Open-pit mines endanger lives, nature

Open-pit mines endanger lives, nature

Dadan Wijaksana and Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Environmentalists have raised alarm over a recent recommendation
from legislators to allow four mining companies to resume open-
pit mining operations in protected forests, citing potential huge
losses to the country's biodiversity, toxic waste and the ensuing
possible loss of human lives.

"This (the decision) is a disgrace. It only shows, again, its
(the House's) lack of commitment for the preservation of our
forests," Togu Manurung, a professor at the Bogor Institute of
Agriculture (IPB) and director of Forest Watch Indonesia (FWI),
said at a press briefing here Wednesday.

"Already, we lose more than 2 million hectares of forests each
year. It's important that we protect the remainder of our
forests, especially the protected ones," he said.

The government banned open-pit mining in 1999 because of its
grave impacts on the environment and human lives.

Longgena Ginting of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment
(Walhi) concurred, pointing out that the benefits from mining
operations would not offset the severe damage to the environment
and ecosystem.

Both Togu and Longgena insisted that the decision would be so
damaging to the environment that any post-reclamation effort to
bring the ecosystem back would be almost impossible.

Open-pit mining means massive land clearing within a company's
concession area before it can start digging for mining products.
This land clearance endangers wildlife and flora in the area and
its surroundings.

The tailings, or chemical wastes, are toxic. The long period
of mining operations, usually spanning tens of years, would
produce huge quantities of toxic waste that can contaminate the
surrounding lands, and often the rivers, too.

Open-pit mining also jeopardizes the lives of indigenous
people in the areas as they usually have a high level of
dependency on the forests. Land clearing activities will deprive
the indigenous people of their land and their livelihood,
threatening their existence.

"These are the kinds of environmental and social costs that
need to be taken into account when making the decision, instead
of mere economic considerations that protect the interests of
investors," Togu said.

Legislators earlier claimed that the four companies had met
all the requirements, which included a guarantee to prevent the
impacts of their explorations on the environment, to carry out
post-exploration reclamation efforts and to comply with the
regulation on the amount of deposits they are allowed to procure.

The four companies are PT Gag Nickel on Gag Island, Papua
province, PT Weda Bay Nickel in Tabobo, Maluku province, PT Nusa
Halmahera in Central Halmahera, Maluku province, and PT Citra
Palu Minerals in Palu, Central Sulawesi province.

The companies have been selected from a shortlist of 22 mining
companies the government had proposed to the House to be allowed
to resume mining operations after being forced to stop following
the enactment of Law No. 41/1999 on forestry, which bans open-pit
mining operations.

There are some 150 companies that have obtained mining permits
for operations in protected forests, covering about one-fifth of
protected forest areas, or around 11.4 million hectares across
the country.

The recommendation for the four companies was issued by a team
comprising members of House Commission III on forestry and
agriculture and Commission VIII on energy and mineral resources,
and the environment. The team is currently assessing requests
from the other 18 companies and will submit the results to
Commissions III and VIII. The commissions will then make their
decision whether or not to grant the permits.

Togu added that the decision also violated several
international conventions on biodiversity and forest conservation
and protection.

Indonesia has ratified the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD),
agreed to the statement of Forest Principles and has become a
member of the United Nations Forest Forum, meaning that Indonesia
should be highly committed to these principles.

Article 7 of the CBD stipulates that countries are obliged to
prevent negative impacts from forest exploitation activities,
while Article 8 states that countries must develop protected
areas with the goal of conserving those areas.