HISTORY
Brawijaya University owns human resources in addressing food security through improvement of crop production and improvement of forest management in agroforestry systems. However, attention to the handle degraded lands and post mining lands is still lacking, yet the increasingly widespread land degradation due to mining activity is also an important constraint in improving food safety and security. In Indonesia, like other developing countries, small-scale mining plays an important role in the economy of the country and improvement of public welfare. However, small-scale mining can also damage the environments which in turn interfere with the safety and public health, and food security.
In an attempt to create new opportunities for sustainable development in the small-scale mining area, Brawijaya University (UB), Mataram University (UNRAM), Massey University, New Zealand, and Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China have jointly to establish the International Research Centre for the Management of Degraded and Mining Lands (IRC-MEDMIND) in mid-2011. The centre builds on the strengths of the diversity of backgrounds and disciplines of research staff of the participating institutes.
Initiation of the establishment of IRC-MEDMIND was first raised by Professor W.H. Utomo when he visited Massey University in 2008 and 2009. Preliminary activities that initiate the establishment of IRC-MEDMIND were the carrying out of three research topics funded by the Indonesian Higher Education in 2009. At the end of 2010, Professor Wani Hadi Utomo (WHU) and Eko Handayanto (EH) visited Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Science, Guiyang, China to discuss with Professor Xinbin Feng (Vice Director of the institute), on the establishment plan of an international research institute.
Efforts to strengthen the plan to establish an international research institute was also supported by the Agency for Research and Development, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources of Indonesia when WHU, EH and Prof. Chris Anderson (CA) met the Head of the agency in Jakarta in February 2011. In Augus 2011, when CA again visited UB the preliminary establishment of IRC-MEDMIND was agreed by the Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture UB and the UB Rector through the UB Rector decree Rector No. 482/SK/2011, October 7, 2011.
The first activity conducted by IRC-MEDMIND to introduce its existence was to organize the International Conference on Environmental, Socio-economic and Health Impacts of Artisanal and Small-scale Mining held at UB on 7-8 February 2012. The conference was attended by 65 participants from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Australia, India, China, and New Zealand, including several NGOs such as Balifokus, Blacksmith Institute and Tambuhak Shinta Foundation.
After long negotiation attempted by CA, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between UB, UNRAM, MU and IGCAS on the establishment of IRC-MEDMIND was signed by each institution’s head at UB on September 26, 2012,. As a continuation of the above International Conference Massey University and the Chinese Academy of Science, an International Workshop on Artisanal and Small-scale organized by IRC-MEDMIND was conducted in Lombok on 16-7 May 2013. Experts from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Indonesia Ministry of Research and Technology, Local Government, Ministry of Energy, and small-scale miners attended the workshop.