Robert Go, Jakarta – The Indonesian government wants to allow open-pit mining in protected forest areas in a bid to get more cash out of the country's vast natural resources and to speed up the pace of development in its eastern provinces.
But the plan has sparked protests from environmentalists, who said that the mining would permanently damage the ecosystem and harm local residents' long-term economic prospects.
Open-pit mining is done near the surface of the earth. Blocks of earth are dug to extract the ore in them.
During the process, the surface of the land is continually excavated, forming a pit that gets deeper until the end of the operation.
The process leaves ugly scars on the landscape and can easily pollute rivers and other forested areas nearby.
Mr Mahendra Siregar, a top aide to Coordinating Economics Minister Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti, told The Straits Times: 'The contracts were awarded before the 1999 forestry law made those forests into conservation or protected areas. We now have to honour those contracts, to be fair to investors. ' Another reason for Jakarta's decision, according to officials, is the slow pace of development on Indonesia's eastern islands, which have huge caches of natural resources but are less densely populated and less industrialised compared with Java.
"How else are we going to develop the eastern provinces? There are many limitations to those regions' economic growth. They have limited infrastructure and human resources," Mr Mahendra said.
"But those areas have lots of mineral deposits and natural resources. Those are the things that we need to exploit." Parliament is now considering approving 150 separate mining projects.
Sources said that out of that number, 50 could get the green light soon, with 22 proposals – a total investment value of around US$3. 2 billion – said to be done deals.
The problem is that Indonesia's fragile ecosystem is facing an unprecedented assault from human activities, including logging and mining.
Environmentalists now say that the country loses more than two million ha of forest each year, and that the pace of deforestation is increasing along with increased economic hardship.
Illegal logging, mining and fishing are destroying natural habitats and decimating regional species, many of which are indigenous and unique to the country. And open-pit mining, said activists, is among the worst of human activities.
Mr Chalid Muhammad, national coordinator for the Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam), said: "These operations cause soil erosion. They pollute rivers and harm the fish in it, as well as the people who use the water for their everyday needs." The experts also said that such mining activities would prolong droughts and cause water shortage, because many of these forests serve as catchment areas.
Mr Chalid added: "Mining firms are also notorious for dumping their waste in the ocean, polluting reef areas and killing fish that local fishermen depend on." In short, environmentalists argued, open-pit mines not only destroy the ecosystem, but also put pressure on the livelihoods of local people and future generations.
The Ministries of Environmental Affairs and Forestry have previously opposed the plan to re-license the mining firms, many of which are foreign-owned.