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Photos: The lives and forests bound to Indonesia’s nickel dreams

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EAST HALMAHERA, Indonesia — The dense forest near the village of Dodaga in the island district of East Halmahera means the world to Sumean Gebe, 42, who lives here with his wife and their two children. In the island’s forest, they hunt animals such as wild boar to eat, and collect damar resin to sell. “It feels comfortable living here,” he says. Sumean and his small family are among the contacted people part of the O’Hongana Manyawa Indigenous community (meaning “people of the forest”). The O’Hongana Manyawa are a nomadic hunter-gatherer tribe in Indonesia, many of whose members live in voluntary isolation. Their lives have for centuries been deeply intertwined with the tropical forests of Halmahera, and their traditions teach them not to damage it. However, the harmony of tribe and forest has been disturbed by a wave of nickel mining projects. The prized ore is destined for processing at the expansive Indonesia Weda Bay Industrial Park (IWIP), about 80 kilometers (50 miles) to the south. Tatoyo Penes, 64, and Etus Hurata, 56 (L) from the O’Hongana Manyawa tribe pose for a photo while processing material from sago palm trees with traditional tools inside a jungle in East Halmahera, North Maluku, Indonesia, on August 18, 2024. Image by Garry Lotulung. In an aerial view, the O’Hongana Manyawa tribe lives in the territory of Dodaga in a remote indigenous village in the Halmahera rainforest at East Halmahera, North Maluku, Indonesia, on August 19, 2024. Image by Garry Lotulung. They’re not alone.…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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