Mining in forests opposed in court

Mining in forests opposed in court

Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Environmentalists testified on Tuesday before the Constitutional
Court about the devastating effects of open-pit mining in
protected forests as they attempted to have a controversial law
permitting that practice annulled.

The environmentalists are challenging the constitutionality of
Law No. 19/2004, which allows 13 mining firms to resume open-pit
mining in protected forests. The government had previously banned
open-pit mining in protected forests under Law No. 41/1999. But
mining firms that had been granted concessions before the
issuance of the Forestry Law persuaded the government to exempt
them from the ban.

The petitioners argued during the first day of the case on
April 5 that the government had decided to allow open-pit mining
based on the excuse of providing legal certainty to investors,
even though this was at the expense of environmental destruction.

Former minister of plantations and forestry Muslimin Nasution,
who was involved in the enactment of the Forestry Law, said it
had been enacted after the government became aware of the
devastating effects of open-pit mining on the environment.

"The practice was first allowed by Law No. 5/1967 (on
forestry), as we were focused on attracting as much investment as
possible to the forestry sector, often to the detriment of
environmental interests. But then, we became aware of the adverse
effects on the environment and that's why we banned it through
Law No. 41/1999," he said.

Muslimin said that Indonesia's forests were being rapidly
destroyed, something that was accompanied by a massive loss of
topsoil, water catchment areas and natural resources.

"You can never restore damaged protected forests after all of
their natural elements have been eroded and lost. Take a look at
Freeport's vast (concession) area in Papua. How can one expect
the company to carry out full rehabilitation?" he said, referring
to PT Freeport Indonesia, a giant gold and copper miner.

Muslimin added that the Forestry Law had been thoroughly
discussed with the other relevant ministries, including the
Ministry of Mineral Resources and the Office of the State
Minister for the Environment.

Another witness, Haryadi Kartodihardjo from the Bogor
Institute of Agriculture, echoed Muslimin's view that damaged
protected forests would most likely never be able to recover.

Regarding government claims that the mining firms were helping
support local governments in financial and developmental terms,
Haryadi claimed the opposite was the case.

"Instead of contributing, Karimun Granite in the Riau Islands
caused the local government to a loss of Rp 4.3 billion
(US$452,631) per year," he said without elaborating.

A disaster management expert from the Veterans' National
Development University in Yogyakarta, Eko Teguh Paripurno, said
that open-pit mining in protected forests had great potential to
lead to disasters.

"The definition of a disaster isn't limited merely to natural
disasters. The fact that we're losing natural resources that
should provide livelihoods for our offspring is an even bigger
disaster," he said.