Mining Companies Invade Indonesia

mining companies invade indonesia

greenwash covers gulf between image and reality

siti maimunah , jatam, indonesia

At the same time that mining companies are promoting themselves to governments and the public as an industry moving towards sustainability, they are also coercing the Indonesian government to open 11.4 million hectares of protected forests to mining. The latest efforts include threats to bring the Indonesian government to international arbitration if the government does not cater to their demands.

massive, rapid deforestation
Indonesia is currently on the verge of ecological disaster. More than 35 percent of the nation's land mass has been given away to extractive industries including mining, logging, and palm oil and other industrial plantations.

Indonesian forests are being destroyed on an outrageously massive scale, with remaining forest cover at approximately 98 million hectares. In 1985, national forest cover was 119 million hectares. Today, approximately 98 million hectares remain. At least half of this amount is also believed to have undergone degradation as a result of human activities. Since 1996, the rate of deforestation has increased to two million hectares per year. Incessant logging activities since the 1970s remains the largest contributor to forest destruction in Indonesia. In 2001, the Indonesian government issued at least 355 logging permits covering an area of 38,025,891 hectares. Most current logging activities are replete with negative impacts, from forest destruction to the dislocation of local forest communities.

mining swallowing land masses
What about mining? In terms of land-use area, mining occupies the largest land area of any industry in Indonesia. Data from JATAM (the Indonesian Mining Advocacy Network, which supports the struggles of Indonesian communities against the mining, oil and gas industries and is affiliated with WALHI/FoE Indonesia) shows that at the end of 2001, the government had issued 3,246 mining permits, consisting of 893 mining permits covering 32,765,833 hectares, 105 contracts of work covering 25,715,557 hectares, 110 coal contracts covering 8,410,106 hectares and 2,138 local mining permits issued by local governments.

Mining practices, and particularly large-scale mining, have contributed in a large degree to Indonesia's worsening environmental conditions. Mining causes massive and irreversible environmental destruction in zones of high biodiversity and fragile ecosystems including protected areas, and the disappearance of small islands. Mining adversely affects people, especially women and children; it increases incidents of violence, and causes declining quality of life. It ignores indigenous and local communities' rights to land, mineral resources, culture and traditional institutions. People lose their local livelihoods as a result of restricted access to resources, and pollution from mining activities causes serious health problems. Mining also results in increased militarization in mining areas and corruption. Bad mining practises in Indonesia today mainly stem from policies that are not community-oriented and allow poor company ethics and practices.

invasion of protected areas
Some of the most sought-after mineral resources in Indonesia are currently found in protected areas and on small islands. This is why 150 mining companies are heavily lobbying to force the government to open 11,441,852 hectares of protected areas for mining. Among these 150 companies are Rio Tinto, Newmont, Newcrest, BHP, Aneka Tambang, Placer Dome, Pelsart and Conoco. The companies use the argument of economic and community welfare improvements when lobbying the government. Their aim is to change the section of the Forestry Act that prohibits open-pit mining in protected forest areas.

This current law is opposed by the mining industry because underground mining methods mean higher operational costs. The mining industry would like to mine in forests of any status, and has been actively lobbying for changes in the borders of forest areas and in the status of forest areas, as well as amendments to the Forestry Act.

Mining companies are also coercing the Indonesian government with threats to move their investments out of the country and bring the government to international arbitration for the breaking of work contract agreements.

the allure of remoteness
Investors long to mine protected areas and small islands for a variety of reasons. In addition to the large deposits of minerals often found there, mining operations in such areas tends to be easier. In these generally remote areas it is very difficult to monitor the mine site, which makes the social costs very small. Mining companies also use the geographical nature of small islands to justify submarine tailings disposal (dumping mine waste into the ocean) as the best method of waste disposal, when it is in fact the cheapest method. This is the impetus for many mining companies to move into small islands, including Maluku, Gag, Pulau Laut, Flores and others.

four critical sites
Themining industry's strenuous efforts to open protected forests have been intensified with the formation of a team of government and industry bodies especially assigned to look into several mining projects in forests. This team is studying several cases such as the Asia Pacific Nickel project owned by BHP in a protected forest on Gag Island, Rio Tinto's proposed gold mine in the Tahura Poboya forest in Central Sulawesi, the Weda Bay Nickel project in the Lalobata Natural Reserve, and the Newcrest gold mine on the island of Maluku. If the lobbying efforts of these four companies are successful and mining is allowed in these forest areas, it will certainly facilitate the efforts of the other 146 mining companies also seeking to operate in protected and conservation areas.

green words, destructive gestures
The Indonesian case is concrete evidence of the dark cynicism behind the mining industry's latest “greenwash” initiative, the Global Mining Initiative (GMI) with its Minerals, Mines and Sustainable Development process (MMSD, see article page 7). The MMSD report claims that its recommendations and agendas for action aim to move the industry towards a more sustainable path.

Yet in Indonesia, the mining industry is forcing the government to open up its last remaining protected areas for mining, threatening to divest if Indonesia doesn't cooperate, and even going so far as to threaten international arbitration. This is just one reason why JATAM has rejected the MMSD project. Clearly, the mining industry's goals are, and always have been, to make the largest profits at the lowest possible cost. This is a recipe for social and environmental destruction, not sustainability.