The habitats of endemic species in Nantu natural reserve in Gorontalo regency, Sulawesi, are encircled by at least 20 illegal gold mining sites, with illegal gold mining operations entering deeper into forest areas.
Nantu nature reserve head Muchtar Maksum, from the Gorontalo Natural Resource Conservation Agency (BKSDA), said illegal gold mining operations in the conservation areas had taken place for some time. It was estimated that more than 500 people had conducted mining activities at each site, he said.
Muchtar said the mining activities had affected the survival of animal species in Nantu nature reserve, such as Heck’s macaque, a macaque of the Sulawesi Island; Anoa, or midget buffalo; and Buru babirusa.
Water in the Nantu River has long turned brown due to the excessive use of alcon pipelines that gold miners have often used to scrape mountains to seek gold. Many giant trees aged hundreds of years have fell due to unstable land structures caused by illegal mining activities.
Water has been heavily polluted by mine effluent discharged from the mining activities while at the same time, endemic animal species in forest areas have been excessively hunted. Buru babirusa and Anoa, for instance, have been hunted for consumption in a particular period such as ahead of Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
Photo: Wikipedia ( Midget Buffalo / Lowland Anoa)
Unclear forest borders aggravate the situation as the nature reserve area that has 35 bird species has been expanded to 51,507 square meters from 31,215 based on Forestry Minister Regulation No.325/2010.
“Many gold miners have claimed their mining areas are located outside the conservation areas,” said Muchtar. (ebf)
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