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nvironmental activists and mining companies are questioning the fate of a disputed area covering more than 30,000 hectares located inside the Batang Gadis National Park in Mandailing Natal regency, North Sumatra.

Activists are calling for an immediate halt to all activities there, saying the land was part of the 108,000-hectare protected area. Meanwhile, a mining association representative insists there had to be a solution to the conflicting interests between exploitation and conservation.

Tubagus Erwin from the Activation of Rural Progress Indonesia (Bitra Indonesia) accused PT Sorikmas Mining of conducting activities harming the forest despite not having the proper permits.

He said a coalition of environmental NGOs, including Greenpeace, were calling for the company to stop carrying out an environmental impact assessment (Amdal).

“They should not be doing the assessment if they haven’t done an environmental strategic research program [KLHS],” Tubagus said.

The 2009 Environment Protection and Management Law stipulates that an assessment can only be carried out following the strategic research.

Indonesian Mining Association executive director Priyo Pribadi Soemarno said the company had been preparing base camps to conduct mining activities.

He said the company secured a permit from the government in 1995 before the area was declared a protected area in 2004, adding that the company and the government should seek a way out from the current tangle, which he said stalled the company’s activities to hurt its investments.

Priyo said the company needed only a small area and that therefore the impact to the forest would be small.

Activists argue, however, that no mining should be conducted in the area, saying locals who depended on the river would be affected.

A 2009 Conservation International bulletin showed Sumatra was home to the highest rate of natural forest loss in the world. Between 1985 and 2007, it lost 12 million hectares of natural forest and by 2007, it had only 30 percent forest coverage, which amounted to around 13 million hectares.

Priyo said the government should not have issued the company a permit from the start. “The government may have to face the consequences of the company suing it [due to failed projects],” he said.

Legislator Effendi Simbolon from the House of Representatives Commission VII overseeing energy and environmental affairs said there were conflicting regulations concerning protected areas.

“There happen to be areas cleared for mining purposes, but that turned out to be located within a protected area,” he said.