Ministry of Environment and Forestry lawsuit (re revocation of Dairi Prima Mineral permit, Indonesia)
Sources
Snapshot: On 22 February 2023, women farmers filed a lawsuit against the Ministry of Environment and Forestry with the State Administrative Court in Jakarta, Indonesia, challenging the environmental permit of Dairi Prima Mineral's zinc mine. They argued that the Ministry did not follow the proper procedure to conduct an environmental impact assessment. The farmers have long raised their concerns about the project's impact on their livelihoods, and the risk of structural failure of a planned tailings pond that would store toxic waste from mining activities. On 24 July 2023, the Court instructed the Ministry to revoke the environmental permit of the project. The case is ongoing.
On 12 August 2024, Indonesia’s Supreme Court ruled in favour of local communities and upheld the Administrative Court ruling. It ordered the revocation of the environmental permit for the mine. The Supreme Court found a significant lack of citizen participation in the project’s development and ruled that the environmental approval violated principles of good governance, in addition to the high disaster risk posed by the seismically active area. Ministry of Environment and Forestry has yet to comply with the order to revoke the permit.
The company announced that it will take “extraordinary legal measures”, such as a judicial review of the Supreme Court decision because there is evidence, according to the company, that the community around the mine supports the construction of the mine and its operations.