VAST expanses of dried-out fields overgrown with wild grass have become a common sight around Lantari village in the district of Lantari Jaya which is located in Bombana regency, Southeast Sulawesi. Several water pumps that were in the past donated by the Australian government lie heaped up along the edge of the empty fields.

The village which lies only 8 kilometers from the gold mining operations was the first victim of the environmental destru