arliamentarians across Southeast Asia called on the Indonesian government and other countries in the region to take a more serious look at the costs of mining activities on the environment and indigenous communities, amid a nickel industry boom.
As the world moves away from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, rare earth minerals like nickel are important components of devices that support the energy transition.
Nickel, one of the key components of batteries for electric vehicles (EVs), which are claimed to be cleaner than those run on internal combustion engines (ICE), has become the new “oil”, particularly in Southeast Asia, as the region is becoming a major supplier of the rare earth mineral.
According to consulting firm Global Data, Indonesia is the world’s largest nickel producer with reserves of 21 million tonnes, or 20 percent of the global total. The country produced 1.7 million tonnes in 2022. Other nickel producers and exporters in Southeast Asia include the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand.
But the skyrocketing nickel production in recent years has come at the expense of the environment and indigenous communities, prompting Southeast Asian lawmakers to warn Indonesian policymakers to look seriously at the hazards and balance the objectives between the energy transition and protecting the region’s remaining forests.
The warning was conveyed during an international parliamentary inquiry on climate change in Southeast Asia held by the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) at the Senayan legislative complex in Jakarta on Monday.
Read also: New tracking system to prevent fraud in nickel, tin mining
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