New environment minister calls for restriction on mining operations

Newly appointed State Minister for Environment Gusti Muhammad Hatta has called for a restriction on mining operation to protect the environment, which he said, has been seriously damaged in many parts of the country especially in Kalimantan due to uncontrolled mining activities, Kompas reported Monday.

?The number of mining operations has far exceeded the limit the environment can stand. The issuance of new mining licenses should therefore be curbed,? he said in his speech in his first day at the office on Friday.

Gusti said that new licenses such as for coal mining operations in Kalimantan should be curbed because mining activities in the region mostly carried through an open-pit mining method had caused a serious damage to forest areas.

?It is estimated that within the next 15 years, the environmental condition in East Kalimantan will be seriously damaged due uncontrolled coal mining activities,? he said. Gusti said that he had discussed the possibility of curbing the mining activities with Energy and Mineral Resources Minister. ?The proposal has received a green light from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono during the first Cabinet meeting,? he added.

He also said that deforestation in the country had reached 1.1 million hectares a year.

Siti Maemunah, the national coordinator of the Mining Advocacy Network, hailed the new Environment Minister?s plan, saying that about 5,000 mining licenses which had so far been issued by the government had far exceeded the capacity the environment could stand.

She said that the proposal to restrict the mining operation is in line with the new environment law which clearly states that the office of State Minister for the Environment is obliged to study the condition of the environment before the issuance of new mining licenses. (*)