Mining in protected forests

Mining in protected forests

From Media Indonesia

As a citizen of a large and respectable country, I fully
support the government's policy to allow 15 mining companies to
operate in protected forests.

Indonesia must honor its agreements or contracts with other
countries. In the case of these mining activities, when the
contracts were signed, the proposed mining areas had not yet been
identified as protected forest.

Therefore, some non-governmental organization (NGO) activists
were wrong when they accused State Minister of the Environment
Nabiel Makarim of being ignorant of regulations. Nabiel knows the
regulations well. If he did not, he would not have allowed many
other mining companies to operate in these protected forests.

In future, when the government fosters cooperation or inks
agreements with other parties, it must consider the long-term
effect of these deals and must also base them on broad interests.

In the case of these 15 mining companies, the government can
exercise tight control over their mining activities to minimize
their impact on the environment.

At this juncture, NGO activists, who are mostly intellectuals,
can play their role. They may help find solutions to the problems
on the ground. If they detect something wrong, they should also
be ready to propose a solution.

D. NOVINA, Bogor, West Java