Forest Rehabilitation of Post-Mining Areas: Mitigating the Ecological and Socio-Economic Impacts of Mining

Coal mining is a major economic driver of environmental change in Indonesia. Total production has tripled over the last decade, making Indonesia the world’s largest producer of thermal coal. Kalimantan is the largest source of Indonesia’s coal, with millions of hectares of mining concessions having been granted to small, medium, and large-sized companies. Indonesian government regulations require that the mining companies set aside a reclamation guarantee and engage in progressive reclamation and re-vegetation in order to return the environmental, social, economic, and cultural functions of the ex-mined sites. However, for a number of reasons, related to both limitations of technical knowledge and poor government oversight, successful reclamation remains quite rare in the country. Mining is therefore having an increasingly negative impact on the region in terms of deforestation, water and air pollution, flooding, loss of biodiversity, and numerous social conflicts, due to a lack of effective mitigation.

As part of their efforts to address these challenges, ELTI, UNLAM, and JBG have come together to organize an international seminar and field training. The seminar (see www.fahutanunlam.com for additional information), which will be held on September 15 & 16, is intended to bring together experts and practitioners from Indonesia and abroad to provide guidance to mining companies, decision makers, and other stakeholders on how best to achieve the objectives of restoring the ex-mining sites in Kalimantan specifically and Indonesia more generally. The field training, which will be immediately following the seminar, will provide participants with a more grounded and hands on approach to conduct forest rehabilitation in post-mining areas.