Friends of the Earth Media release
Jakarta/London 14th July 2003
indonesian government must say no to
mining in protected areas
Opposition is growing at home and abroad
to proposals, due to be decided on by the
Indonesian House of Representatives, to allow
mining in Indonesia’s protected areas, home
to precious wildlife. and their sponsoring
national embassies.
Placer rejected in Borneo
Kalimantan (Borneo) forests are world
famous as the home of one of humanity’s
closest relatives, the orangutan, whose name
literally means “people of the forest”.
Sadly, the forests on which orangutans and
Borneo’s indigenous Dayak peoples rely are
being rapidly destroyed by illegal logging,
plantations and mining, with 44% of its
forests degraded in just 12 years. But
Canadian mining company Placer is lobbying to
mine for gold in the protected forests of
South Kalimantan’s Meratus Mountains.
Representatives from the indigenous Dayak
Meratus and Dayak Samihim peoples issued a
passionately worded letter of protest, signed
on 25th June 2003 in which they set out
compelling reasons for rejecting the Canadian
mining giant’s plans to exploit their land.
Placer’s lobbying also sparked a
demonstration in the South Kalimantan
provincial capital on the 1st of July,
demanding government action to reject
lobbying from the company. The Provincial
Government has now declared its opposition to
the plans and called on the Indonesian
national parliament not to permit mining in
the Meratus protected forest.
Rio Tinto / Newcrest asked to leave
Sulawesi
In Palu, capital of central Sulawesi
island, a parallel story is unfolding of
indigenous opposition bolstered by community
and provincial government protests against
lobbying from UK/Australian company, Rio
Tinto, and from Newcrest to build a gold mine
in the Poboya Protected Forest Park.
Sustained Palu community opposition,
including protests directly against Rio
Tinto, has yielded separate statements by
both the provincial House of Representatives
(2 July 2003) and by Prof Aminuddin Ponulele,
Governor of Central Sulawesi saying they will
refuse any attempts from central government
to permit the mine to go ahead. Governor
Aminuddin said: “I’m not opposed to mining
per se, but I do oppose mining which
impoverishes the community. Why mine if the
community has to pay for the impacts?”
UNESCO’s rebuff to BHP Billiton
The threat to protected areas is
sufficiently acute to have prompted a rare
official intervention from the UNESCO Asia
Pacific office in Jakarta (United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organisation). UNESCO’s letter appeals to
Indonesian parliamentary committees currently
considering government plans to mine in
protected areas, with specific reference to
tiny Gag island in West Papua where BHP
Billiton plans to build the biggest nickel
mine in the world, dumping waste into the
sea.
The letter explains that the Raja Ampat
archipelago including Gag Island is one of
seven sites being considered for World
Heritage listing. The extraordinary
biodiversity in the Raja Ampat / Gag area
includes 505 species of coral - 64% of all
known coral species in the world. Scientific
findings also listed 1,065 fish species –
amongst the highest fish diversity in the
world. UNESCO’s intervention is a blow to BHP
Billiton’s lobbying to overturn protected
forest status and the company’s plan to use
STD - Submarine (ocean) Tailings (waste)
Disposal, despite it’s claims to have
reformed after the PNG Ok Tedi disaster.
BHP’s Ok Tedi mine in Papua New Guinea caused
severe, long-lasting pollution of the Fly
River, and local communities successfully
sued BHP for multi-millions of dollars in
damages. International Civil Society,
academics speak out for forests Despite
foreign government pressure asking the
Indonesian government to weaken protected
areas, more than 1,100 letters have arrived
from individuals and organisations in 43
countries in support of forest protection,
including the Sierra Club and the Orangutan
Foundation, and some 6,000 postcards have
been sent to the House of Representatives,
the Forestry Department and the Minister for
Mineral Energy and Resources from
Indonesians. Student environmentalists have
staged protests at the Australian Embassy in
anger at Australian and other foreign
government lobbying on behalf of mining
companies, and their protests have been
backed with support from academics .
Contact:
Nur Hidayati, WALHI-Friends of the Earth
Indonesia on (+62) 812 9972642
Siti Maimunah, JATAM-Indonesian Mining
Advocacy Network (+62) 815 8097943
Igor O’Neill, MPI-Mineral Policy Institute
(+62) 812 8612 286
NOTES FOR EDITORS:
Background and Supporting Documents
included in press kit, available from
inform@mpi.org.au or see
http://www.jatam.org/
- UNESCO Letter re protected forests and Gag
Island
- Letter of opposition from Dayak Indigenous
communities (translated)
- Map of affected areas
- Background info sheet
- Previous Press Releases and Jakarta Post
opinion article
- List of 15 companies, project locations
and countries of origin
- Evidence of Australian government
lobbying
- Photos of several demonstrations available
upon request
From coalition to oppose mining in
Indonesia’s protected areas: JATAM;
WALHI-Friends of the Earth; Indonesian Center
for Environment Law; WWF Indonesia; Kehati;
PELANGI; Forest Watch Indonesia; MPI; POKJA
PSDA; PELA
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