Indonesian Indigenous Group Threated by Nickel Mine Destroying Their Land

TaiwanPlus News

The Indonesian Hongana Manyawa Indigenous group is deeply concerned as the world's largest nickel mine destroys their forests and pollutes their rivers, and with it the resources they need to survive.

Transcript

00:01Deep in the rainforests of northern Indonesia, the last of the country's nomadic hunter-gatherers are fighting for survival.

00:09Uncontacted for centuries, the Hongana-Manyawa have had to fend off trespassers and face forced relocation,

00:16as the world's largest nickel mine encroaches on their land.

00:20After the companies entered this area, my relatives had to move.

00:24A lot of my relatives in this forest are now very far to reach, thanks to the mining companies.

00:29They keep clearing the forest, while this is our land, our birthplace.

00:33Over 500,000 tons of nickel come from here, nearly 20% of global supply.

00:40It's used for wind and solar power and in electric vehicles and stainless steel.

00:45But as demand for green energy rises, so does the cost for the Hongana-Manyawa people.

00:51There are only 3,500 of them left, and their daily lives are heavily dependent on the dwindling forest.

00:58Turning the area into a concession zone or using it for mining to boost the economy hasn't really solved any problems so far.

01:07Instead, it's created new problems.

01:09Now, what will happen to the Hongana-Manyawa people?

01:12If the government keeps using their economic arguments to justify their marginalization,

01:17then it amounts to a human rights violation.

01:20Ancestral land is protected under the Indonesian constitution, but critics say the law is not always enforced.

01:26And with the Hongana-Manyawa unseen for so long, they have no defined legal status,

01:31leaving them vulnerable to mining concessions like this one,

01:35jointly managed by French and Chinese companies who say their operations here are not breaking any laws.

01:42The destruction of the land is not the only challenge facing the Hongana-Manyawa.

01:49This river, as you see, was in the past a source of life for the Hongana-Manyawa people.

01:54But now it's dirty. Hongana-Manyawa people are in misery.

01:59Despite the misery, they say that they have no plans to give up their land and traditions,

02:05that see them born in the river and buried within the sacred trees of the forest.

02:10Let me reiterate, this is our land, our home. We will not consent to its destruction.

02:17So I'm telling them, this is our home, and we will not give it to you.

02:21For now, the Hongana-Manyawa do what they can, with or without the country's legal protections.

02:27In the face of big business and capitalist interest,

02:30they're determined to uphold their traditional role as the land's protectors,

02:34honoring the sanctity of the place they call home.

02:38Devin Tsai and Miriam Brunner for Taiwan Plus.

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