JAKARTA, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- At least 2,000 small islands across archipelagic Indonesia may disappear sooner or later as a consequence of excessive mining and other environment-damaging activities, a senior official said on Saturday.

    "Uncontrolled mining activities continue to threaten the existence of those small islands but I wonder why nobody, including the hundreds of state and private institutes of higher leaning in the country, speaks up and does something to stop those activities," Antara news agency quoted Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Freddy Numberi as saying in Malang. East Java province.

At least 2,000 small islands across archipelagic Indonesia may disappear sooner or later as a consequence of excessive mining and other environment-damaging activities, a senior official said on Saturday.(File Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    The minister said more than 24 small islands in the country had already disappeared so far and eight of them used to be part of the Seribu (Thousand) Islands in the Jakarta Bay. Most of the islands that had vanished were uninhabited.

    To ensure the legitimacy of Indonesia's ownership over the scattered islands, he said that his ministry had conducted expeditions to inventory them, and was registering them with the United Nations in phases.

    So far, the ministry had registered a total of 4,000 islands with the United Nations and would do the same on 6,000 more in the near future.

    There are 17,504 major and smaller islands in Indonesia.