SORE Sustainable Oversight for Resource Extraction

About

We are from here, and we have worked in this industry

We were born and raised in South Sumatra, on top of the coal, and we have worked inside the industry rather than watched it from outside. We started here because it is where the coal is and because it is home, which means we already know how the sector operates, who makes the decisions, and which of the numbers behind those decisions have actually been measured. The foundation exists because we kept watching serious plans for what comes after coal get built on quantities nobody had checked, and we were in a position to go and check them.

There is an asymmetry here that we want to name. Reporting flows upward: production, reclamation and compliance figures go to the ministry in Jakarta. The consequences, good and bad, stay where we live. When something goes wrong it is the district office that people walk into, and the officials at that counter are rarely holding the evidence they would need to answer. We are not against mining. Too many livelihoods in this province depend on it for that to be a serious position, and several of us have made our own living in it. What we want is for the province to hold its own evidence, so that the conversation about what happens here can be had here.

South Sumatra holds the second largest coal resources in Indonesia, produces roughly 15 per cent of national output, and has drawn about 7 per cent of its regional economy from the sector over the last decade. Decisions being made now will shape what the province lives on when that changes.

Yayasan Solusi Riset Edukasi is an independent research foundation, established in Palembang in September 2025 and governed by the three organs Indonesian law requires of a yayasan.

We exist so that the places living with extraction hold their own evidence about it. We measure what happens to land, revenue and people here, publish it where anyone can check it, and teach the methods so the capacity stays in the region.

How the three departments fit together

The foundation runs three departments. They are not three separate ambitions; they are one sequence. Produce the evidence, publish it so it becomes citable and others can build on it, and teach the methods so the capacity stays in the region.

Department one

Research & Study Centre Active

Working under the name Sustainable Oversight for Resource Extraction. Independent studies, mapping and policy analysis on extraction and post-extraction land. This is where our published work comes from today.

What the programme covers

Department two

Journal & Publisher In preparation

An open-access journal and publishing arm for students and lecturers writing on resources and mining. In a province where the sector dominates the economy, local researchers have very little space to publish on it. We intend to be that space: free to read, free to publish in, and edited to a standard that makes the work citable.

The journal is at the idea stage. It has no name, no ISSN registration and no hosting arrangement yet, and we would rather say that than imply a launch date we cannot keep.

Department three

Education & Training Planned

Training in research methods, data analysis and scientific writing for students and early-career researchers in the region.

The training itself is free. Certification, for those who want a credential to show for it, is paid, and that income goes back into running the training.

The five-year plan

We publish our roadmap because a young organisation should be judged on whether it does what it said it would. This is the plan the board adopted at founding.

  1. Year one: legality and first outputs

    Establish the foundation, stand up this website, register ISSN and ISBN, complete a first desk study on the effect of mining on the regional economy and environment, and run a first workshop.

  2. Year two: publication and first partnerships

    Regular journal issues with external editors and reviewers, a first digital book, collaborative research with a university, and a policy brief prepared with regional government.

  3. Year three: accreditation and collaborative research

    Journal registration with SINTA, research on carbon services, social forestry and the use of AI in environmental analysis, and certified training for students and recent graduates.

  4. Year four: expansion and social impact

    An open public research database, work on ecosystem restoration concessions and post-mining land, open-access datasets, and a national seminar.

  5. Year five: consolidation

    International indexing for the journal, comprehensive research on green energy and public policy, and a research-based carbon offset model ready to be adopted.

We are early. The foundation was registered in September 2025 and this is the beginning of year one. We would rather show the plan and be held to it than present ourselves as further along than we are.