Workers load sacks of cement to be shipped to other provinces at Sunda Kelapa seaport in Jakarta on April 15, 2014. (AFP Photo/Bay Ismoyo)
Indonesia has a tremendous amount of beautiful places, but I think theyll be gone soon.
I found outin a discussion heldby the Mining Advocacy Networks (Jatam), the biggest environmental threat comes from limestone mining industry and cement factories.
Limestone is one of cement materials and produced by digging karst areas.
Karst area itself is the best groundwater depository that can store as much as 87.2 to 192 liters of water per meter cubic, making it indispensable to peoples lives. In Maros area of South Sulawesi, for example, 25 percent of residents water supply comes from the karst area.
So its not surprising when Maros and many regions including Rembang of Central Java, Trenggalek of East Java, and Kupang in East Nusa Tenggara refuse the development of cement factories in their region.
The Industry Ministry estimated Indonesias excessive supply of cement will reach 38 percent by 2018, so why do District Heads keep issuing licenses to build new cement factories and tomine karst?
Dont they know that those two damage the environment and cause social problems?
Karst mine in Karanglo Village, Tuban (Photo: doc. Wahyu Eka Setiawan)
Activist Wahyu Eka Setiawan from The Indonesian Forum for Environment (Walhi) said that cement industry has created social and environmental damage in his hometown, Tuban.
Not so long ago, our village was surrounded by lush rainforests, and now theyre gone. Water supply is increasingly depleted, bringing hardships to remaining local farmers, he said.
There are also health problems as the mining activity induces acute respiratory infections.
In 2013, there were 1,775 people who suffered from acute respiratory infections (ISPA). 2014 showed a decrease with 1,656 patients but the number increased in 2015 with a total 2,058 patients, he said.
Advocates of the industry came to the local residents, promising prosperity but the promise never comes through. What they called as benefit is not worth the damage.
And all of these dont only happen in Tuban.
In Kendeng, Rembang of Central Java, people have been protesting the development of cement factories to no positive response from the company and the government.
In Berau, East Kalimantan, a cement company is planning to open a new factory. The environmental analysis is ongoing, and trust me when the permit is released, Berau is on its way to suffering from social and environmental damage like Tuban.
A representative of Alliance of Karst-Concerning Society Sarlina said her hometown in Biduk Biduk on the east end of Berau, is facing the same threat. The area is known to have a staggering 1,2-hectare karst area, which is now being 'approached' by a cement company. The AMDAL process is ongoing, and once the permit released, almost certainly the same damage will also occur in the so called the Paradise of Borneo.
As you may have already known, Biduk Biduk is a rising star in Indonesias tourism. It boasts natural paradises which beauty equivalent to what we see in Derawan, or even in Raja Ampat, with signature places such as Labuan Cermin Lake, which water is fresh at the surface but salty at the bottom, and Sigending Island, a brackish island famous with its beautiful mangrove and coral reef.
Its really, really sad, to think what will happen to this beautiful country in the future.
(brl/red)
