Environment Degradation, Health Threats, and Legality at the Artisanal Small-Scale Gold Mining Sites in Indonesia

Ami A. Meutia (), Dianto Bachriadi and Nurfitri Abdul Gafur
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Ami A. Meutia: Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, 457-4 Motoyama, Kamigamo, Kita-ku, Kyoto 603-8047, Japan
Dianto Bachriadi: Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, 457-4 Motoyama, Kamigamo, Kita-ku, Kyoto 603-8047, Japan
Nurfitri Abdul Gafur: Research Center for Environmental and Clean Technology, National Research and Innovation Agency, Building 820 Geostech, South Tangerang 15341, Banten, Indonesia

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 18, 1-26

Abstract: Artisanal Small-scale Gold Mining (ASGM) activities, despite offering numerous economic incentives, inflict negative impacts on the environment and public health due to the use of mercury or cyanide. This study aims to compare three ASGM locations in Indonesia in terms of environmental impacts and potential health problems in the community. As part of this research, field surveys at three ASGM illegal locations with different conditions, observations, literature studies, and interviews with the community and stakeholders were conducted. At each of the survey sites, the potential threat to public health due to the use of mercury was determined to be high. Additionally, many of the environmental impacts detected were deemed to have reached a high-alert stage, in some cases even posing a level of extreme danger. Based on these results, it has become clear that a form of mining management which reduces the negative impacts on the surrounding environment and community health is needed. The suggestions put forward in this paper, including the call for greater control of ASGM, may also be applied in other developing countries which suffer from similar problems and conditions.

Keywords: ASGM; gold mining; Indonesia; environmental degradation; health threats; legality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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