Indonesian forests under threat from nickel mining
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | Jun 2024
An area larger than Singapore has already been deforested to make way for nickel mines in Indonesia with a further 0.5m hectares of forest under threat as it pursues its ambition to be the world’s hub for electric vehicle (EV) battery minerals.
According to a new 82-page report From Forests to Electric Vehicles by the US based NGO Mighty Earth and its Indonesian partner Satya Bumi reveals that the rate of forests lost to nickel mining is accelerating, with the number of deforestation alerts in mining concessions doubling between 2020 and 2023.
Indonesia is the world’s largest nickel producer – the country has one fifth of global nickel reserves, which are mostly located in the eastern provinces of Sulawesi and Maluku. The country is aiming to be one of the world’s top three producers of EV batteries by 2027.
The report says if nickel mining in Indonesia continues with status quo practices, we will continue to see environmental devastation – an unintended consequence of the long-overdue transition to EVs and the resulting spike in demand for nickel.
The lower grade nickel produced in Indonesia leads to deforestation, as new areas of critical forests are cleared by nickel strip mines.
Coal-powered nickel refinery operations in Indonesia now exceed in size all coal power plants in the entire country of Pakistan. Toxic tailing piles from these refineries are building up, and there appears to be no easy way to dispose of them either legally or sustainably. M