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Sumatra’s tigers are facing extinction.
Only 400 remain in the wild...
...and these peat swamp forests are critical for their survival.
Asia Pulp & Paper (or APP) aims to be the number one pulp and paper company in the world.
Its paper ends up in everyday products sold by the likes of Xerox, National Geographic and Walmart.
A Greenpeace investigation shows...
...that APP is pulping peat swamp forests that are home not only to Sumatra’s tigers...
...but also a protected tree species – ramin.
Indonesia banned the logging and trade in ramin a decade ago.
At the same time, ramin was granted international protection...
...under the same UN Convention that controls the ivory trade.
APP claims that no illegal logs are part of its wood supply.
However, our year-long undercover investigation...
...reveals illegal ramin logs...
...are regularly mixed in with other rainforest logs that feed APP’s global paper empire.
This APP pulp mill is already the largest in Indonesia and is expanding rapidly.
Hundreds of thousands of rainforest logs are stored at the mill waiting to be pulped.
Much of this wood supply comes from peat swamp forests...
...and illegal ramin logs are easy to find.
Numerous ramin logs can be identified...
...often lying within just a few paces of each other.
These logs measure up to a metre across.
A distinctive blue mould sometimes grows on the wood.
And the bark has long brittle fibres.
Dozens of samples were collected from these logs.
They were locked in tamper-proof bags with a security seal.
An internationally-recognised expert confirmed that the samples were indeed ramin.
APP paper ends up in everyday products sold around the world...
...from copy paper and tissue products...
...to coffee table books...
...to packaging for electrical goods and food products.
APP’s illegal trade is driving Sumatra’s tigers closer to extinction.