"Borneo locals win a court battle to bar a coal miner from their land" 30 January 2020

Indigenous activists in Indonesian Borneo have scored a big win in a lawsuit against a coal mining firm that sought to operate on their land.

...Indonesia's Supreme Court ruled in favor of a lawsuit that claims the permit for the mining firm, Indian-owned PT Mantimin Coal Mining (MCM) should be revoked.

The national government granted the firm a permit in December 2017.... The issuance of the permit surprised local activists as well as local government officials, who had for decades opposed mining and plantation projects in the district. Central Hulu Sungai is the sole district in the province that remains free of both coal mining and oil palm plantations.

With help from Walhi, Indonesia's largest environmental NGO, local residents took MCM and the minister of energy and mineral resources to court, arguing the permit bypassed a critical step: the environmental impact assessment, which requires local approval.

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Walhi's lawsuit argued that this regulation allowed MCM and the ministry to bypass the requirement to provide an environmental impact assessment, which the district government, standing alongside local residents, retained as its shield against unwanted companies.

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The court has ordered that PT MCM's operating permit be rescinded, but the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources has yet to do so....

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