Jurnal: Grim Portraits of Bangka Belitung Tin Mining

Demanding global, national and local responsibility to restore Bangka Belitung island following negative tin mining impacts.


A publication by Friends of The Earth Indonesia 2014
Wahana Lingkungan Hidup Indonesia (WALHI)
in collaboration with Friends of the Earth Netherlands (Milieudefensie)

Written by Pius Ginting, Ratno Budi, Khalisah Khalid,
Edited by Evert Hassink and Iris Maher

Unduh Milieudefensie Rapport WALHI J-LR PDF

WALHI Report: Consequences of Tin Mining in Indonesia still Dramatic for People and Nature

AMSTERDAM, 11 November 2014 – A report by Friends of the Earth Indonesia (WALHI) and its Dutch affiliate Friends of the Earth Netherlands (Milieudefensie) shows that companies producing mobile phones, tablets and laptops, are using tin that is mined at the expense of people and nature. The report, named ‘Grim Portraits of Bangka Belitung Tin Mining’, describes how tin mining in Bangka and Belitung is continuously causing victims among the local inhabitants. Subsidence, radioactive dust and malaria take their toll in the archipelago, and the environmental damage is growing by the day. One positive note is that after several campaigns by Friends of the Earth, many manufacturers of smartphones and laptops have now joined a project by the Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH) that aims to make tin mining less harmful.

Radioactivity, occupational accidents and environmental damage

The radioactive dust that is released during the extraction of tin causes an increasing number of cases of lung cancer. Radiation levels in Bangka and Belitung are three to five times the normal rate. This radioactivity is mainly caused by the extraction of tin. Furthermore, an average of one victim a week is made by tin mining on the island of Bangka. Friends of the Earth Indonesia is registering the cases that are reported in the media – more than twenty in the first six months of 2014. Less visible are the victims that are made by malarial mosquitoes that thrive on the mudflats and lakes that remain after tin mining. As Pius Ginting, campaigner mining and energy of Wahli, says: “It is statutory that used tin mines be filled up, but this hardly ever happens – what is left is a wasteland and it is a crime in itself that this is not being acted against.”

Destruction of nature

After decades of intensive tin mining, the Bangka and Belitung tin resources are becoming exhausted. The mining companies are now extracting tin from protected forests on a large scale, as it appears from the Friends of the Earth inventory. Approaching from the sea, they are dredging complete mangrove woods in search of the precious metal. A little further at sea, coral reefs are being destroyed by tin-dredgers. Half of the coral is now destroyed, causing dramatic consequences for the fish stocks and local fishermen.

Lack of sustainability is killing local economy

The speed in which Indonesian tin resources are being exploited (one third of the world’s tin production is from Bangka and Belitung) is turning large parts of the islands into a moonscape. Croplands are being excavated, rivers and groundwater have become unfit for agriculture, and therefore local farmers are forced to go into tin mining as well. As a result, agriculture is pining as tin resources are running out as well. The local inhabitants will be left empty-handed. Ginting: “In this part of the world, the exploitation of people an nature has become a necessity in order to support the lifestyle of the prosperous part of this planet – even children are being used to supply the world with cheap tin.” Ginting is travelling through Europe. Today and tomorrow he will be in The Netherlands.

Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH)

Over the past year, Friends of the Earth and electronics multinationals like Apple, Samsung, Sony and Microsoft have been discussing ways to be able to work more sustainably in Bangka. This week, the contracts for the next phase have been signed. As Evert Hassink, campaign leader Resources, says: “We are pleased that after all the talking, now finally something is actually being done on the island of Bangka. Now, local companies in Bangka can make arrangements with IDH about the delivery of more responsibly extracted tin. That is an important, and possibly unique, step and will hopefully set an example that will be followed elsewhere.”

Note:
For the printed report, royalty-free photographs and video materials, and interviews with Pius Ginting (Walhi) and Evert Hassink (Milieudefensie, +31 6 51 080 994), contact Friends of the Earth Netherlands’ Press Office: +31 20 550 73 33 or persvoorlichting[at]milieudefensie.nl