Pitfalls and Pipelines - Philippine Indigenous Peoples Links

Chapter 1.3: Indigenous Peoples, Mining and Climate Change
73
Mines, especially underground mines, consume large quantities
of timber. Mining concessions were often granted related
logging concessions to supply their timber needs. Traditional
deep mines used timber for pit props, lining of tunnels and
shafts, plant construction, and for the construction of offices
and housing. Companies granted logging concessions in this
way sometimes developed into full-blown logging operations
in their own right. 10
As noted in Chapter 1.1, however, deep mining is increasingly
being superseded by larger-scale operations
based on surface mining through strip mining or open-pit
operations. 11 The extraction of the mineral requires not just
the removal and storage of the large amounts of over-burden,
but also the removal and destruction of all standing vegetation.
In Indonesia, for example, coal mining has taken place
from beneath protected forests and indigenous lands. 12 In the
Philippines, a nickel laterite mine planned by BHP Billiton
would have developed a strip mine on indigenous lands which
include some unique montane forest, in eastern Mindanao
around Pujada Bay. 13
When such mining operations are completed, forests are
unlikely to be restored. Forest is a complex ecosystem that
requires generations of development. The record of mining
companies in restoring land to even effective tree cover is at
best mixed. 14 The restoration of full forest is a long way off.
Land disturbed by mining can suffer from excessive drainage
and strong leaching of nutrients particularly in areas of high
tropical and seasonal rains. Unless companies persist over
years with the watering, maintenance and feeding of replanted
trees, even those planted tend to be stunted. Companies
may not be enthusiastic to adequately fund the challenges of
restoring rich vegetation cover, or if a project changes hands,
the new company may not inherit the responsibilities. Few
regulatory authorities are willing or able to extract maximum
restoration. Tree replanting programs tend to concentrate on
fast growing varieties limited in diversity, and often including
exotic species with their own environmental problems. 15
Where they exist, re-vegetation programs also carry potential
threats to communities. Requiring mining companies