Three machete-wielding women guard their mining on a hill on the Indonesian island of Wawonii, their blades pointed at miners working below, in an area deforested by the nickel rush.
“I pointed the machete at their faces. I told them: if you touch this land, heads will roll, we will defend this land until the death,” says Royani, a 42-year-old villager, recounting a recent confrontation with minors.
The site, whose reddish earth is dug by machines, testifies to the appetite of local and foreign groups for nickel in Indonesia, the world’s largest producer of this key metal for electric vehicle batteries.
But the nickel boom threatens the environment and the rights of farmers to their land, such as in Wawonii, near the large island of Celebes rich in natural resources, which is home to rare species such as black macaques or maleos, endangered birds .
Each day, a dozen or so Wawonii villagers take turns standing guard in a shack amid the clove trees, watching for the arrival of miners as the machines extracting the ore rumble down the hill.
Royani, who has only one name like many Indonesians, joined them after hundreds of trees his family cultivated for cloves were felled in January.
“When we saw there was nothing left, we were destroyed.”
Royani wants to protect the land of his family but also that of his neighbours.
But the villagers face very powerful adversaries.
The growing demand for metals needed for lithium-ion batteries and stainless steel has attracted Chinese groups, but also South Koreans, the American electric vehicle giant Tesla, as well as the Brazilian mining group Vale, to Indonesia.
Dozens of nickel processing plants have been built recently on the island of Celebes and many other projects are announced.
The Indonesian group Gema Kreasi Perdana (GKP), controlled by one of the richest families in Indonesia, has two concessions in Wawonii on a total of 1,800 hectares.
The islanders say the group wants to expand and its employees are constantly trying to convince them to give up their land.
When questioned, neither GKP, nor the Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, nor the local energy agency wished to comment.
“Even for one billion rupees (60,650 euros), I will not sell,” said Hastati, 42, a cashew nut farmer whose plot has already been partially razed.
Several demonstrators in Wawonii were arrested after demonstrations, riots, and several armed confrontations caused by these conflicts on the grounds.
Hastoma, a 37-year-old coconut farmer, said he was detained for 45 days by authorities after clashes.
Other villagers blocked the miners’ vehicles and set fire to their equipment, while a few miners were held hostage for 12 hours.
“If I remain silent (…) the place where we live will be destroyed,” protests Hastoma, who says he has already lost two hectares of land.
“I will continue to fight to defend our region.”
While in many parts of Indonesia the cadastres are incomplete, a 2018 presidential decree recognizes farmers’ rights to the land they farm.
Courts have also repeatedly ruled in favor of residents opposed to mining groups, under a 2007 law that protects coastal areas and small islands like Wawonii.
But despite the many disputes over land ownership, Jakarta is pushing hard to attract investors.
“The problem is that mining permits are often granted unilaterally” by the government on land that has in fact “been cultivated for years,” said Benni Wijaya of the Agrarian Reform Consortium.
Chinese companies are among the biggest investors in the sector.
They injected $8.2 billion into the country last year, more than double the $3.1 billion in 2021, according to government data.
In the center of Celebes, Beijing has established extensive nickel processing infrastructure and even a nickel museum.
These investments, however, come at a cost: worsening pollution and rising tensions over inadequate working conditions in Chinese factories that led to riots and deaths in January.
The southwestern coast of Celebes suffered the bulk of the environmental damage from the sector.
In a village in the Pomalaa region, houses on stilts overlook muddy water, reddened by industrial waste, in which children swim.
Soils contaminated by nickel mines — including that of an Indonesian public group, Antam — are washed away by the rains from the hills to the Pacific Ocean, which has turned dark red along the coasts, residents say.
“When there were no mines, the water was not like this, it was clean,” said Guntur, a 33-year-old villager.
Antam did not respond to requests from AFP.
Fishermen also see the impact of pollution. Asep Solihin points out that he now has to take his boat much further to catch fish.
“We are just able to survive,” notes the 44-year-old, who has taken part in anti-landmine protests.
“Above there are mines and below mud. What will become of the next generation?”.
Not all residents oppose mining projects. Some have found jobs there, while others have seen their small businesses prosper.
Sasto Utomo, 56, sells black pepper crab and fried rice at a stall near the Morosi nickel factory.
“I’m totally in favor of the factories. Before, we didn’t sell anything. Thank God my income has increased,” he says, adding that he was able to buy a house and a farm.
Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy, has made great strides in reducing poverty in recent years, according to the World Bank.
The country will “keep moving forward” with the goal of becoming a developed country, its president Joko Widodo said in a speech last month.
But Royani is determined to keep fighting for her land. “What can we do?” wonders the Indonesian who spends her days watching for an incursion of miners.
03/13/2023 10:22:09 – Wawonii (Indonesia) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
