SEAMEO BIOTROP hosted the kick off meeting with Global Innovation Initiative (GII) and British Council on “Establishing a network of research excellence for mine reclamation in Southeast Asia” and back-to-back with the workshop on “Mine reclamation and Mine Water Management-Best Practices in the United Kingdom and Indonesia” on 27-29 April 2015.
In his welcome address, BIOTROP Director Dr Irdika Mansur thanked Prof Morag McDonald, Bangor University, UK, the Coordinator of Global Innovation Initiative Consortium for inviting BIOTROP to be one of the partners in proposing collaboration under GII and coordinating the preparation of the proposal for funding.
On behalf of the Indonesia research partner-institutions, Prof Rudi Sayoga Gautama from the Faculty of Mining Engineering of the Institut Technology Bandung (ITB), said in his remarks that mining industry is one of important industries in Indonesia. Indonesia is considered a younger country in the mining industry compared to UK, US or other parts of the world. However, Indonesia is now one of the biggest coal exporters of the world and thus should be ready to prepare the best strategy for facing the major environmental problems caused by mining activities.
Mr. Ahmad Syarief, representing the management of PT. Bukit Asam (PTBA), delivered his remarks which highlighted their experience in preparing for the agro forestry system in their final dumping site within the framework of Creating Shared Value (CSV) to empower surrounding communities of Tanjung Enim. He also added that PTBA has collaborated with BIOTROP since 2011 to do research in Tanjung Enim on post mining rehabilitation. For this meeting and workshop, PTBA delivered short presentation about the implementation and constraints in waste and water management.
In opening the meeting, Prof Morag McDonald emphasized that these back-to-back activities were aimed to start the project on mine reclamation research by involving together all the expertise in Indonesia, UK and US and to create the network among themto share learning from their respective countries .
The outputs of the meeting-workshop were to finalize the project work plan especially in terms of the number of staff and student exchanges to and from the UK, US, and Indonesia, the specific topics for student projects to be included, kinds of training to be conducted, and the timetable of activities.
The workshop participants were divided into two groups to discuss and finalize the research project strategies. The first group, which discussed mine water remediation, was consisted of Dr William Perkins (Aberystwyth University), Dr Graham Bird (Bangor University), Prof Rudy Sayoga, Prof Anas Fauzi (Institut Pertanian Bogor), Dr Tri Retnoningsih (Universitas Diponegoro) and PTBA representative. The second group, which tackled coal mine waste remediation, was composed of Prof Morag McDonald, Dr Paula Roberts (Bangor University), Dr Irdika Mansur, Dr Didik Suprayoga (Brawijaya University) and PTBA representative.
These activities were funded by the GII Consortium as a joint collaboration between the UK and US Governments through the UK Department of Business Innovation and Skills, British Council, and US Department of Trade.
