An estimated 721,000 hectares of forest was cleared for mining in Indonesia between 2001 and 2023, including 150,000 ha of primary forest, an analysis has found.

The extraction of coal, gold, nickel, and other rare metals has growingly fuelled deforestation and habitat degradation across the country, said deforestation monitoring platform The TreeMap.

The company used high-resolution satellite imagery to quantify the nature impacts of Indonesia’s mining industry as of Dec. 2023.

“Our data shows that deforestation associated with mines has been increasing, occurring in previously untouched areas in remote islands of eastern Indonesia,” said The TreeMap’s analysis.

On average, 6,500 ha of primary forest were cleared annually. While the analysis showed a peak in 2013, mining-driven deforestation rates have picked up again in recent years.

By 2023, mining activities resulted in an annual loss of 10,000 ha of primary forest, a threefold increase compared to the start of the millennium.

Coal mining made up the bulk of overall impacts, covering an estimated 322,000 ha, followed by gold (149,000 ha), tin (87,000 ha), nickel (56,000 ha), and bauxite (16,000 ha).

KEY DRIVERS

The mining sector is a major contributor to deforestation in Indonesia, along with the palm oil and pulp sectors.

A separate study published in January, based on The TreeMap’s data, revealed that pulp led to a fivefold growth in deforestation in 2022 compared with 2017 levels.

“Deforestation and related habitat loss due to mining and its associated developments contribute to carbon emissions, disrupt ecosystems, and threaten many critically endangered species,” said The TreeMap.

“Mining operations also contaminate vital water sources for local communities and disrupt fisheries, affecting livelihoods.”

Mining companies have come under increasing pressure for their impacts on nature, with some firms mulling engaging in the emerging biodiversity credit market to make nature positive claims, as experts have pointed out offsetting is not a long-term sustainable solution to compensating for the sector’s environmental impacts.

In April, a study led by researchers from the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research, the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, and the US-based non-profit conservation organisation Rewild, found that mining companies’ impacts on ecosystems and wildlife at a global level could be much higher than previously estimated.

By Sergio Colombo – sergio@carbon-pulse.com

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