Resistance to the Dirty Face of the Green Transition
YLNM Emblematic Case – Sulawesi, Indonesia
Photo: Yes to Life No to Mining and Rainforest Rescue representatives with community from Loeha Raya in South Sulawesi standing against nickel mining on their lands and waters.
The case of Sulawesi highlights how some are bearing the brunt of the ‘Green Transition’, and shows just how dirty ‘green’ can be.
In October 2023 Yes to Life No to Mining, along with Rainforest Rescue, visited the Indonesian island of Sulawesi as part of a solidarity visit to communities resisting the extraction of so-called ‘Transition Minerals’—the raw materials identified by governments and industry as ‘necessary’ for the transition to a low carbon future.
Sulawesi has been designated a global biodiversity hotspot—home to a rich ecosystem of rainforests, rivers, mountains and endemic wildlife. Pepper farming, rainforest management and fishing are common ways the local population live with and on the land. Unfortunately, the people and ecology of Sulawesi are also sitting on the world’s largest nickel reserves.
Nickel is used in stainless steel fabrication and battery manufacture. It is desired for, amongst other uses, building wind turbines and manufacturing Electric Vehicles (EVs). The Indonesian government, cashing in on the metal’s promising future, banned the export of raw nickel ore in 2020, inviting multinationals to build smelters and processing plants to convert the ore to a higher value output.
Most of these corporations—hailing from Australia, Brazil, China, and other major economies—have descended upon Sulawesi transforming Indonesia into the world’s largest nickel producer.
Across Sulawesi, 370,000 hectares are used for nickel mining and there are permits for more than 500,000 hectares.
Photo above: The beauty of Sulawesi. Heading across Lake Towuti (the second largest lake in Indonesia) to meet local community and pepper farmers of Tanamalia who are resisting Brazilian mining giant, Vale’s nickel mine. Photo below: Coal-capture power plants to power nickel smelters that are being built along the coast of Central Sulawesi on the way to the Morowali Industrial Park.
The Impacts of Nickel Mining in Sulawesi
Photo: Pepper farms in Loeha Raya, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Pepper farmers in the area employ thousands of seasonal workers through the harvesting season. However, nickel mining threatens the very existence of these pepper farms, not only risking job creation for people who need work but also the livelihoods of the pepper farmers themselves.
The effects on the local population have been devastating.
Many farmers have had their land appropriated without any notice and with little or no compensation, their pepper farms destroyed as they were held back by the police who were there to protect the interests of the companies.
Landslides and constant sediment run-off from mines have destroyed communities’ water supplies. Toxic waste from the coal-fired power plants along with mine water discharge has affected marine life, putting the livelihoods of fisherfolk at risk.
One of the biggest impacts of nickel mining is water contamination. Friends of the Earth Japan and Pacific Asia Resource Centre, along with our partners at Sulawesi Alliance, undertook water quality investigations around nickel mining projects of the company PT Vale Indonesia (subsidiary of the multinational Vale) and found high levels of Hexavalent chromium Cr(VI) – a toxic and carcinogenic heavy metal. This toxic ingredient can cause liver and skin damage, and cancer.
In Sorowako, East Luwu Regency, South Sulawesi the Lawewu River was consistently shown in this investigation to contain levels of Cr(VI) higher than both World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines and Indonesian government standards. Its presence was found both upstream – around nickel mining operations, and downstream – near where the Lawewu flows into Lake Matano, an officially recognised conservation area to be afforded high protection.
These levels are expected to increase as climate change brings more extreme weather and higher rainfalls—more rain means that more heavy metals are washed into the rivers, lakes and seas.
Also tested was the water source above the Asuli Village, in the district of Towuti – where PT Vale expanded their operations in 2017. Levels reached 0.110 mg/L, well above the recommended 0.05 mg/L by the WHO.
Villagers of Asuli report that their water has turned brown with a now unstable flow since the nickel mining has expanded.
Yes to Life No to Mining (YLNM) member, Muhammad Al Amin, Executive Director of Wahana Lingkungan Hidup Indonesia (WALHI) South Sulawesi explains how PT Vale has controlled the water in the area by building dams and taking the water to produce energy for their mining operations without care or concern for local community needs.
Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (PT. IMIP)
Morowali Industrial Park – a hellscape full of mines, smelters and processing plants, which stretches along the contaminated coast of Central Sulawesi
As we drove through what is known as ‘the world’s epicentre of nickel production’ – the Morowali Industrial Park – a hellscape full of mines, smelters and processing plants, stretching along the contaminated coast of Central Sulawesi, we were left with no doubt about what a ‘sacrifice zone’ feels like. We could feel it in our lungs and on our skin. We could smell it in the smoky air and taste it from the dusty plates (‘best if you avoid the fish’). It’s hard to imagine what it would be like to live, work and eat here every day.
But work here they do: 81,000 people are employed along this 3,000-hectare industrial area. Not only do workers have to contend with the toxic environment, there are also frequent accidents within the mines and plants due to unsafe working conditions for an un-unionised workforce.
At the end of our trip, we spoke to a former worker who was a manager for six different mining companies. He said he couldn’t cope anymore with the chaos and lack of order. This had become normal practice in an environment where a lack of order can mean danger and even death.
Not long after we left the Sualwesi, 18 workers were killed and 41 injured in a furnace explosion at a Chinese-owned nickel plant. Between 2019 and 2023 a total of 30 lives have been claimed.
Only a decade ago, Labota was a fishing village. Now coal-fired power stations, steel mills, smelters, cranes and electricity pylons dominate the landscape. Smoke and smog choke the air. It is ironic, that this is the face of ‘clean energy’.
Even ‘green energy’ is a ludicrous notion, as we watch the mountains of coal being shipped in from Kalimantan, Borneo to fuel this industrial monster. Not only is the coal burning in Sulawesi contributing directly to climate breakdown, but the devastation that coal mining brings to precious habitats and communities in Borneo is like a mirror image of what we see here.
The following video is a compilation of the mines, smelters, processing plants and polluted coastline we witnessed driving through Morowali Industrial Park.
Photo: Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (PT. IMIP), Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. Credit: Google Earth.
Defenders of Life: Women Leading the Fight Against Nickel Mining
Torobulu Community
We visit the village of Torobulu, Southeast Sulawesi and are greeted warmly by a large group of women who have organised themselves to resist an open pit nickel mine just 100 metres from their village.
PT WIN’s project (full company name: Wijaya Intan Nusantara Mining, owner: Frans Salim Kalalo), which supplies nickel ore to the automobile industry, is the cause of the contamination of Torobulu’s two water sources and rice fields, and the constant cloud of thick dust hanging over their heads and settling on their homes.
The community, along with the village and district chiefs, met with the company, who agreed to stop their activities. However, this promise was broken and on 6th November 2023 a group of residents approached the suspected unlawful activity of the mining company to question them.
Two community leaders – Ms. Haslilin (Mama Kila) and Andi Firmansyah were singled out and charged with ‘obstructing or interfering with mining operations’.
These two leaders have been consistently criminalised for their defence of the environment, human rights and the rights of their community. We interviewed Mama Killa in October 2023 about the judicial harassment she has been facing.
While speaking together her small son approaches, clearly upset. “He is traumatised”, Mama Killa explains to us. “He was there as the police detained me and took me away by force. So he is always afraid this is going to happen again, that someone will take me from him”.
After a long, arduous and uncertain wait, on 1st October 2024 the court in Andoolo, Sulawesi acquitted Mama Kila and Andi Firmansyah of all charges.
In a ruling that vindicated the actions of the Human Rights Defenders, Judge Nursinah stated that because PT WIN did not provide any Environmental Impact Assessments it was ‘only natural’ for the community to question their activities. She affirmed the community’s right to a healthy environment, and thus, their right to resist nickel mining.
Their ordeal is not over, however, as the prosecution has voiced their intention to bring the case to the Supreme Court in Jakarta.
Mama Kila’s story exemplifies the situation many women face as they stand up for the future of their children and generations to come. They face intimidation, harassment and the threat of loss of liberty for questioning a system that permits environmental devastation.
Twenty-six women in the small village of Torobulu have now had judicial warnings and the prosecution seems intent on making an example of Ms. Haslilin.
Photo: Yes to Life No to Mining and Rainforest Rescue standing in solidarity with the women in Loeha Raya resisting nickel mining.
Loeha Raya Community
PT Vale Indonesia has a concession area that they call Tanamalia Block, spanning 21,020.63 hectares. But the local population in this part of the Towuti District, East Luwu Regency, do not call their home ‘Tanamalia Block’, they call it Loeha Raya – which encompasses the villages of Loeha, Rante Angin, Masiku, Bantilang and Tokalimbo.
The main economic activity for the 3,342 people living in the area is pepper farming, with most families managing their small pepper plantations for over 40 years. And it is a prosperous living.
The existing three million pepper trees in the area produce more than 25,000 tonnes of pepper, providing a decent living for the local communities as well as 10,000 jobs for seasonal workers during cultivation and harvest.
Rainforest management is also a livelihood, as the land contains what is the last pristine rainforest in South Sulawesi.
The 13,522 hectares of rainforest, in return protects the people by providing a buffer zone against fires, regulates rainfall and climate, and is the main source of water for the Loeha Raya communities. It also houses some of the most diverse flora and fauna in the world, much of which is already under threat of extinction.
Yet it is in this rich network of ecosystems that PT Vale began expanding in early 2022. They did this without informing, consulting with or gaining consent from the pepper farmers, other agricultural workers, fishermen or their families. Not only that, but they have invited the involvement of the military and police to quench disquiet and protest.
Women in the community have formed a group called the Loeha Raya Women Fighters. These women organise their campaign to protect their air, water, land and communities from nickel mining expansion, and they were our hosts during our stay in Loeha Raya.
A Loeha Raya Women Fighters explains the issues they face against nickel mining in the protection of their forests and livelihoods through pepper farming.
Harassment, Intimidation and Criminalisation
At our farewell dinner In Loeha Raya that they put on for us, we were interrupted by an unannounced visit by the Village Chief, demanding our passports, visas and reason for being there. He had already been informed of our visit in advance, yet in the meantime other forces had impressed on him the need to withhold his welcome.
This vigilance of environmental and human rights defenders is commonplace for the communities of Loeha Raya.
The following day when we made our onward journey by boat across Lake Towuti, we were similarly welcomed by the authorities from the next village making similar demands.
Our ‘Toxic Tour’ host and YLNM member, Muhammad Al Amin, Executive Director of local NGO Walhi South Sulawesi, had previously been intimidated, with ‘Wanted’ posters up of him in the local police stations and messages that he should not return.
Yet he did return, and Walhi South Sulawesi has supported the communities at the coal face of nickel mining in writing to and reminding the Brazilian government (home of Vale), Vale shareholders, the government of Norway (via their Norges Bank Investment Management), the Indonesian government, and several international human rights bodies of the communities’ Right to Say No to the same destructive mining that they can see in PT Vale’s operating nickel mines not so far away in Sorowoko.
In a show of addressing community concerns, PT Vale contracted a supposedly independent contractor in November 2023 to carry out interviews with a small number of people from the Loeha Raya community – their version of a consultation. Yet this contractor was appointed and instructed by Vale, paid by Vale, driven around by Vale and has given their report only to Vale.
The communities have not seen the resulting report. Despite this farcical consultation and the continued and unaddressed concerns of the local communities, PT Vale’s concession has recently been reissued.
Photo: A ‘Wanted’ poster of YLNM partner Muhammad Al Amin, Director of local NGO WALHI South Sulawesi posted in police stations. He was also sent messages stating he should not return.
Strong Women-led Resistance Continues to Fight Extractivism
From our conversations with the local communities of Loeha Raya and Torobulu – where strong female-led resistance has emerged to fight the extractive invasion – it was clear why they reject mining as a viable livelihood. The contamination caused by mining is right in front of their eyes, in their bodies and surrounding waters and environment.
Mining can never be sustainable, in fact is inherently unsustainable—it extracts, pollutes, and abandons. Women are typically the most heavily affected by the impacts of extractivism.
Global networks of solidarity, like Yes to Life No to Mining, can assist communities in seeing what these companies have done elsewhere. Back in Vale’s home in Brazil, from 2015 – 2019, the company was responsible for two separate tailings dam collapses – the latest killing 272 people in Brumadinho.
Photo Top: YLNM and Rainforest Rescue standing in solidarity with women of Torobulu who are standing strong in their resistance to nickel mining on their lands and waters.
Photo Bottom: YLNM and Rainforest Rescue sitting with the women of Torobulu in their village discussing their resistance to nickel mining taking place only 100 metres from their home.
Alternatives to Nickel Mining & Extractivism
Photo: A cooperative of women called ‘Community Caring for Women’, based Tompira in Central Sulawesi produce seven different products made from the river, such as mussel sticks and other food items. Their cooperative and livelihoods are at threat because of sand mining upstream which is used in the construction of nickel mines and smelters.
We have seen in Loeha Raya how there is already an alternative to mining – pepper farming and other forms of sustainable agriculture. Or rather, it is not an alternative livelihood, it is the already existing and successful livelihood. Mining is the alternative, one that is resolutely rejected.
We spoke to an ex-mine worker in Southeast Sulawesi who told us that they are economically better off with pepper farming. Not to mention living and working in a healthier and safer environment, and, he says, with ‘a cleaner conscience’.
Former miner, Haryono, left nickel mining because of the destruction of the environment and the unsafe working conditions.
And ‘alternatives’ abound.
In Central Sulawesi, in the town of Tompira, we visited a cooperative of women producers – Community Caring for Women and Children, who produce seven different products made from the river, such as mussel sticks and other food items. The cooperative is connected to women’s cooperatives in other communities, who all trade at local markets.
However, upstream sand mining for construction of the nickel mines and smelters threatens their future. The dredging of the riverbed creates clouds of muddy water making the mussels and other fish harder to find and catch. It also changes the course and depth of the river and scrapes away habitats. As such, the number of mussels has dwindled and they have now to be sought in less accessible places.
Additionally, competition for fishing space is growing as fisherfolk are displaced from other areas where nickel mining has entered. Fishing space has also shrunk as oil palm plantation owners along the river claim the river as part of their concession and prevent fishing there.
Local democratic economies such as the one we saw in Tompira are sustainable and provide economic opportunities for local communities, especially women. However, it is becoming ever harder for these to exist alongside extractive industries such as the nickel mining industry.
This is because the effects of mining are not contained – contamination spreads through the air, the land and the water, and prevents any coexistence.
The ‘Green’ Transition is Far From Just or Green
It is clear from this Emblematic Case from Sulawesi, Indonesia that the current model for the Green Transition is far from just, and, if ‘Green’ means sustainable and ecologically sound, nor is it this.
Huge amounts of coal are being extracted and burnt to fuel the nickel mining industry, which in turn destroys ecosystems, emits huge amounts of carbon dioxide, leaves contaminated air, land and water, displaces communities and destroys their sustainable livelihoods. Anyone who stands up against this injustice is facing threats and criminalisation.
But stand up they do. The communities of Sulawesi resist against the odds, against the threat of violence or loss of liberty, against one of the largest and dirtiest industries in the world. Women are often leading the way, and it is with these women and their families that we stand in solidarity.
As a global network of communities we join together to build a future that can sustain us; a future in which we, and all the living world, can flourish.
For this, we say Yes to Life, No to Mining!
Produced by Yes To Life No to Mining 2024
Author: Lynda Sullivan
Editors: Guadalupe Rodriguez, Tom Takezoe, Nat Lowrey
Video, Photos & Multimedia Design: Nat Lowrey
Thanks to Muhammed Ali Amin, all the staff and volunteers with the Sulawesi Alliance and Rainforest Rescue.
Special Thanks to the communities of Loeha Raya, Tompira, and Torobulu in South Sulawesi for welcoming us into their communities and sharing their resistance stories.