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ndonesia’s second-largest timber firm, Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper (RAPP), has found itself in limbo after the government suspended its operational activities because of the firm’s noncompliance with peat protection rules.

After issuing two reprimands to RAPP, the Environment and Forestry Ministry issued on Monday a decree declaring invalid RAPP’s work plan — the basis for a timber company to carry out business — for the 2010-2019 period.

The decree, a copy of which was obtained by The Jakarta Post, also requires RAPP, a subsidiary of APRIL Group, to submit a revised work plan complying with peat rules to the government before Thursday.

RAPP corporate affairs director Agung Laksamana told a news conference on Thursday the company had received the decree, saying it needed time to review “letters from the ministry” including the previous two reprimands issued on Sept. 28 and Oct. 6.

“We believe the government will provide the best solution for us now,” he said.

Agung said RAPP would abide by the obligation to revise its work plan, only under the condition it could access substitution land, which, under a recent regulation, is to be given to firms whose concession areas comprise protected peatland. Some 60 percent of land within RAPP’s concession areas in Riau, amounting to 388,000 hectares, are peatlands.

The government, Agung said, had to provide “substitution land in a gradual way, with clean and clear conditions, technically and economically adequate and located near our industrial site.”

Asked whether RAPP would take legal action in response to the work plan invalidation, Agung said the company’s foremost concern was the situation on the ground after the suspension.

“The suspension of our work plan will have significant effects, not only on the operational activities of the company, but also, more importantly, on our employees, their families, suppliers and our business partners,” he added.

RAPP operational director Ali Sabri told the press that the firm’s 4,600 employees would be “gradually” laid off as a consequence of the suspension.

Signed by the ministry’s director general for sustainable production forest management, Ida Bagus Putera Parthama, the decree also obliges RAPP to consult with the ministry in relation to the firm’s proposal on a work plan revision.

RAPP is reportedly still replanting acacia — a resource to produce paper — on protected peatlands within its concession areas in Pelalawan regency in Riau, a practice prohibited by Government Regulation No. 57/2016 on the protection and management of peatland ecosystems.

The regulation is one of numerous peat protection rules issued by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s administration, which has been steadfast in improving peatlands in Indonesia since the deadly forest and land fires of 2015.

Top ministry officials — including Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya and Ida Bagus — declined to comment on the suspension of RAPP’s business activities.

The suspension has been welcomed by activists and experts alike.

Arief Wijaya, World Resources Institute (WRI) Indonesia climate and forest senior manager, said the move sent a signal to other companies to comply with the government’s regulation on peatland protection. “I think this is a good start,” he said.

Forest and land fires, Arif said, occurred because of bad peatland management. “Drying out peatlands by creating channels will lead to peat decomposition, a process that could make peatlands further prone to fire.”

Riko Kurniawan, Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) Riau executive director, said in the future RAPP had to “show its intentions to change and conduct its business in a sustainable way.”