"Does Anyone Care? - The Human, Environmental, and Climate Toll of Indonesia's Nickel Industry" October 2025

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This report examines the human rights, environmental, and climate impacts of nickel mining and processing operations in Indonesia, focusing on Central Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi, and North Maluku, three of the most prominent hubs of the Indonesian nickel industry. Climate Rights International interviewed 93 people living near and working at nickel mining and processing operations in Southeast Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi, and North Maluku. Across these three nickel hotspots, communities report:

• severe air and water pollution;
• health problems related to mining;
• the destruction of fishing and farming livelihoods;
• lack of access to health and environmental information;
• land grabbing and a lack of or inadequate compensation for their land;
• dangerous working conditions at mining and smelting facilities;
• threats to Indigenous Peoples’ ways of life; and
• fear of retaliation for speaking out.

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...Indeed, Indonesian, Chinese, and other foreign companies are taking advantage of the climate crisis to extract nickel in an unjust, harmful, and carbon-intensive way. Far from protecting people and the environment, the government is actively supporting this industry as it steamrolls over Indigenous and other communities.

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The Role of Governments and Companies

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The government and parliament should work together to strengthen laws and regulations to minimize the impacts of nickel mining and refining on communities, including on Indigenous communities...

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Some nickel mining and processing companies are failing their human rights responsibilities under the United Nations (UN) Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. All nickel companies should fully and fairly compensate all community members, including Indigenous Communities, for their lands...

Global EV and battery manufacturing companies that source nickel from Indonesia should immediately use their leverage to push suppliers to address harms to local communities and the environment, and if necessary, stop sourcing nickel from companies responsible for such abuses...

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Prior to the release of this report, Climate Rights International wrote to the following: Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources; Ministry of Finance; Ministry of Investment and Downstream Industry; Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries; Ministry of Forestry; Ministry of Environment; Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs; Ministry of Industry; Ministry of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning; Ministry of Health; Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education; and Ministry of Law and Human Rights. We also wrote to the following companies: ENERSTEEL; Gunbuster Nickel Industry; Harita Nickel; Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park; PT Antam; Bukit Makmur Istindo Nikeltama (Bumanik); PT Obsidian Stainless Steel; Sumber Permata Mineral; and Virtue Dragon Nickel Industry...

II. Southeast Sulawesi

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Health Impacts

Dian Wana Utami, a 31-year-old pregnant mother of two, resides in Tani Indah village, nestled between the smelter and the captive coal-fired power plant. Dian’s house lies around 100 meters from VDNI’s hauling road and 200 meters from the 16 coal plant. When Climate Rights International visited Dian, she was resting on doctor's orders, as she had nearly miscarried due to exhaustion.

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Pollution Threatens Livelihoods, Water, and Food

Not long ago, Tani Indah was known as a seafood hub. Fishponds—called tambak— lined the riverbanks, producing tons of fish and shrimp every harvest season. Fisherfolk, including Samsuddin and his neighbor Kamriadi, cumulatively caught up to three tons of fish every three months, earning between 20,000 and 25,000 rupiahs (USD 1.20 to 1.50) per kilo.

Local residents say that the abundant life lasted until the start of construction of Virtue Dragon Nickel Industry’s nickel smelter in 2013, which started operations in 2014. Now, the ponds are empty. Pollution has killed the plankton that feed the fish, leaving only small, sickly harvests.

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Mandiodo Block

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Land Rights and Criminalization

... Mami, a 70-year-old resident, told Climate Rights International that mining companies have taken his ten hectares of land without compensation. Mami’s land is divided into five parcels, each of which covers two hectares. According to Mami, in 2006 representatives from PT Cinta Jaya offered him 25 million rupiah per hectare (USD 1,506), but he refused to sell his land. The land is now within PT Antam’s concession area, and Mami says he cannot access it...

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Villagers who protest against land grabs face arrest and criminalization. Alias, a 38 year-old village leader, says he spent four months in prison in 2015 after leading a protest against a mining company that had taken land without compensation.

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Towara, Tompira, and Molino Villages

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Flooding in Molino

In the darkness just after midnight on August 19, 2025, Ribka clutched her child— the toddler she says she had waited sixteen years to have—as a wall of mud and debris crashed through Molino.The catastrophic flooding that engulfed her community was no act of nature alone. It was the culmination of years of environmental degradation by nickel mining operations, regulatory failures, and a cascade of ignored warnings that finally broke, quite literally, at the seams of an upstream mining dam.

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The cause of the incident was clear: a dam at an upstream mining site had collapsed in heavy rain. Arman, who personally inspected the area, confirmed there was a breach above the village at the company’s location near the main bridge where water flows. He believes this structural failure was merely the final link in a long chain of environmental degradation.

Multiple companies have mining concessions upstream from the village, including PT Bukit Makmur Istindo Nikeltama (Bumanik), ENERSTEEL, and SPM (Sumber Permata Mineral). According to local residents, nickel mining has systematically stripped the forests upstream from the village. When the heavy rains come, there are no trees left to slow the impact, no roots to absorb the water, and no canopy to break its fall.

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VI. Recommendations

To the Government of Indonesia:

• Phase out all coal-fired and other fossil-fuel power plants by 2040, consistent with President Prabowo’s statement to the G20, and stop permitting and construction of all new coal plants, including captive coal plants.
• Adopt and implement a national strategy to rapidly scale up renewable energy generation and infrastructure, aligned with Indonesia’s climate obligations under the Paris Agreement and its just energy transition goals.
• Adopt, strengthen, and enforce national laws and regulations to prevent, minimize, and mitigate the environmental, climate and human rights harms of present and future generations caused by nickel mining, refining, and extractive waste on Indigenous Peoples and other affected communities...

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To all nickel processing companies named in this report, and to all nickel companies with nickel processing operations in Indonesia:

• Ensure that all mining and industrial operations are carried out in accordance with Indonesian laws and regulations, as well as international environmental, climate and human rights standards.
• Fully and fairly compensate all community members with land conflicts with nickel processing companies, including Indigenous communities, including where insufficient compensation was previously provided.
• Take immediate steps to prevent, minimize and mitigate air, water, and soil pollution from industrial activities...

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To all nickel mining companies operating in Indonesia:

• Fully and fairly compensate all community members with land conflicts with nickel mining companies, including Indigenous communities, including where insufficient compensation was previously provided.
• Take steps to minimize deforestation in mining areas, including by avoiding mining in areas with young regenerating forests.
• Take immediate steps to prevent, minimize and mitigate air, water, and soil pollution from mining activities.
• Immediately stop all mining and other related activities in forests that have been historically designated as protected forests by the Indonesian government, primary forests, high carbon stock forests, and high conservation value forests. Fully respect the rights of Indigenous Peoples, including the right to exercise Free, Prior, and Informed Consent, their right to self-determination, and their right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.
• Immediately suspend all activities on the lands of Indigenous groups, including the O’Hongana Manyawa, that could threaten their physical and cultural survival or that impedes their enjoyment of their economic, social, and cultural rights.
• Refrain from mining near environmentally sensitive and/or biodiverse areas to protect the environment and key freshwater and groundwater resources.

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