Indonesia: NGOs against expansion of coal mining industry

Antara 10 May 16;

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - A number of non governmental organizations including Wahana Lingkungan Hidup (Walhi), Jaringan Advokasi Tambang (Jatam) and Greenpeace Indonesia expressed their opposition to expansion of coal mining industry in the country.

"Expansion of coal mining industry to increase coal production for exports and for domestic consumption has made the country more dependent on the unclean energy," Walhi spokesman Khalisah Khalid said.

"Whereas, the country has in abundance sources of clean energy that could easily be accessed by the people," Khalisah said here on Tuesday.

He said the country could not afford to wait much longer before turning to clean energy and stop using coal, one of the main pollutants in the country.

Coal mining industry has caused extensive ecological disasters, he said.

Meanwhile, Jatam coordinator Hendrik Siregar said fundamental change must be made immediately such as by amending the national energy policy and electrification ratio which is based on fossil energy.

The change in policy would prove the government commitment in climate change, which more and more extreme, he said.

The government should abandon projects that would benefit only a few people in favor of projects which benefit the majority of the people, he added.

Chairman of Greenpeace Indonesia Longgena Ginting said the government needs to set a more ambitious target in renewable energy development.

"Indonesia should not follow the Chinese and Indian model of development which now cause big problem of pollution threatening the public health. The two countries have built their energy industry dependent on coal," he said.

Indonesia, therefore, should immediately start large scale development of renewable energy before it is too late, he said.(*)