Mining to take place in Indonesia’s protected rainforest
The Indonesian rainforest (Bali)
The Indonesian rainforest’s only problem isn’t just fires anymore.
Underground mining will soon be allowed in protected areas of the Indonesian rainforest, courtesy of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s new regulations. These will also permit the abuse of protected forests by power plants and toll roads (and the various forms of transportation that will use them.)
See, the government claims that the companies that will be penetrating the forests will have to meet strict criteria prior to beginning their underground mining.
“The regulation will only allow mining activities to operate under the forest areas. So this is not for open mining and hopefully will only bring a minimum impact to the ecosystem in protected forests,” said Zulkifli, adding that the regulation will be implemented soon.
But we all know that this is crap and the habitat of myriad species in the Indonesian rainforest is consequently now in great peril.
He said the regulation would oblige companies to provide lands in exchange for their mining areas and strictly prohibited them from damaging the forests above ground.
“Because of the lack of regulations, most of the areas were being exploited without considering reforestation,” he said. “In addition, they will be obliged to pay taxes for operating mines under the protected forest.”
But how can you “minimize damage to the environment” when the mere presence of humans in rainforests and other wildlife areas are known to cause high mortality rates in certain species of birds?
The species adversely affected by human infringement in their habitat – in the form of noise, light, hunting, and so forth – includes sea turtles, dolphins, dingoes, penguins, mountain gorillas, and polar bears, among numerous other species.
Facilitated access to the Indonesian rainforest will probably encourage poaching and illegal trade of animals and animal parts, a problem all too common in Southeast Asia.
Rainforest in Puncak
If even ecotourism can have dire effects on natural ecosystems, how could the atrocious consequences of underground mining in the Indonesian rainforest ever be prevented?
