Ecological Impacts and Socio-Legal Infrastructure as an Approach to Environmental Management in Ex-Mining Land Reclamation

Abstract

Mining, along with plantations, is one of the main economic backbones of the Indonesian provinces of Kalimantan. The main concern of extractive economics is deforestation and environmental damage that threatens natural sustainability. Most of the previous research focused on the issue of environmental sustainability in the industrial context and regional spatial planning. To fill this void, this study originally aims to analyze how local wisdom is useful in managing ex-mining reclamation practices. This research was conducted in Margahayu, Kutai Kertanegara, East Kalimantan Province. The method used in this research is empirical legal research by adopting a data-based approach. The results show that ex-mining reclamation in Margahayu aims to restore the land use according to its function and is beneficial for agriculture and small-scale plantations. The findings underline that the participation of local communities is very useful in restoring the function of the ex-mining land, due to their interest in rehabilitating spatial planning and ecological supports that are useful for their livelihoods. In this context, this finding requires inclusion of local interest-based participation as an important social infrastructure in reforestation and mine land reclamation in Kalimantan.