Fidelis E. Satriastanti, Jakarta Globe 6 Mar 10;
Despite its stated objective to control open-pit mining, the Forestry Ministry’s new land-use regulation could backfire and lead to the destruction of more forests, policy development institute Greenomics Indonesia said on Friday.
The Forest Area Use regulation, which has been signed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono but has yet to come into force, aims to allow forest areas to be used in the development of non-forestry activities that are categorized in the regulation as “activities inevitably tied to strategic goals.”
These activities include mining, renewable energy technology, telecommunications development, generator installations, public roads, toll roads, railroads, forestry-related industries, security and defense, and temporary shelters in response to natural disasters.
Regarding mining, the regulation allows for both open-pit and underground mining in productive forests, but only underground mining in protected areas and only under restricted circumstances. It would not be allowed in situations where the mining would cause land subsidence, change the function of the forested area or damage ground water.
“The idea [of the regulation] was to affirm that only 13 companies would be allowed to operate in protected forests,” Greenomics Indonesia executive director Elfian Effendi said. “In the future, if mining companies want to operate in protected forests, they can only use underground mining, not open-pit mining.”
However, Elfian said that the definition of mining as an “activity inevitably tied to strategic goals” was open to misinterpretation and could be taken advantage of to generate more mining activities in protected forests.
“Mining could be considered as strategic, but it’s not inevitable as that means mining can be carried out in protected forests at any cost,” said Elfian, adding that underground mining did not mean that it was environmentally safe.
Agus Setyarso, executive chairman of the National Forestry Council of Indonesia, said the government needed to clarify the definition of mining to prevent multiple interpretations.
“The government needs to strictly monitor the implementation of the regulation because it can easily be turned upside down,” Agus said, adding that mining was better classified as a priority rather than strategic.
He said that it was interesting the government allowed underground mining given that the country was not yet able to implement the technology mainly due to the high costs involved.
“Even those companies that have been granted access to protected forests cannot afford the technology to carry out underground mining,” he said, adding that the idea of underground mining was to exploit minerals or other natural resources without changing the landscape above the ground.
Elfian added that it was possible underground mining could lead to open-pit mining if the government was unable to apply stricter regulations.
“What may start as underground mining could end up as open-pit mining if miners were able to convince the government that the natural resources in the area are worth bending the regulations,” he said.
Meanwhile, Masyhud, the spokesman at the Forestry Ministry, said the regulation was no threat to protected forests. “It is clear in the Law on Forestry that there cannot be any open-pit mining in protected forests.”
New Indonesian Forestry Regulations May Open Way to Mining in Conservation Areas
Fidelis E. Satriastanti, Jakarta Globe 9 Mar 10;
It appears the Ministry of Forestry is playing Catch 22 with the country’s forests. Despite guarantees by the ministry on Monday that mining was forbidden in conservation areas, two recent regulations may have opened a back door to mining in those areas.
On Jan. 21, the government issued the Procedures for Forest Conversion regulation allowing conservation areas (including protected forests) and production forests to be converted to other functions. This means that conservation areas could be converted to either protected or production forests.
Based on the 1999 Law on Forestry, forest functions are divided into conservation, protection and forestry-production purposes, with a percentage of the latter allowed for other non-forest activities, such as plantations.
On Feb. 1, another government regulation on Forest Area Use stipulated that protected and production forest areas can be used in the development of non-forestry activities that are categorized in the regulation as “activities inevitably tied to strategic goals.” That includes mining.
This regulation states that mining companies can now operate inside protected forest areas although only under restricted circumstances. For instance, underground mining is allowed but not open-pit mining and mining would not be allowed if it could cause land subsidence, change the function of the forested area or contaminate ground water.
However, in production forests, the regulation allows for both open-pit and underground mining.
“The [Forest Area Use] regulation only applies to [activities in] production and protected forests, but not for conservation areas. It has already been stipulated in the [1999 Forestry] Law that these areas cannot be used for mining activities,” said Bambang Mulyo, head of forest use subdirectorate at the forestry ministry’s planning directorate general.
However, if, as stated in the Forest Conversion regulation, conservation areas can be converted into protected or production functions, then the way, albeit indirectly, would be open to mining in those areas.
But Bambang denied the regulation could be used to convert conservation forests into mining concessions.
“There is little chance of irregularities whereby companies could end up trying to change conservation areas into mining sites,” Bambang said.
Markus Ratriyono, spokesman for Forest Watch Indonesia, said conservation areas were established to protect them from being destroyed by any human activity.
“The law is clear that there should not be any mining activities, even underground mining, in conservation areas,” said Markus. “However, because underground mining has never been really implemented in Indonesia, I’m not certain how it would effect the environment. There would eventually be some damage, I’m just not sure of the extent of the damage.”
The Forest Area Use regulation has been criticized by environmental groups, who said that despite the Forestry Ministry’s stated objective to control open-pit mining, the new regulation could backfire and lead to the destruction of more forests.
