UNESCO urges govt to ban mining activities on Gag island
Thursday, July 17 2003 - 02:58 AM WIB
In his letter, the director of the organization?s representative office in Jakarta Prof. Stephen C. Hill asked the House of Representatives (DPR) and related government agencies to reconsider the issuance of permits to develop the island into a mining site.
Hill said that the Gag island should be freed from mining activities to protect thousands of rare fishes in the sea surrounding the island. According to him, the Gag island is one of seven conservation sites in Southeast Asia which are now being considered to be included in the World Heritage. The sites have 505 species of coral reef or 64 percent of the coral reef species in the world, and the home for at least 1,065 species of fishes.
According to earlier reports, BHP Billiton will develop a massive nickel mining area on the Gag island and plans to use a submarine technology to dump its mineral waste on the area. The use of the submarine dumping site is feared to pose a threat to thousands of fish species living on the sea surrounding the island.
BHP Billiton is one of 22 mining companies which have been forced to halt their mining activities because some parts of their mining sites overlap with forest conservation areas. According to the new forestry law, open-pit mining activities on protected forests are illegal. But the companies defend their mining rights because the new forestry law, which was issued long after they received mining permits from the government, does not have a legal power to ban their activities.
The government and the House of Representatives are now discussing the possibility of allowing mining activities in such protected areas despite the ban. Minister of Mines and Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro has said that 15 of 22 mining companies whose areas overlap with protected forests might be allowed to continue their mining activities. (*)