AEER spoke at the Annual General Meeting of Rio Tinto at 11 April 2018 in London, UK, to Board of Directors and shareholder, told that companies should to stop participate in environment destruction in Mimika Coastal Area, West Papua, Indonesia that has long been affecting environmental destruction to the communities.
Pius Ginting, Coordinator of AEER mentioned condition of communities in Pasir Hitam village, a fishery communities that life coastal area and estuary around Ajwa River. A village with around 100 people inhabitants in 1970s. Since tailing had been disposed in Ajwa River Tailing Disposition Area and surrounded their coast area, majority of community had to leaved the village because to live in Pasir Hitam has been more difficult for water access, and water transportation has been obstructed to the village due to tailing sedimentation.
AEERs also demanded that company must ensure justice fulfilled for the family the late Imakulata Emakeparo that was shot dead by security forces that working for company in February 2018.
Activist from London Mining Network (LMN), Andrew Hickman also asking the responsibility of Rio Tinto on environmental destruction and human rights violations if the company pulling out from Grasberg mining.
Roger Moody, activist of LMN reminded long history of human rights violation and environmental destruction related to Grasberg-Eastberg mining, asking company apply the policy of Norway Pension Fund that has withdrew its investment in Rio Tinto due to potential prolonging environment destruction and human rights violations.
Further report from Rio Tino plc AGM, April 2018 can be be found here
From the use of electronics, electricity and telecommunications to transportation, all our infrastructure involves the use of copper. It was thanks to the use of copper that human civilization left the Stone Age and entered the Bronze Age. Initially, humans only mined copper ore when its copper content was high enough, including ‘native copper’ with 100% copper content, which produces very little mining waste. The tools were still simple, the need for copper was still relatively low, and it wasn’t efficient to mine and process ore containing low copper content.
In modern times, particularly since the discovery of electricity, advancements in mining and extraction technology have enabled copper exploitation on a massive scale. With powerful modern equipment capable of large scale exploitation, copper mining now supports many aspects of modern life. Even ore containing less than 2% copper is now mined, generating much more slurry waste per metal unit recovered, and resulting in extensive environmental damage.
Meanwhile, mining has not helped local people around the mining sites and tailings zones to modernise in terms of their housing, or supporting their healthy traditional fishing and food gathering. The community’s livelihoods at the mine site remain underdeveloped, and they live with deteriorating environmental conditions due to mine waste disposal. One of the communities experiencing severe negative impacts of mining is the coastal area of Mimika District, Papua Province, Indonesia.
This issue needs urgent public and government attention, so that the life of the local community can still develop within a healthy living environment. This report is an effort to raise public and government awareness of the lives of the local traditional communities around the tailings sites of Freeport Indonesia.
AEER spoke at the Annual General Meeting of Rio Tinto at 11 April 2018 in London, UK, to Board of Directors and shareholder, told that companies should to stop participate in environment destruction in Mimika Coastal Area, West Papua, Indonesia that has long been affecting environmental destruction to the communities.
Pius Ginting, Coordinator of AEER mentioned condition of communities in Pasir Hitam village, a fishery communities that life coastal area and estuary around Ajwa River. A village with around 100 people inhabitants in 1970s. Since tailing had been disposed in Ajwa River Tailing Disposition Area and surrounded their coast area, majority of community had to leaved the village because to live in Pasir Hitam has been more difficult for water access, and water transportation has been obstructed to the village due to tailing sedimentation.
AEERs also demanded that company must ensure justice fulfilled for the family the late Imakulata Emakeparo that was shot dead by security forces that working for company in February 2018.
Activist from London Mining Network (LMN), Andrew Hickman also asking the responsibility of Rio Tinto on environmental destruction and human rights violations if the company pulling out from Grasberg mining.
Roger Moody, activist of LMN reminded long history of human rights violation and environmental destruction related to Grasberg-Eastberg mining, asking company apply the policy of Norway Pension Fund that has withdrew its investment in Rio Tinto due to potential prolonging environment destruction and human rights violations.
Further report from Rio Tino plc AGM, April 2018 can be be found here
