LELILEH SAWAII, Indonesia — As he walked up the rough road to his forest farm on Indonesia’s Halmahera island, Librek Roha let out a cry of disappointment. “Adoo,” he said in a hushed voice.
“Another landslide. It happens all the time now.”
Landslides beneath Loja’s cocoa, nutmeg and pineapple fields have exposed more of the rocky orange soil. Miles of forest and rivers have been bulldozed, leaving farms as islands of green amid red-brown soil. Where trees once thrived, there are now dusty warehouses, piles of black coal and brown, silty waters.
This area of Weda Bay is now one of the world’s largest nickel-producing facilities, with smelters and multiple coal-fired power plants burning tirelessly to smelt nickel ore for use in batteries and steel.
Indonesia is trying to dominate the world’s nickel supply, and it’s succeeding. The country has gone from two nickel smelters over the past decade to 27, with 22 more planned, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights. Last year, it accounted for more than half of the world’s nickel ore supply. Nickel was once used mainly to make stainless steel, but demand is now surging as automakers such as Tesla need it for electric vehicle batteries and companies that make large batteries need it for clean-power projects.
But where developers build these giant nickel processing plants, surrounding forests are disappearing twice as fast, according to a new analysis by Indonesian nonprofit Auriga.
Indonesia has the world’s largest nickel reserves. Until recently, the country mainly sold its raw deposits of nickel ore – it didn’t have the processing plants to refine the metal.
Then, a decade ago, Indonesian authorities decided they should stop selling their resources so cheaply and refine them instead to create jobs and get higher prices. This resulted in large-scale nickel production, and President Joko Widodo stepped up the plan by co-locating a nickel smelter with an EV battery factory.
In addition to the new smelters, coal-fired power plants are springing up to power miles of new industrial parks. Surrounding villages endure periodic blackouts but still have a view of the brightly lit nickel plants.
Indonesia’s nickel ore is found in shallow deposits and can be easily extracted once the rainforest is cleared.
A new analysis of rainforest loss based on government data found that deforestation around each smelter has increased from an average of 33 square kilometers (about 13 square miles) to 63 square kilometers (about 24.5 square miles).If all 22 new plants are built, deforestation could increase dramatically.
“The damage to the environment has been devastating,” said Auriga chairman Timah Manulungu. “Deforestation has increased significantly…rivers have been polluted, mangroves have been cut down to develop the smelter, and coastal areas and coral have been damaged by the smelter.”
Waste from coal-fired power plants is another issue, he said.The Associated Press reviewed the methodology used in Auriga’s report.
A vast tropical archipelago, Indonesia is the world’s third most rainforested country and is home to giant forest flowers as well as endangered orangutans and elephants.
According to Global Forest Watch, since 1950, 740,000 square kilometers (more than 285,000 square miles) of Indonesia’s rainforest — an area twice the size of Germany — has been cut down, burned or degraded.
Deforestation and its effects are evident in Lelilehu Sawai village, surrounded by the Weda Bay Industrial Estate. Farmer Loha continues to resist, refusing to sell the land he has tended for 40 years. Orange powder now often covers his plants, clean water is scarce and his plants are growing more slowly, he says.
From his land, he can hear construction and see bright orange sediment washing into the ocean, and studies have shown that landslides are much more likely in deforested areas.
Max Sigolo, 54, a traditional hunter and farmer, agreed. The bright lights and noise of the construction work scare away the deer he hunts at night, and he said he has lost much of his previous income since the industrial park expansion.
Abdullah Anbar, 61, said he could no longer fish because the waters near the project had become so murky that there were no fish left.
PT Indonesia Weda Bay officials declined to be interviewed by The Associated Press, but the company said in a statement that it had planted new trees over an area of more than 10 square kilometers (about four square miles). The company said it plays an active role in supporting local living standards and economic development, and that the industrial zone meets all environmental standards. It said it was working to protect water quality and had begun a program of coral and mangrove planting.
Complaints from villagers at the Weda Bay project are similar to those from communities near other smelters across Indonesia, including a controversial industrial park in Borneo and other projects in North Maluku.
Perhaps related to these complaints, interest in Indonesian nickel may be waning among some European companies.
French mining company Eramet and German chemical giant BASF both said in recent weeks they were canceling plans to build a $2.6 billion nickel refinery. Eramet gave no reason, but BASF cited changes in the global nickel market. The announcements came shortly after The Associated Press contacted them about the story.
Indonesia is courting Tesla, which uses twice as much of the metal as the second-largest automaker by battery volume. The company’s nickel use rose by a third in 2023 from 2018. Indonesia was mentioned 18 times in the 2023 impact report, warning that the country’s nickel will be crucial after only 13% came from Indonesia last year.
Tesla did not respond to emailed questions asking about its use of Indonesian nickel and deforestation.
Indonesia’s Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Investment and Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources did not respond to questions.
Nickel production doesn’t have to be dirty work. Using clean energy instead of coal goes a long way to cleaning up the air around nickel plants; the cleanest operations have emissions well below the industry average, according to a report last year by the nonprofit group Transportation and Environment. Automakers can also do more to monitor nickel sources, including using satellites, and ban the use of nickel from deforested areas.
But for villagers like Roha, Sigolo and Amber, the prosperity they believed was coming never arrived.
“Now our water is polluted and there are no fish or animals for us to hunt,” Amber said. “Where is the better life we were promised?”
___
Davie reported from London and Fassett reported from San Francisco. Associated Press photographer Ahmad Ibrahim contributed to this report.
___
Associated Press climate and environment coverage receives financial support from several private foundations. The AP is solely responsible for all content. See AP’s philanthropic engagement criteria, a list of supporters and funded areas of coverage on AP.org.
