Govt to Restore 7,000-Hectare Former Mining Areas in 2019
Indonesian Government targeted a 7,000-hectare mine reclamation in 2019 to restore former mining areas.
“Mine reclamation activities have increased in the last 5 years. In 2018, the reclamation area covered a 6,950-hectare land or increased from 6,597-hectare land in 2014. The figure is expected to reach more than 7,000-hectare land in 2019,” Secretary-General of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Ego Syahrial, said after signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources and Ministry of Environment and Forestry during the National Coordination Meeting on Forest Reclamation and Watershed Rehabilitation in Jakarta, Tuesday (23/4).
The Secretary-General stated that the Government had issued Government Regulation Number 78 of 2010 on Post-Mining Reclamation and Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Regulation Number 26 of 2018 on the Implementation of Good Mining Principles and Mineral and Coal Mining Supervision.
According to Ego, post-mining activities aim to recover the environment and social aspect after the end of mining operations that focus mainly on the community’s socio-economic sustainability.
“Mining activities do not only bring economic benefits but also have an impact on the environment that need to be minimized by implementing several efforts. The efforts include a reclamation after mining activities. This should become our focus,” he said.
Ego further said that another aim of the reclamation, besides to prevent erosion or reduce the volume of runoff water, is to make the land more stable and productive.
He said that the post-mining reclamation is compulsory for the holder of mining business permit. The permit holder is obliged to fulfill the obligation of reclamation and post-mining activities.
“Reclamation activities are expected to bring added value for the environment and improve land condition compared to that before mining activities,” Ego said.
On the same occasion, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry Bambang Hendroyono said that forest reclamation and watersheds rehabilitation are part of the efforts to rehabilitate forests and lands.
“Forest reclamation must be carried out by holders of borrow-to-use forestry permit in affected forest areas (on-site). Meanwhile, the watershed rehabilitation obligation is carried out through tree planting on the location of critical land both inside and outside the forest area located outside the permit area (off-site),” Bambang said.
According to him, the effort to restore watersheds through the Forest and Land Rehabilitation program in 2019 is one of National Priority programs that requires concrete success at the site level. The Government has predicted that the Forest Reclamation and Watershed Rehabilitation activities can be carried out on time and in accordance with the provisions of laws and regulations. (Public Relations of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources/ ES)
Translated by : Fairuzzamani Inayatillah
Edited by : Rany A. Subachrum, Mia M. Bonaedy
