An environmental activist warned recently that Rivers in East Kalimantan are threatened by the growing coal mining industry.

The Mining Advocacy Network, an NGO in the province said 27 branch rivers have disappeared, either buried or diverted in the interest of the coal mining industry. As a result, major rivers such as Mahakam River have been polluted and local residents have increasingly lost natural freshwater sources.

Mr Kahar Al Bahri Jatam coordinator said “Mining activities have many impacts. Our records show 27 tributaries of main rivers are now gone because of mining interests. Water quality is degrading and ultimately that reduces food production.”

Mr Kahar also said mining excavations have left large holes that in the last two years have caused accidents killing at least 13 people in Kutai Kartanegara and Samarinda districts.

He said that “Nearly all mining firms in East Kalimantan failed to do proper land restorations after their excavations, which poses a danger since the holes are located near residential areas in Kutai Kartanegara and Samarinda.”

He added that mining companies avoided reclamation projects to cover the holes, because land restoration can be expensive. To make matters worse, authorities only have a few inspectors to supervise 1,271 mining firms in the province.

Mr Kahar said “Even if some companies agreed to do the reclamation, it only covered 5% of the damaged areas. A major firm like KPC which has exploited 5,000 hectares of land for mining, only restored a tiny area of 300 hectares.”

According to Jatam mining licenses in the province cover a total of 5.6 million hectares. The 30 companies with licenses from Jakarta control 1.3 million hectares, while companies with licenses from local governments occupy the rest of the land. Meanwhile, the provincial government has claimed that land restoration has reached 80% of the mining sites and that a moratorium on mining licenses has been imposed.

(Sourced from www.thejakartaglobe.com)