and scientists that leading pulp and paper producer APRIL established in January 2016, has published its Phase 1 Progress Report, detailing the accomplishments and challenges over the past two years of engaging with the company. Formed after the launch of APRIL’s Sustainable […]
APRIL’s Stakeholder Advisory Committee (SAC) published its progress report, providing a retrospective of its engagement with one of the largest, most technologically advanced and efficient makers of pulp and paper products in the world. Meeting for the first time in January 2014, the SAC operates as an independent body tasked with overseeing the implementation of APRIL’s […]
Endangered species have returned. Fires have been absent for almost three years. Communities have been engaged and their members, given alternative livelihoods. These are several of the highlights in Riau Ecosystem Restoration’s (RER) first annual report, released in April 2018. Guided by its pioneering approach of a four-phase model of peatland forest protection, creation and […]
On 20 March, ten students from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP), National University of Singapore (NUS) visited APRIL’s operations in Pangkalan Kerinci, Riau Province, Indonesia. The trip was part of the students’ class on “Moral Reasoning & the Policy Process”, a module on the challenges, justifications and implications of policy positions […]
A record 15 of 18 villages in APRIL’s Fire Free Village Program (FFVP) will receive the full award for not using fire as a tool in their approach to community land management in 2017, a significant milestone in their continuing journey towards fire resilience. Now on its third year, FFVP is a systematic and targeted approach […]
The Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP) featured APRIL in a case study entitled “A Production-Protection Model for Sustainable Pulp & Paper Operations in Riau, Indonesia”. It tells how APRIL “took steps to balance the economic and environmental concerns of paper production while taking into account multiple stakeholders, including the Indonesian government, local […]
There was a time when Riau farmer Zamri had to struggle to make ends meet, having to provide for his wife and children, as well as for his mother and sister. These days, Zamri – better known by his nickname Acok – enjoys a relatively steady monthly income. All by running his own farm in […]