The Paradox of Small-Scale Gold Mining and Sustainable Development: An Analysis of GRDP, Poverty, and Environmental Quality Index in West Lombok Regency

Abstract

Small-scale mining activities are one of the growing economic activities in West Lombok Regency and have the potential to contribute to the socio-economic conditions of the community. This study aims to analyze the relationship between the contribution of the mining sector to the Regional Domestic Product (RDP) and the poverty rate as well as the Environmental Quality Index (EQI). The study uses a quantitative approach with simple linear regression analysis of secondary data for the 2019-2023 period sourced from the Central Statistics Agency and the Ministry of Environment and Forestry. The results show that the contribution of the mining sector to GRDP is relatively small, ranging from 2.01% to 2.08% of the total regional economy. The analysis results show that the contribution of the mining sector has a strong relationship with the poverty rate with a coefficient of determination value of R² = 0.8897 (≈0.8), indicating that an increase in mining activity is associated with a decrease in the poverty rate. This condition is related to the involvement of local communities in mining activities as a source of livelihood. Meanwhile, the relationship between the contribution of the mining sector and the quality of the environment shows a relatively weak relationship with an R² value of 0.2108 (≈0.2). This indicates that changes in environmental quality are not only influenced by mining activities but also by various other environmental factors.