Indonesia takes action against mining firms after floods devastate population of world’s rarest ape | Indonesia
Floods and landslides that ravaged Indonesia’s fragile Batang Toru ecosystem in November 2024 – killing up to 11% of the world’s population of Tapanuli orangutans – prompted widespread scrutiny of extractive companies operating in the region at the time of the ecological disaster.
For weeks, investigators searched for evidence that the companies may have damaged the Batang Toru and Garoga watersheds before the disaster, which sent torrents of mud and wood into the villages, costing more than 1,100 lives.
Today, the government is taking action. Over the past week, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto announced a number of measures to hold companies accountable for what scientists say is an “extinction-level disruption” to the world’s rarest monkey.
“This is the news we’ve been waiting for and the deep breath the Batang Toru ecosystem desperately needs,” said Amanda Hurowitz, forest products manager at Mighty Earth, a conservation nonprofit that has long fought threats to the Tapanuli.
On Tuesday, the Indonesian government announced it would revoke the permits of 28 companies, effectively ending their operations in the region. This includes permits from mining company PT Agincourt Resources, behind the Martabe gold mine, as well as the permit from PT North Sumatera Hydro Energy, the developer of a large hydropower project under construction along the Batang Toru River. Other permits were largely focused on timber harvesting and oil palm plantations.
The decision follows the results of an investigation carried out by the working group on the regulation of the country’s forest areas.
Earlier this week, the country’s environment ministry also sued six companies – identified only by their initials – for 4.8 billion rupiah (£211 million) over alleged links to environmental damage in the Batang Toru ecosystem.
The ministry said the six companies were responsible for unspecified damage spanning 2,500 hectares (6,200 acres) in the region’s watersheds.
PT Agincourt Resources said it only learned of the license revocation through the media. “We are following up with regulators,” the company said in a statement to the Guardian.. “The company respects each government decision and maintains its rights in accordance with applicable regulations.” Operations at the mine have been suspended since December 6.
Scientists and conservationists have long urged the government to strengthen protections in the Batang Toru region, believing that the critically endangered Tapanuli orangutan can only be found in this patch of forest.
Preliminary results after the Sumatran floods suggest that between 6.2% and 10.5% of the Tapanuli orangutan population – which numbered around 800 individuals – likely perished in just a few days.
Biological anthropologist Erik Meijaard said a team would soon visit the area to fully assess the effects on the region’s orangutans. But he stressed that most of the landslides in the western part of the ecosystem, known as the West Block, had little to do with the six companies being sued.
“From what we can see, this rainfall was mainly caused by extreme rainfall that affected the forests located on the steep slopes inside the West Block.
“Of course, the hydroelectric dam and gold mine have impacted the Tapanuli orangutan habitat, but the relationship with landslides is tentative,” he added.
Still, environmental activists saw the government’s actions as a victory for the Tapanuli.
“The Indonesian government must now act to permanently end all further deforestation,” Hurowitz said. “And start working, as he indicated, to repair the damage done, prevent any further loss of life and provide a future for the Tapanuli orangutan.”
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