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Mining moratorium contravenes govt’s own policies: Activists

Environmental activists are skeptical about the government’s recent pledges to halt new mining permit issuances as its commitment might contradict with reality

Hans Nicholas Jong (The Jakarta Post)
Thu, April 21, 2016

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Mining moratorium contravenes govt’s own policies: Activists

E

nvironmental activists are skeptical about the government’s recent pledges to halt new mining permit issuances as its commitment might contradict with reality.

Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam) coordinator Hendrik Siregar said the planned moratorium contradicted the government’s ambitious plan to increase the nation’s electricity generating capacity until 2019.

“With the plan to produce 20 GW of electricity from coal, it will need at least 70 million tons of coal. This amount of coal will need lots of land and thus the moratorium will not be effective,” he said.

In mid-2015, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo announced an ambitious capacity target to install 35 GW through 2019 as electricity demand is predicted to reach 7,000 MW per year. About 20 GW of the target will be met from coal-fired sources, with 13 GW from natural gas-fired plants and 3.7 GW from renewable sources (primarily hydroelectricity and geothermal resources).

“Jokowi’s program of increasing electricity means opening up land [for mining],” Hendrik said.

Despite the ambitious plan, Jokowi last week announced his plan to impose a moratorium on new mining permits as well as palm oil permits. He framed the licensing freeze as a continuation of the 2011 forestry moratorium, which banned new permits to develop on primary forests and peatlands.

“We will not allow the overlapping of mining concessions and forest conservation areas to happen again,” he said.

Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) energy campaigner Pius Ginting said the planned moratorium was not in line with the government’s policy to exploit coal as the country’s main source of energy.

“The government should have been consistent in its moratorium policy by canceling infrastructure plans that support the mining sector. Right now there are two such infrastructure plans: a double railway project for transporting coal in South Sumatra and a similar project in Central and East Kalimantan,” he said.

According to Pius, the development of the railways will increase the exploitation of coal in the two provinces.

“Forests in South Sumatra and East Kalimantan are still pristine and they will be threatened by mining expansion that will surely happen once the railway is operating there,” he said.

“Therefore, it’s not too late for the government to stop the development of the two railways because the one in South Sumatra is still in construction while the one in Kalimantan is still at an early planning stage.”

With contradicting policies, Hendrik urged the government to review its policies related to the mining sector that might hamper the moratorium’s planned implementation.

“The government should have reviewed the existing mining areas [WP] across the archipelago as the basis of the moratorium,” he said.

In 2014, the government determined seven WP corridors: Sumatra, Sulawesi, Kalimantan, Maluku, Papua, Java and Bali, and Nusa Tenggara. WPs comprise mining business areas (WUP), traditional mining zones (WPR) and state reserve areas (WPN).

Local administrations will be able to issue mining business permits (IUPs) according to locations that have been determined in WUPs.

“The government should have conducted a thorough study to change the WPs [to match the planned moratorium],” Hendrik said.

He added that Jokowi should make sure that the legal basis of the moratorium was stronger than other existing laws.

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