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Jambi hit with $1.2 billion losses caused by environmental damage in 2019
An environmental group has estimated that forest fires, illegal logging and mining activities in Jambi province throughout the year have caused environmental damage amounting to Rp 17 trillion (US$1.2 billion).
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A woman pans for gold in Batang Limun River in Sarolangun regency in 2008. Such traditional practices of gold extraction are rarely found nowadays as local miners are relying on machines to process gold more quickly.
(JP/Jon Afrizal)
A
n environmental group has estimated that forest fires, illegal logging and mining activities in Jambi province throughout the year have caused environmental damage amounting to Rp 17 trillion (US$1.2 billion).
The Warsi Indonesian Conservation Community (KKI Warsi) reveals that the figure is the accumulation of Rp 12 trillion losses from forest and peatland fires; Rp 8 billion from illegal logging; Rp 2.5 trillion from illegal gold mining; and Rp 2 trillion from unlawful drilling.
"We haven’t included the environmental destruction caused by legal activities,” KKI Warsi chairman Rudi Syaf said on Friday.
Throughout this year, there have been 30,947 hot spots recorded across 157,137 hectares in the province. Over 60 percent of which was on peatland.
"Twenty-five percent of peatland fires had a depth of more than 4 meters,” Rudi said.
In the rainy season, the hollow parts within the burned peatland turn into lakes. Rudy said that it would not be easy to replant the area as the land became barren. The land restoration would require high technology and a substantial budget, he added.
The difficult process of restoring fire-ravaged land can be seen on the Orang Kayo Hitam Forest Park located within East Tanjung Jabung and Muaro Jambi regencies. Fire destroyed 8,140 ha of the forest park in 2015, and up until now, the affected area has not been fully restored.
