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View all search resultsBodies crushed by nickel mines, no climate justice in Kabaena
Despite promises of development, mines have not brought quality healthcare, routine medical screenings or adequate environmental safeguards. What came instead were red seas and poisoned children.
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A Greenpeace activist displays a banner to reject nickel mining in Raja Ampat, Southwest Papua, during the Indonesia Minerals Conference & Expo on June 3 in Jakarta. (Antara/Risky Syukur)
F
or nearly two decades, nickel mining has operated on Kabaena, a tiny island of just 891 square kilometers in Southeast Sulawesi. For the residents of Baliara Village, who live less than two km from the mine, the roar of heavy machinery and clouds of dust are no longer temporary disturbances. They have become the soundtrack of daily life.
On the coast, the Bajau people are witnessing a painful transformation. The once-clear turquoise sea is now murky with red sediment. Yet beyond what the eye can see lies a more silent danger, the heavy metals seeping into their bodies, without warning or sensation.
Nickel, cadmium and lead, byproducts of the mining process, are now found in the blood and urine of local residents. The contamination occurs through the air they breathe, the seafood they eat and the water they use. Even before deforestation or marine pollution is discussed, the people of Kabaena are already biologically marked by exploitation.
Small islands like Kabaena are especially vulnerable due to their limited ecological capacity.
Mining waste runoff, especially during rainfall, spreads easily through rivers and into the sea.
According to a study in Science, over 90 percent of heavy metals stay in the sediment and can travel up to 100 km from the mining site via water systems.
In September of last year, Satya Bumi collected urine samples from 12 residents across three villages: Baliara, Puununu and Pongkalaero, all located less than five km from the mining zone. The samples came from toddlers, teenagers, adults and the elderly.
