Mining policy may lead to lower grants

Mining policy may lead to lower grants

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The World Bank is warning that foreign donors may further reduce
their environmental grants to Indonesia in response to the
government's recent decision to allow several mining firms to
operate in protected forests.

Kathy MacKinnon, the World Bank's senior biodiversity
specialist, said here on Monday that even before the mining firms
were allowed to operate in protected forests, donors to Indonesia
were already reluctant to earmark funds for the environment due
to unrest in various regions and illegal logging in conservation
areas.

"We can't give our funds to improve environmental conditions
where there is a high risk of not succeeding," she told The
Jakarta Post on the sidelines of a workshop on Global Environment
Facility (GEF).

She said the GEF, established in 1992 following the Earth
Summit in Rio de Janeiro and managed by the United Nations
Development Program, was one of agencies that was unwilling to
provide more grants to Indonesia.

The GEF has canceled a project to maintain biodiversity in
Maluku due to the prolonged conflict there, halted a project in
West Kalimantan due to unrest and recalled project objectives in
the Kerinci Seblat national park in Sumatra, she said.

Since GEF established representative here in 1992, it has
disbursed over US$50 million in grants for environmental programs
carried out by the government and non-governmental organizations.

Indonesia receives environmental grants from a number of other
agencies as well, including USAID and the Asian Development Bank.

MacKinnon urged the Indonesian government to foster good
governance to ensure its policies do not harm the environment,
which would in turn convince donors to provide additional grants.

However, the government's approval to the six mining companies
to operate in protected forests will only discourage
international institutions from funding environmental protection
programs in Indonesia, she said.

Earlier this month, the House of Representatives approved the
government's plan to allow at least six mining firms to resume
open pit mining operations in protected forests in order to help
promote regional development.

The six mining companies are: PT Weda Bay Nikel and PT Nusa
Halmahera (located in Maluku province), PT Gag Nikel (Papua), PT
Galuh Cempaka (South Kalimantan), PT Jorong Barutama (Papua) and
PT Barisan Tropical Mining (South Sumatra).

To avoid violation of Law No. 41/1999 on forestry, which
banned open pit mining in protected forests, the House changed
the status of the six firms' operating areas from protected
forests to production forests.

Several NGOs have accused the government and the House of
betraying the trust place in them by the people to protect the
forests, and have threatened to file a lawsuit.

A senior adviser to the state minister for the environment,
Aboejowono Aboeprajitno, said Indonesia would continue to receive
environmental grants from foreign donors if the government was
active in promoting its environmental protection programs.

"Indonesia has the largest biodiversity in the world.
Therefore, our environment has become the focus of attention for
the world. However, we lack the funds to manage our environment
properly. So we must upgrade our skills if we want to get more
and more grants," he said.