JAKARTA — A massive nickel mining and processing project on the Indonesian island of Halmahera has cleared thousands of hectares of forest, forcefully displaced local people, and polluted the rivers and sea, devastating the lives of many Indigenous people in the process, a new report says. Climate Rights International (CRI), a U.S.-based nonprofit, interviewed 45 people living near the mining and smelting operations at the Indonesia Weda Bay Industrial Park (IWIP) for the report. Some, like Maklon Lobe, an Indigenous Sawai farmer, complained of their rights being violated from the very beginning, during the land acquisition process. Others told CRI they weren’t informed about the purpose of land acquisition or given any details of the project by any of the mining or smelting companies now operating in the park. This violates legal requirements that companies acquire the free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) of affected communities prior to the approval of any project, according to CRI researcher Krista Shennum. “Locals say their lands have been grabbed. They’re unable to negotiate land price, and they’re intimidated by police to sell their lands,” she said at the launch of the report in Jakarta on January 17, 2024. Land acquisition was just one of the problem areas reported by locals in CRI’s report. They also complained of the deforestation of their traditional hunting grounds, the pollution of the rivers on which they depend for water, and the discharge of hot water directly into the sea, killing the fish they eat. Map of Indonesia.…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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