As Librek Roha was driving to a forest farm in the heart of Indonesia’s Halmahera island, a terrible scene caught his eye. “Ahhhh,” he cried as he noticed another landslide – one that is now occurring with increasing frequency.
The once lush landscape surrounding Loja’s cocoa, nutmeg and pineapple farms has been transformed: bulldozed forests and diverted rivers now surround his green oasis, providing a stark contrast to the dusty warehouses, coal piles and silt-laden waters.
This part of Weda Bay is a global hub for nickel production, with smelters and coal-fired power plants running tirelessly to refine nickel ore for batteries and steel.
Indonesia has strengthened its ambitions to dominate the world’s nickel supply, dramatically increasing the number of smelters it has from just two a decade ago to 27 today, with another 22 planned. Last year, Indonesia supplied more than half the world’s nickel ore, essential for electric vehicle batteries, as global demand soars.
But the expansion of nickel processing facilities comes at a huge environmental cost: deforestation rates around each smelter have doubled, according to Auriga, a situation made worse by clearing rainforest to make it easier to access Indonesia’s shallow nickel deposits.
President Joko Widodo made a policy shift a decade ago, stopping sales of rough nickel deposits in favor of refining them domestically to create more jobs and drive up prices. The policy sparked a massive expansion of the nickel industry, with smelters often co-located with EV battery factories and the need for new coal-fired power plants to support industrial parks.
The environmental impacts have been enormous. Deforestation, pollution of rivers and damage to coastal ecosystems has increased, with emissions from coal-fired power plants compounding ecological damage. Villagers near the industrial zones have reported visible changes to their surroundings, including the collapse of their traditional ways of life and a decline in natural resources.
While companies like PT Indonesia Weda Bay claim environmental responsibility, local communities continue to express concern about deteriorating living conditions and unfulfilled promises of prosperity. The recent cancellation of a major nickel smelting project in Europe may signal growing global concern over the practices of Indonesia’s nickel industry.
For villagers like Roha and his fellow villagers, the reality is disappointing: “Now our water is polluted and the fish and animals we hunted are gone,” laments Abdullah Anbar, expressing a sense of loss and disillusionment from the industrial development that promised to bring prosperity.
Despite advances in cleaner nickel production technologies, challenges remain in ensuring sustainable practices across Indonesia’s expanding nickel sector.
The once lush landscape surrounding Loja’s cocoa, nutmeg and pineapple farms has been transformed: bulldozed forests and diverted rivers now surround his green oasis, providing a stark contrast to the dusty warehouses, coal piles and silt-laden waters.
This part of Weda Bay is a global hub for nickel production, with smelters and coal-fired power plants running tirelessly to refine nickel ore for batteries and steel.
Indonesia has strengthened its ambitions to dominate the world’s nickel supply, dramatically increasing the number of smelters it has from just two a decade ago to 27 today, with another 22 planned. Last year, Indonesia supplied more than half the world’s nickel ore, essential for electric vehicle batteries, as global demand soars.
But the expansion of nickel processing facilities comes at a huge environmental cost: deforestation rates around each smelter have doubled, according to Auriga, a situation made worse by clearing rainforest to make it easier to access Indonesia’s shallow nickel deposits.
President Joko Widodo made a policy shift a decade ago, stopping sales of rough nickel deposits in favor of refining them domestically to create more jobs and drive up prices. The policy sparked a massive expansion of the nickel industry, with smelters often co-located with EV battery factories and the need for new coal-fired power plants to support industrial parks.
The environmental impacts have been enormous. Deforestation, pollution of rivers and damage to coastal ecosystems has increased, with emissions from coal-fired power plants compounding ecological damage. Villagers near the industrial zones have reported visible changes to their surroundings, including the collapse of their traditional ways of life and a decline in natural resources.
While companies like PT Indonesia Weda Bay claim environmental responsibility, local communities continue to express concern about deteriorating living conditions and unfulfilled promises of prosperity. The recent cancellation of a major nickel smelting project in Europe may signal growing global concern over the practices of Indonesia’s nickel industry.
For villagers like Roha and his fellow villagers, the reality is disappointing: “Now our water is polluted and the fish and animals we hunted are gone,” laments Abdullah Anbar, expressing a sense of loss and disillusionment from the industrial development that promised to bring prosperity.
Despite advances in cleaner nickel production technologies, challenges remain in ensuring sustainable practices across Indonesia’s expanding nickel sector.
