Global moratorium sought on new mining explorations
Global moratorium sought on new mining explorations
A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A group of international non-governmental organizations is seeking a global moratorium on new mining exploration as mining operations have damaged the environment, brought no significant benefits for people around the sites and have even led to human rights violations.
A local mining association, however, dismissed such charges on Monday, saying that the mining industry had contributed significantly to economic growth and that the operations did not cause environmental damage.
Chalid Muhammad, national coordinator for the Indonesian-based Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam), said that the damage caused by mining operations surpassed their benefits. We demand an immediate moratorium on new mining operations," Chalid said on Sunday, following a meeting of 74 NGO delegations from 15 countries at Palm Beach Hotel in Kuta, Bali.
The results of the meetings, participated in by, among others, Oxfam Australia, Friends of the Earth International, and Jatam, would be distributed to government delegations attending the fourth preparatory committee meeting for the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Nusa Dua, Bali.
According to Chalid, energy NGOs sought an immediate moratorium on new mining exploration to contain the damage already caused by mining.
In Indonesia alone, Chalid said, mining operations had contributed 10 percent of the total damage of the country's forests.
Mining operations in other parts of the world have also caused environmental destruction. In South Dakota's Black Hills, the United States, at least one thousand birds died between 1983 to 1992 after drinking from cyanide-laced water in ponds near gold mining operations in the area.
The mining operations, Chalid went on, benefit only the investors, as well as corrupt officials at the central government and local administrations, but not the people in the surrounding areas.
Mining operations have, on many occasions, even violated the rights of local people, he said.
People in Kelian in Kalimantan and the Amungme tribe in Papua, for instance, were evicted from their ancestral lands following the discovery of minerals in their areas.
The moratorium demand from the NGOs was strongly rejected by Indonesian Mining Association (IMA).
IMA executive director P.L. Coutrier contended that the mining operations helped boost economic performance for local people in terms of employment opportunities, the local administration, as well as the host country.
"Mining operations could provide job opportunities for local people, and this could also increase revenue for the host country. This is especially important for countries like Indonesia that are currently experiencing an economic crisis," Coutrier said.
Mining operations in Indonesia are expected to contribute about 2.8 percent out of total GDP this year.
Currently, there are 38 mining companies operating in Indonesia.
"We have also carried out community development projects to share the benefits of mining operations with the local people," said Coutrier.
Coutrier said that mining companies were not responsible for mismanagement of revenue by local administrations and the central government.
"If the revenue does not go to the people, that is their problem, not ours. The media should ask them about this, and not us," he said.
Coutrier, however, acknowledged that mining operations had in some ways damaged the environment. Mining companies are developing environmental research to mitigate the damage to the environment.