The government should impose moratorium on nickle industry and evaluate all mining activities in Morowali mountains following flash floods that hit Labota village in Bahodopi sub-district , Morowali regency, Central Sulawesi, which is located next to nickel industrial estate, the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP) on December 29, 2024, an environmental NGO says.
The spatial analysis by the Central Sulawesi chapter of the Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi) says that the flash floods that hit the Labota village was allegedly due to exploitation of nickel mining along the mountain areas. There are 53 operational production mining business permit with total concession of 118,139 hectares of land located along the Morowali mountains, with PT Bintang Delapan Mineral having the largest concession of 20,765 hectares.
According to the report of the Central Sulawesi Disaster Mitigation Agency, 200 people were impacted and forced to evacuate to their relatives’ houses. Five units of rented houses were submerged and one other unit suffered minor damage.
Campaigner of Walhi’s Central Sulawesi chapter, Wandi, said the ecological disaster at Labota village was a warning that the carrying capacity of the environment is no longer balanced due to the exploitation of natural resources that has led to the disappearance of trees and caused the decrease in rainwater infiltration into the soil that water easily carries soil materials to lowlands.
The surge in nickel mining activity in Morowali is a program of nickel downstreaming prioritized by the central government. Most of these operating mines are nickel ore suppliers in the IMIP area.
“If the mining activity if seen only as merely economic growth by the government, ecological disaster will be more severe in the future and its damaging power will be wider. People can only be the victims of extractive activities,” Wandi said in a statement on December 31, 2024.
Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park is a nickel industrial estate with 4,000 hectares of land located in Fatuvia village and Labota village, Bahodopi sub-district. There are 52 tenants operating that produce four nickle clusters including Stainless Steel, Nickel Pig Iron (NPI), Carbon Steel, and MHP for battery components.
The Walhi report cited throughout 10 years of operation, IMIP has significant impact on the livelihood the community of Labota and Fatuvia districts. However, no mitigating measures have been taken by the companies against the environmental disaster there.
