Conquest of Halmahera Through Expansion of the Nickel Industry

Since January 2020, the Indonesian government has banned the export of raw nickel. This policy reflects the Joko Widodo Government's aspiration for Indonesia to emerge as a prominent player in the global electric car industry. Contrary to that, this report presents a different perspective. 

The development of the Indonesian Weda Bay Industrial Park (IWIP) in Central Halmahera has posed a significant social-ecological risk to the local population and the surrounding landscape. This is mainly due to the downstream nickel industry established in the area.

The IWIP, along with the nickel mining sector that provides its integrated raw materials, has inflicted harm upon the rivers located upstream. Consequently, the major rivers that provide the residents of Halmahera with clean water are currently contaminated. The report conclusively demonstrated that the concentration of nickel in the river exceeded the prescribed limit at multiple locations.

The overall water demand for the entire population of Central Halmahera, which consists of 96,977 individuals in the year 2023, is estimated to be 10,667.47 cubic meters per day. On average, each person consumes approximately 110 liters of water each day. This implies that the water requirements of IWIP are threefold more than those of the Halmahera residents, despite both relying on the same water supply.

Water contamination from rivers upstream restricts the fishing locations available to fisherman along the coast. Furthermore, there is now a prohibition on fishing in coastal regions adjacent to industrial zones. As a result, fishermen are compelled to navigate longer distances, leading to a decline in their production. Consequently, the population of Halmahera now depend on fish supplies from other areas.

Halmahera residents encounter additional obstacles in the form of diminishing food self-sufficiency in the area as a result of extensive forest and land displacements, as well as the seizure of agricultural land under the management of farmers. Prior to the commencement of nickel mining and its subsequent operations, the communities in Transmigrant Kobe served as the primary source of food for Central Halmahera. 

Currently, these settlements are dependent on food provisions from the Wairoro Transmigrant and Waleh Transmigrant regions. Furthermore, these two regions are encompassed by the IWIP industrial area expansion planning.

The nickel mining activities and subsequent downstreaming, as well as the use of coal as an energy source, result in water and air pollution, which poses a health concern to the residents of Central Halmahera and mine labor. The data from the Lelilef Community Health Center, which provides healthcare to inhabitants of Central Weda (Weda Tengah), one of IWIP's operational regions, shows that the number of patients with Acute Respiratory Tract Infections (ARI/ISPA) has been steadily increasing from 434 patients in 2020 to 10,579 patients in 2023. 

To put it differently conversely, over a span of three years, the prevalence of ISPA has increased by more than 24-fold. An like pattern emerged in Northern Weda (Weda Utara). According to data from Sagea Health Center, there has been a significant rise in the number of individuals suffering from ISPA since the commencement of industrial activities in the area. The number of individuals affected by ISPA is projected to rise from 282 in 2019 to 1,051 in 2023. 

The analysis of these two Community Health Centers revealed a prominent disease pattern, namely ISPA (ARI), which was thereafter accompanied by diseases directly associated with the presence of the coal-based mining industry. The disorders encompassed in this list are Diarrhea and Gastroenteritis, Acute Bronchitis, and Allergic Contact Dermatitis. It is not included in the list of tumors, cancer, or cell metastases caused by the teratogenic effects of chemicals.

The presence of the nickel mining sector has resulted in the emergence of new challenges in the form of flash floods caused by extensive deforestation, particularly in the upstream regions of rivers. Deforestation caused by nickel dredging also leads to the emergence of other hydrometeorological phenomena, including droughts during the dry season and landslides.

The PT IWIP nickel processing industrial sector frequently lacks stringent adherence to Occupational Health and Safety (K3) protocols despite the physically demanding nature of the work. The absence of personal protective equipment, such as gloves and masks, among certain workers is indicative of this situation. Indeed, the workers' work environment is encompassed by a multitude of industrial dust particles, including nickel dust and coal dust. 

The inadequate execution of K3 can also be observed from the frequency of work-related incidents documented since the commencement of operations by PT IWIP-Weda Bay Nickel in 2018. As of 2022, a total of 125 workers in the Weda Bay Nickel Industrial Area complex were documented to have encountered Occupational Health and Safety (K3) incidents. Out of all these occurrences, there were a total of 26 fatalities. Based on reports from multiple employees and citizens in the IWIP vicinity, it is believed that the number of work-related accidents exceeds the reported figures.