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JAKARTA: The Indonesian government is allowing environmental damage including deforestation and violations against Indigenous people to go unchecked around a multi-billion dollar industrial park on a once-pristine eastern island, a report said Thursday.

Indonesia is both the world’s largest nickel producer, and home to the biggest-known reserves, and a 2020 export ban has spurred a domestic industrial boom.

Operations have grown around Weda Bay, the world’s largest nickel mine by production, on Halmahera island as Indonesia exploits the metal reserves used in everything from electric vehicle batteries to stainless steel.

Climate Rights International (CRI) said companies had caused a spike in air and water pollution and deforestation around the industrial park, accusing the government of ignoring their conduct.

“The Indonesian government is giving a green light to corporate practices that prioritize profits over the rights of local communities and the environment,” Krista Shennum, researcher at Climate Rights International, told AFP.

“The Indonesian government should immediately hold companies accountable. This could include civil penalties, criminal prosecutions, or rescinding permits.”

Much of the park’s nickel is sourced by Weda Bay Nickel (WBN), a joint venture of Indonesian mining firm Antam and Singapore-based Strand Minerals, with shares divided between French mining giant Eramet and Chinese steel major Tsingshan.

An AFP report last week detailed how the home of the nomadic Hongana Manyawa tribe was being eaten away by the world’s largest nickel mine, with members issuing a call for nickel companies to leave their tribal lands alone.


Locals have reported a rise in air pollution from nickel processing smelters and rivers polluted by nickel tailings in soil brought down by heavy rain.

Water tests by Indonesian NGOs AEER, JATAM, and Nexus3 Foundation in 2023 and 2024 “revealed dangerously high levels of nickel and hexavalent chromium, among other pollutants,” the report said.

“(Companies) are failing local communities by not making information about the safety of important drinking water sources publicly available and accessible,” said Shennum.

Both WBN and Eramet told AFP last week they work to minimize impacts on the environment, including conducting water tests.

CRI also said Indonesian and foreign companies in coordination with police and military personnel had “engaged in land grabbing, coercion and intimidation” of Indigenous peoples and other communities.

Local activists and students opposing the industrial park have “faced criminalization, harassment and smear campaigns,” the report said.

Weda Bay Nickel and the Indonesian government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

But Indonesia’s energy ministry told AFP last week it was committed to “protecting the rights of Indigenous peoples and ensuring that mining activities do not damage their lives and environment.”

BRUSSELS: US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Thursday he was confident that members of the NATO alliance will sign up to Donald Trump’s demand for a major boost in defense spending, adding that it had to happen by a summit later in June.

The US president has said NATO allies should boost investment in defense to 5 percent of gross domestic product, up from the current target of 2 percent.

“To be an alliance, you got to be more than flags. You got to be formations. You got to be more than conferences. You need to be, keep combat ready capabilities,” Hegseth said as he arrived at a gathering of NATO defense ministers in Brussels.

“We’re here to continue the work that President Trump started, which is a commitment to 5 percent defense spending across this alliance, which we think will happen,” Hegseth said, adding: “It has to happen by the summit at The Hague later this month.”

Diplomats have said European allies understand that hiking defense expenditure is the price of ensuring a continued US commitment to the continent’s security and that keeping the US on board means allowing Trump to be able to declare a win on his 5 percent demand during the summit, scheduled for June 24-25.

“We have to go further and we have to go faster,” NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte told reporters on Wednesday.

“A new defense investment plan will be at the heart of the NATO summit in The Hague,” he added.

In a bid to meet Trump’s 5 percent goal, Rutte has proposed alliance members boost defense spending to 3.5 percent of GDP and commit a further 1.5 percent to broader security-related spending, Reuters has reported.

Details of the new investment plan will likely continue to be negotiated until the eve of the NATO summit.

“We have to find a realistic compromise between what is necessary and what is possible really to spend,” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on Wednesday.

Countries remain divided over the timeline for a new pledge.

Rutte has proposed reaching the 5 percent by 2032 – a date that some eastern European states consider too distant but which some others see as too early and unrealistic given current spending and industrial production levels.

A 2032 target is “definitely too late,” Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovile Sakaliene said on Wednesday, arguing for a target of 2030 at the latest.

There is also an ongoing debate over how to define “defense-related” spending, which might include spending on cybersecurity and certain types of infrastructure.

“The aim is to find a definition that is precise enough to cover only real security-related investments, and at the same time broad enough to allow for national specifics,” said one NATO diplomat.