KKP: Mining Activities Are Prohibited On Small Islands

The natural resources of Piaynemo Island in Raja Ampat Regency, Southwest Papua, Saturday 7 June 2025. (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) said mining activities on small islands are prohibited if they have an impact on the environment and society.

"Indeed, small islands should not actually be carried out by mining if they have an ecological impact," said KKP's Director of Coasts and Small Islands Ahmad Aris in a discussion that was followed online in Jakarta, Thursday, June 12, which was confiscated by Antara.

This is also in accordance with the Constitutional Court's Decision Number 35/PUU-XXI/2023, which states that mineral mining in these areas can cause irreversible damage, violating the principles of environmental hazard prevention and intergenerational justice.

Aris said, related to the nickel mining case in Raja Ampat Regency, Southwest Papua, all of them entered the island very small or known as micro-islands. An island is categorized as very small when it has an area of under 100 square kilometers or 10 thousand hectares.

The very small island itself has been regulated in the Regulation of the Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries Number 10 of 2024 concerning the Utilization of Small Islands and Around Waters.

The ban on mining activities for islands with an area of less than 10 thousand hectares is one of them because any activity carried out on the island will have an impact on the sea, given its very small area.

"So activities that are exploitative in nature, change the landscape, it should not be done because it will definitely have an impact on the sea," he said.

On the occasion, he said the KKP had the authority to grant permits for foreign investment and recommendations for domestic investment for the use of small islands only for other areas of use (APL). Meanwhile, forest areas are under the Ministry of Forestry (Kemenhut).