RIAU — Fibre, pulp and paper giant Asia Pacific Resources International Limited (APRIL) has come out strongly to affirm its no-burn policy and detail its fire-fighting efforts, worth millions of dollars annually, as it fends off charges of a significant proportion of Riau hot spots falling within concession areas linked to it.

Hosting a visit by TODAY to its Pangkalan Kerinci operation in Riau province last Saturday, company officials presented its fire management measures and showed, via a helicopter ride, that fires were occurring on community land just outside its concession areas.

Headquartered in Singapore, APRIL’s concessions cover 350,000ha in Riau, Sumatra.

Non-government organisation coalition Eyes on the Forest said last week in a press release that 1,075 hot spots out of 8,055 detected via NASA data in Riau from June 1 to 24 occurred in concessions linked to APRIL and Royal Golden Eagle suppliers. The fire locations are indicative and the organisation said ground investigations are necessary to reveal who started the fires.

APRIL showed TODAY concession data outlining how some fires said to be within its concessions actually occurred just outside of them. The company does not burn as it would be akin to damaging its fibre assets, said Mr David Goodwin, APRIL’s Director of Sustainability and External Affairs.

Fires in its concessions either spread from outside, or are started by communities living in the concessions.

The company prepares and manages the land of some communities under a profit-sharing agreement, while other communities prefer to manage their own land — the company has limited influence and control over the latter, filing a police report and helping to put out the fire when it occurs, its head of emergency taskforce coordination (fire-fighting) Periasamy said.

The company’s fire coordination centre receives up-to-date satellite data daily at about 5pm, calculates the geographical coordinates of hot spots in its concessions and sends out a report by 8am the next day, said Dr John Bathgate, Senior Manager for Lowland Plantation Management.

The standard procedure is to investigate every hot spot within 500m of its concession or that of its supply partners. “In these high and extreme conditions it’s been stretched to 1km,” he said. Once a fire is verified, the aim is to contain it within 48 hours.

During the helicopter ride, APRIL’s fire-fighters were seen putting out a blaze on the fringe of its concession. Many plumes of smoke were spotted on forested patches and some oil palm plantations near the Kampar River and Dr Bathgate clarified with a map that these were not part of APRIL’s concessions.

On why the company chooses not to make public up-to-date information on its concession areas, Mr Goodwin cited risks in doing so and said the company is engaging several parties to clarify certain facts — such as a recent meeting with the World Resources Institute and the media visit by TODAY.

He said: “The issue has only been in the spotlight for a reasonably short period of time and those conversations are occurring.”

Asked if APRIL should take responsibility for fires within its concession areas, even if they are set by local communities residing on the land, Mr Goodwin replied that while the company has fire mitigation measures in place, those starting the fires are ultimately responsible.

“If you were a landlord of a block of flats in Singapore, you’d be expected to have good fire extinguishers there, to have processes for reacting when something goes wrong,” he said. “I think we follow those sorts of procedures from what you’ve seen of our operations. The concept of responsibility must start by looking at who started the fire.”