Camelia Pasandaran & Fidelis E. Satriastanti Jakarta Globe 25 Nov 10;
Jakarta. The government said it would allow underground mining within protected forests, insisting that this did not contradict a planned moratorium on issuing mining permits for such areas.
Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan said on Thursday that the presidential regulation on underground mining, to be issued on Monday, would enforce an existing regulation permitting such mining but banning open-pit mining in protected forests.
“It was decided at today’s cabinet meeting that the presidential regulation on underground mining in protected forests would be issued,” he said.
He added the regulation, which was first drafted in 2007, would allow greater geothermal development.
“Eighty percent of geothermal reserves are found beneath protected forests or national parks, putting them out of bounds for exploitation,” Zulkifli said.
He also said the operations of dozens of geothermal exploration companies hinged on this regulation.
He added the regulation would also allow the mining of minerals such as gold.
“But there shouldn’t be any tailings and it shouldn’t destroy the protected forest,” he said.
Meanwhile, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said that while such operations were welcome, they should seek to avoid environmental damage.
“We want mining activities that have an economic benefit, but don’t destroy or disturb the forest ecosystem,” he said.
This year, Yudhoyono pledged a two-year freeze — to take effect next year — on issuing permits for logging and mining within protected and peat forests, as part of the government’s target of reducing CO2 emissions by up to 41 percent.
Agus Purnomo, the presidential adviser for climate change, said geothermal exploration in forests would not affect this commitment because the operations would be focused underground.
“Technically, it’s about extracting steam from underground,” he said.
“The law on underground mining also states that no access roads are to be built, which would otherwise lead to illegal logging.”
He added such operations would also have to undergo an environmental impact analysis.
Underground mining in protected forests was legalized on Feb. 1 this year through a government regulation on forest use, which allows for the development of non-forestry operations categorized as “activities inevitably tied to strategic goals.”
Experts have argued that in underground mining, there is no immediate alteration to the above-ground landscape because operators usually only build underground tunnels, but the long-term effects are still in question.
