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View all search resultsWest Java’s Citatah karst faces renewed threat from expanding mining
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The sunset over the Stone Garden in Padalarang, West Java, casts golden light on ancient limestone formations. (Courtesy of/Shutterstock)
T
he limestone karst formations of Citatah in West Java that first appeared millions of years ago are once again under attack from expanding mining operations that are destroying the fragile ecosystem and disrupting rural livelihoods.
In 2009 local resident Deden Syarif Hidayat realized that limestone and marble mining in Citatah would not only squeeze out communities but also inflict permanent damage on the resource-rich karst.
In recent years, environmental groups and geologists have warned that destruction caused by extractive activities has reached critical levels. The West Java chapter of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) estimated in 2015 that nearly 70 percent of the West Bandung karst area had already been irreversibly damaged.
“At first, I saw how ecological damage in Citatah had become normalized, something people simply accepted,” said Deden, who established Forum Pemuda Peduli Karst Citatah (the Citatah Karst Care Youth Forum) with his peers.
The environmental advocacy group set out to rehabilitate the degraded karst and repurpose parts of it as tourist destinations. Its first effort was the Stone Garden, a geopark that highlights ancient limestone formations dating back to when the region still rested on the seafloor around 30 million years ago.
The karst belt stretches roughly 5 kilometers west of Padalarang district in West Bandung, spanning more than 10,000 hectares of sheer limestone cliffs and prehistoric caves.
Read also: Stone Garden: Oasis among mining sites in West Bandung
