Nickel mining has been blamed for polluting the coastal waters on Kabana Island. Image courtesy of Sagori.
Indonesia’s environment ministry plans to curb deforestation and push for environmental rehabilitation in response to industrial nickel mining on Kabaena Island, where severe ecological damage and the cultural and economic collapse of the Indigenous Bajo people have been widely reported. The crisis has exposed deep-rooted failures by both government and corporations, revealing the human and environmental toll of the country’s profit-driven push for green energy.
In mid-March, extreme weather and high tides churned up nickel-laden sediment beneath the stilt homes of the Bajo people in Baliara village on Southeast Sulawesi’s Kabaena Island. That afternoon, 2-year-old Masra disappeared while playing on a wooden bridge, and moments later, her lifeless body was found in the murky, mud-filled water.
It was not the first time a Bajo child had drowned in the rising sludge, which now reaches as high as an adult’s calf. These drownings also draw parallels with the children dying in coal mining pits in East Kalimantan.
“Usually Bajo children that age already know how to swim, but she didn’t,” said Irma, the girl’s aunt, who was the last to see her leave the house. According to her, this was the third case in which the Bajo, long known as a sea-faring people, had lost children to the treacherous sediments of nickel ore.
Experts and activists report that nickel mining has caused toxic pollution, ecological destruction, health problems and economic hardship for coastal communities. Image courtesy of Kabaena-based NGO Sagori.
Environmental experts and activists from both national and local levels have reported dangerous levels of heavy metals, particularly nickel, contaminating the sea and sediment; ecological damage including the death of marine life, sediment buildup and mangrove destruction; human health impacts like skin irritation and reported child drownings in polluted waters; and socioeconomic decline, with coconut sugar production, seaweed farming and fishing all heavily impacted.
Hanif Faisol Nurofiq, the environment minister, earlier this month said his office’s enforcement division has identified the industrial nickel mining zone and plans to visit it in June, promising firm action against polluters. He also emphasized that while criminal charges may be avoided for now, companies will be held financially accountable for restoration. The ministry is also developing a strategy to halt further deforestation and require companies to fund recovery efforts based on expert assessments.
The once-blue waters of Baliara have turned orange. In 2024, Satya Bumi, an organization focused on environmental issues, investigated the environmental impact of nickel mining in Kabaena. In its report, Satya Bumi found that nickel mining, which began in 2009, has polluted Kabaena’s coastal and marine areas.
Satya Bumi tested sediment samples and confirmed they contained heavy metals at dangerous levels. Nickel (Ni) concentrations were the highest, reaching up to 3,464 milligrams (0.1 ounces) per liter (0.3 gallons). Concentrations of nickel, sulfate, cadmium and lead were recorded at levels 200% to 7,000% higher than permissible thresholds, based on Government Regulation No. 22/2021, the Maximum Limits for Heavy Metal Contamination in Food as stipulated in SNI 7387:2009, as well as guidelines from the World Health Organization and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
These high concentrations pose serious health risks, including neurological disorders, cardiovascular disease and cancer, the study noted. Satya Bumi also found a decline in residents’ health, allegedly due to exposure to mining pollution. People have experienced skin rashes. Exposure to these heavy metals has led to the death of marine life, including shellfish, the paper added.
The mining activities are also in violation of Indonesian Law No. 27/2007 and Law No. 1/2014, which prohibit mining on islands smaller than 2,000 square kilometers (772 square miles). Kabaena spans only 837 km² (323 mi2), with 75% of its area under 15 mining concessions. Most of these concessions overlap with protected forests. Despite these harms and legal contradictions, the government continues to allow mining, prompting accusations of law defiance and environmental injustice, many experts and activists have said.
“This isn’t a coincidence. … It’s calculated ignorance,” Renaldi, a 26-year-old environmental activist and resident of Kabaena’s Baliara village in the vicinity of PT Timah Investasi Mineral’s concession, told Mongabay Indonesia in a recent interview. “Mining has been operating since I was a kid.”
Mongabay sent an email to TIM on Jan. 14 to request a response regarding the situation. As of the time this article was published, the company had not replied.
Nickel mining arrived in Kabaena more than a decade ago, following a spatial planning revision in Southeast Sulawesi that downgraded the status of protected forests to production forests. The presence of nickel mines not only threatens human life but also biodiversity, with 27 species in the region endemic.
Nur Arafah, an environmental expert from the Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Science at Halu Oleo University (FKIL-UHO) in Kendari, said nickel mining activities in Kabaena are damaging the island’s ecosystems. Waste mud from nickel extraction pollutes the waters, which is also evident through sensory observation: changes in color, odor, taste and the accumulation of sediment.
This mud sediment harms marine life, coral reefs, fish and small organisms like benthos and plankton that are vital to the marine food chain, Nur said. As a result, it damages not only marine biodiversity and mangrove forests but also endangers the health and livelihoods of local communities, he added.
“Pollution is the introduction of substances into an environment that alters the function of that space,” he said, also criticizing the government’s excessive granting of mining permits covering more than half of Kabaena.
Before the mining began, the people of Kabaena lived off agriculture, cultivating crops like coconuts, cloves and cashews. They grew rice and corn, enjoyed clean rivers and fished in healthy coral reef ecosystems. Kabaena was also known for producing the best palm sugar in Southeast Sulawesi — a title now at risk if mining continues to ravage the island.
The Bajo people along the coast face similar hardships. Seaweed farmers and fish breeders have seen their incomes plummet due to pollution. “It feels like we’re under siege (from nickel mining). Hit on land, hit at sea,” said Ridwan, a Kabaena fisherman.
The Southeast Sulawesi branch of Walhi, Indonesia’s largest environmental group, calls what’s happening in Kabaena a stark example of the government’s failure to manage natural resources. Kabaena, a small island where mining is prohibited by law, has been left to be exploited.
“This should be a major concern for both the government and law enforcement, because the destruction happening there is already massive,” Andi Rahman, director of Walhi Southeast Sulawesi, said on Feb. 20.
Walhi Southeast Sulawesi and Satya Bumi investigated the environmental impacts of nickel mining on Kabaena Island. They reported widespread environmental damage caused by mining, including deforestation, water pollution and heavy metal contamination of seafood, published on Jan. 28. The report also exposed the involvement of politically exposed persons (PEPs) in the nickel industry on Kabaena, and tracked its global supply chain.
According to the investigation by Satya Bumi and Walhi Southeast Sulawesi, between 2012 and 2022, about 3,374 hectares (8,337 acres) of forest cover were lost in Kabaena due to mining. The largest concessions belonged to PT Anugrah Harisma Barakah (AHB) and PT Tonia Mitra Sejahtera (TMS), responsible for 641 and 285 hectares (1,583 and 704 acres) of forest loss, respectively.
The January 2025 report revealed that nickel from TMS and AHB enters the global electric vehicle battery supply chain. It is processed at the Sulawesi Mining Investment (SMI) and Virtue Dragon Nickel Industry (VDNI) smelters in the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP).
The latest report also found links between SMI and QMB New Energy Materials, which supplies battery materials to manufacturers like Samsung SDI, CATL and Tsingshan. Batteries from these producers are used in vehicles by major brands such as Tesla, Stellantis, Volkswagen, Ford and BYD.
The environmental groups also found that miners AMI and TMS are believed to be linked to powerful Indonesian officials, according to records from the Ministry of Law and Human Rights’ Legal Entity Administration System (AHU). The report said CEO of AMI, Achmad Fachruz Zaman, is a retired two-star general of the Indonesian Police. Meanwhile, according to company data dated March 21, 2024, TMS is also led by another retired two-star police general, Sigit Sudarmanto.
Former Southeast Sulawesi Governor Nur Alam was involved in issuing mining permits (IUP) to AHB, according to the report. He was later convicted of corruption related to the permits and sentenced to 12 years in prison (conditionally released in January 2024).
The report also pointed out that several mining companies in Kabaena are affiliated with PEPs, such as Widdi Aswindi, a former director of PT Billy Indonesia, who is also a senior official in the National Mandate Party (PAN) and served as a campaign consultant for Nur Alam.
Sediment of nickel mining waste has built up along the coast of Baliara village on Kabaena Island. Image courtesy of Public Policy Advocacy Agency (LAPAK).
An analysis by the Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam) said the exploitation of small islands by mining exacerbated the natural vulnerabilities faced by coastal communities, such as the climate crisis and disasters. Data from the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) in 2011 indicated that around 28 small islands in Indonesia had already submerged, and 24 more were at risk of submersion.
In light of these harmful mining impacts, Arafah, environmental expert from FKIL-UHO, called on the government to impose a moratorium on mining permits to allow for a thorough evaluation of existing licenses.
He also urged local governments to consider beyond short-term economic gains and prioritize the well-being of communities and environmental sustainability. Arafah hopes the new administration will take a firm stance and uphold the law.
“There’s no need to wait for more scientific studies,” he said. “Law enforcement, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, the police — they should uphold the law there, including the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.”
Mongabay contacted Setyo Eko Wicaksono, head of human resources and general affairs at TMS, to request a comment regarding the environmental damage caused by the company’s activities in Kabaena. However, he replied, “I’m still in a meeting,” via a messaging app. Mongabay’s formal interview request letter hasn’t been answered as of the publication of this report.
Previously, Andi Sumangerukka, the elected governor, during the first gubernatorial debate in October 2024, pledged to reclaim mining management authority for the regional government, claiming it would enable better local resource management.
Erni Bajau, chairwoman of the Indonesian Bajo People’s Association, said she was concerned that nickel exploitation in Kabaena would have long-term negative impacts on the Bajo community.
“As Bajo people, we are often treated as second-class citizens in certain regions, so our needs and conditions are consistently ignored by the government — especially when it comes to mining,” she said.
During her visit to Kabaena in November 2024, she witnessed how sediment from nickel waste had damaged the marine ecosystem and crippled seaweed farming. Bajo women were struggling to process marine resources, and the Bajo community found it difficult to voice their protest against mining, particularly in Baliara.
Erni said nickel mining offered no real benefit to the Bajo people, as the environmental destruction far outweighs any gains. According to her, only a small fraction of the Bajo community has benefited, while the majority have lost their livelihoods.
In Baliara, heavy rains caused rivers to overflow, sending muddy runoff from nearby nickel mines into homes on land and sludge beneath the stilted houses on the coast, where grief over Masra’s death still lingered. Renaldi, the local environmental activist, called on the mining company to repair the damaged sludge dam and compensate affected communities, warning that these steps are only short-term fixes. He said environmental restoration is urgently needed and cannot be replaced by temporary measures, especially when lives have already been lost.
“The death of that child is a legal matter. It should have been visible when she fell. But the murky water made it impossible to see the child. She only became visible once she floated to the surface, and by then, she was already lifeless,” Renaldi said.
This article was originally published on Mongabay under the Creative Commons BY NC ND licence. Read the original article.
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