Sukanto Tanoto owns world-largest integrated pulp and paper mill; plants 200 million seedlings every year.

Sukanto Tanoto, who dropped out of school at a young age, spent nearly 50 years building RGE Group, an international group with USD15billion assets and 50,000 employees. The group owns the world's largest integrated pulp and paper mill as well as palm oil plantations with an area equal to one and a half times that of Singapore. How does the Indonesian tycoon, who has established his business headquarters in Singapore, ensure the sustainability of his business by integrating the concept of environmental protection? What advice does he have to offer to young entrepreneurs?

Sukanto Tanoto directs the operations of the RGE Group, the $15 billion global family of natural resources-based companies he founded in Indonesia and expanded into the global stage. This is a family business that has been handed down for two generations, is firmly rooted in family values and that has been the key to its success.

The National Heart Research Institute Singapore (NHRIS) was launched by President Tony Tan at the SingHealth Duke-NUS Scientific Congress 2014, which is a platform to showcase the latest medical developments. This new research institute is a collaboration between the National Heart Centre Singapore and Duke-National University Singapore (NUS), and it will focus on research themes such as blood vessel functions, genetics and metabolic heart diseases.

The annual mid-autumn festival Mid Autumn Festival is approaching. The festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the lunar calendar, which is when family and friends come together to celebrate the harvest and offer prayers and thanksgiving. On this occasion, many families today still practice this popular tradition of having outdoor reunions among friends and relatives to eat mooncakes and watch the full moon, which is a symbol of harmony and unity. There is a saying that “A person thinks of family or loved ones especially more during such festive occasions”.

In May 2014, the Riau Ecosystem Restoration project (RER) announced that conservationists had embarked on the planting of 2 million new trees on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. The first planting added 1,500 new trees to the island’s landscape as part of a 10-year-long initiative, which represents one key component in RER’s plans to support sustainable development.

APRIL protects its mill wood supply by prohibiting the use of fire in forest concessions. The company policy aligns with Indonesian law which forbids the use of fire to clear land. Nevertheless, fire and haze are an annual problem especially during the dry season, usually from June to October. As a recent CIFOR report highlighted, sometimes the fires started outside the forestry concessions as a cheap way to clear land, spread into forestry concessions. Sometimes these people occupy land inside forestry concessions and start fires.