widespread deforestation in Indonesia due to a foreign-backed nickel hub - report
widespread deforestation in Indonesia due to a foreign-backed nickel hub - report
18 January 2024, 10:49 A.M.
January 18, Jakarta (Reuters) - According to a research by a non-governmental organisation, mining activity at a nickel industrial park associated with mostly Chinese corporations has led to widespread deforestation in Indonesia.
As Indonesia, which has the greatest reserves of nickel ore in the world, looks to increase the value of the mineral by drawing investment into its processing and the production of batteries for electric vehicles, the paper raises additional concerns about the ecological harm caused by the nickel sector.
A production target of about 600,000 electric vehicles (EVs) by 2030 has also been set by the nation; this is more than 100 times the number of EVs sold in Indonesia in the first half of 2023.
The Indonesia Weda Bay Industrial Park (IWIP), one of the nation's major hubs for nickel processing, and home to investors such as China's Tsingshan Holding Group and France's Eramet (ERMT.PA), was the subject of a report released on Wednesday by the U.S.-based Climate Rights International (CRI), opens new tab.
The park is run by a joint venture between Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt (603799.SS), opens new tab, Zhenshi Holding Group, and Tsingshan, located on Halmahera island in the Maluku area of China.
Reuters contacted IWIP, Tsingshan, Eramet, Huayou, Zhenshi, and the forestry ministry, but none of them responded.
According to CRI, since 2018, firms with permissions have cleared around 5,300 hectares of tropical forest inside the park's concession. The organisation and researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, in the United States, undertook a geospatial study of satellite imagery.
That is approximately equivalent to more than 6,000 soccer fields.
Experts are worried that Indonesia, a resource-rich nation with vast rainforests, may see an increase in deforestation as a result of the nickel industry.
Indonesia has been successful in reducing the rate at which forests are being removed for plantations and other industrial activities after years of widespread deforestation.
According to newly tabulated data from the study group World Resources Institute, Indonesia decreased its average primary forest loss by 64% between 2020 and 2022 as compared to the years 2015–2017.
A further estimate from CRI put the annual carbon dioxide emissions from deforestation at "roughly equivalent to the emissions of 450,000 cars."
Last year, President Joko Widodo told Reuters that Indonesia would manage nurseries and reforest depleted mines, as well as tighten oversight of miners.
Additional reporting from Siyi Liu in Beijing and Fransiska Nangoy in Jakarta, along with reporting by Stanley Widianto, were edited by Christopher Cushing.
Source reuters.com
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