Latest news with #SurvivalInternational
Gizmodo
27-06-2025
- Business
- Gizmodo
Planned EV Battery Plant Is a ‘Death Sentence' for Uncontacted Indonesian Tribe
On Sunday, June 29, Indonesia will break ground on a $6 billion electric vehicle (EV) battery plant on Halmahera, the largest of the Maluku islands. The facility will mine the island's abundant nickel reserves and manufacture batteries on-site to reduce production costs in Indonesia, but a watchdog warns it could decimate an uncontacted tribe. The Hongana Manyawa—whose name means 'people of the forest' in their language—are one of the last nomadic hunter-gatherer peoples in Indonesia, according to Survival International. Some 3,500 of them live within Halmahera's rainforest, and roughly 500 remain uncontacted. Over the last several years, Indonesia's booming nickel-mining industry has deforested more than 13,000 acres (5,000 hectares) of Halmahera's tropical forests, destroying the Hongana Manyawa's homeland. This country is now the world's largest nickel producer, and its latest money grab poses a grave threat to the Hongana Manyawa, advocacy groups warn. 'This announcement is a death sentence for the uncontacted Hongana Manyawa,' said Caroline Pearce, head of Survival International, in a statement. 'Their home—the land that is theirs under international law—is being brazenly seized and destroyed to cater to global industries and global consumption.' 'Nickel and other mega-projects are often launched under the banner of green development but leave behind a trail of social and environmental harm,' said Brad Adams, Executive Director at Climate Rights International, in a statement. 'Communities are repressed, forests are cleared, and pollution goes unaddressed with impunity. This is a chance for the Prabowo government to show that it has learned from those failures.' The new plant, financially backed by China's Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL), will integrate multiple components of EV battery production. Mining operations, smelting, nickel extraction, and production of precursors and cathodes will all take place on-site, according to the Indonesian news agency ANTARA. The project is one of 18 downstream industrial projects—valued at nearly $45 billion—that will break ground in Indonesia, ANTARA reports. According to a 2024 Survival International report, at least 19 mining companies are operating on the uncontacted Hongana Manyawa's land, including the largest and second-largest nickel mines in the world. Most of these facilities are mining nickel, and together, they span about 40% of the uncontacted people's territory. The Halmahera nickel rush is part of the Indonesian government's efforts to feed the global nickel demand for EV batteries. As of last year, the country accounted for 51% of the world's nickel mine production, according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. Scrutiny from environmentalists recently drove Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto to cancel four nickel mining permits on the neighboring islands of Raja Ampat. 'The President has a special concern to ensure Raja Ampat remains a world-class tourist attraction and protect its sustainability,' Energy Minister Bahlil Lahadalia told reporters earlier this month. In 2024, more than 30,000 tourists visited these islands, contributing roughly $9.25 million to locally generated revenue, according to The Jakarta Post. The same can't be said for Halmahera, which lacks sufficient infrastructure to support tourism. Still, advocates hope that the Indonesian government will take similar steps to protect Halmahera and its people. 'The Indonesian government has shown it's prepared to cancel nickel mining to save tourism; it must now also do so to stop an appalling human rights atrocity,' Pearce said. 'By acting now and establishing a no-go zone for mining on the territory of the uncontacted Hongana Manyawa people, the government can prevent their annihilation.' This tribe isn't alone. A 2022 study found that 54% of critical mineral mining projects for essential components, like the nickel used in EV batteries, are located on or near indigenous lands. Of those projects, 29% impact lands that indigenous peoples manage or conserve. While the Western world may see the EV industry as a climate solution, its impact on rainforests—and the people that call them home—threatens to outweigh its benefits.
Scoop
20-06-2025
- Scoop
India: Police Raid Indigenous Village Inside Tiger Reserve
June 18, 2025 This morning more than 250 police, forest guards and tiger force members raided a village which Indigenous people had reclaimed in a tiger reserve six weeks ago. The security forces tore down seven forest shelters where women, children and older people were living, at Karadikallu Atturu Kolli village, in Nagarhole Tiger Reserve. 'They are forcing people to destroy their own homes on their own lands. This is a grave violation of human rights as well as the rights guaranteed under the Forest Rights Act,' said a source from inside the village. Jenu Kuruba people were violently evicted from Nagarhole 40 years ago to make way for a tiger reserve. More than 50 families returned on May 5 to live in their former village and to assert their claims in accordance with India's Forest Rights Act. It's believed to be the first time Indigenous people in India asserted their rights to return to their homes after eviction from a Protected Area. 'It is outrageous that the Jenu Kuruba are being thrown out of their home once again. The authorities must stop this persecution of the Jenu Kuruba, who are just trying to live in peace on their own land,' said Caroline Pearce, director of Survival International. 'As we've seen time and again, conservation – in this case a Tiger Reserve – is being used as a pretext to violate Indigenous rights. It is time to stop this abusive and colonial model of fortress conservation.' The Jenu Kuruba had lived alongside and worshipped tigers for generations. They decided to return because their sacred spirits, who still dwell in the old village location, became angry at being abandoned when the community was forced from the forest in the 1980s. This is a developing story.
09-05-2025
- Politics
Congo national park associated with Prince Harry acknowledges human rights abuses
DAKAR, Senegal -- A national park associated with Prince Harry in the Republic of the Congo has acknowledged that its guards committed human rights abuses against Indigenous peoples who were displaced when the park was constructed. An internal investigation by African Parks, a South African-based wildlife parks consortium, uncovered cases of torture, rape and forced displacement of Indigenous people who used to inhabit the land now occupied by the Odzala-Kokoua National Park. Prince Harry sits on the board of African Parks. 'African Parks acknowledges that, in some incidents, human rights abuses have occurred, and we deeply regret the pain and suffering that these have caused to the victims,' read a statement released Thursday by the group and London-based law firm Omnia Strategy. The initial reports of the abuse, which allegedly took place in 2023, were raised by international rights group Survival International. The allegations were investigated, but the final report of the abuse remains confidential and many details remain unclear. The rights group said Thursday in a statement that men and women were beaten, tortured or raped 'by rangers who are managed and paid for by African Parks.' It did not provide details. Jonathan Mazower, a spokesperson for Survival International, alleged that African Parks has known since at 'least 2013' of cases of abuse when a researcher raised the issue with them. 'This is not a particularly isolated case,' he said. Founded in 2000, African Parks established a hard-nosed reputation by going into seriously degraded places armed with the right to hire and fire from governments, which retained broad authority but respected a clear separation of roles. The group assumes day-to-day management of countries' wildlife areas, seeking more efficiency and accountability in the campaign to protect flora and fauna from poaching and habitat depletion. Many partner nations struggle to run parks on their own, challenged by poverty, corruption and conflict. ___
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Yahoo
Congo national park associated with Prince Harry acknowledges human rights abuses
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — A national park associated with Prince Harry in the Republic of the Congo has acknowledged that its guards committed human rights abuses against Indigenous peoples who were displaced when the park was constructed. An internal investigation by African Parks, a South African-based wildlife parks consortium, uncovered cases of torture, rape and forced displacement of Indigenous people who used to inhabit the land now occupied by the Odzala-Kokoua National Park. Prince Harry sits on the board of African Parks. 'African Parks acknowledges that, in some incidents, human rights abuses have occurred, and we deeply regret the pain and suffering that these have caused to the victims,' read a statement released Thursday by the group and London-based law firm Omnia Strategy. The initial reports of the abuse, which allegedly took place in 2023, were raised by international rights group Survival International. The allegations were investigated, but the final report of the abuse remains confidential and many details remain unclear. The rights group said Thursday in a statement that men and women were beaten, tortured or raped 'by rangers who are managed and paid for by African Parks.' It did not provide details. Jonathan Mazower, a spokesperson for Survival International, alleged that African Parks has known since at 'least 2013' of cases of abuse when a researcher raised the issue with them. 'This is not a particularly isolated case,' he said. Founded in 2000, African Parks established a hard-nosed reputation by going into seriously degraded places armed with the right to hire and fire from governments, which retained broad authority but respected a clear separation of roles. The group assumes day-to-day management of countries' wildlife areas, seeking more efficiency and accountability in the campaign to protect flora and fauna from poaching and habitat depletion. Many partner nations struggle to run parks on their own, challenged by poverty, corruption and conflict. ___ Louis Patrick Okamba contributed from Brazzaville
Winnipeg Free Press
09-05-2025
- Winnipeg Free Press
Congo national park associated with Prince Harry acknowledges human rights abuses
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — A national park associated with Prince Harry in the Republic of the Congo has acknowledged that its guards committed human rights abuses against Indigenous peoples who were displaced when the park was constructed. An internal investigation by African Parks, a South African-based wildlife parks consortium, uncovered cases of torture, rape and forced displacement of Indigenous people who used to inhabit the land now occupied by the Odzala-Kokoua National Park. Prince Harry sits on the board of African Parks. 'African Parks acknowledges that, in some incidents, human rights abuses have occurred, and we deeply regret the pain and suffering that these have caused to the victims,' read a statement released Thursday by the group and London-based law firm Omnia Strategy. The initial reports of the abuse, which allegedly took place in 2023, were raised by international rights group Survival International. The allegations were investigated, but the final report of the abuse remains confidential and many details remain unclear. The rights group said Thursday in a statement that men and women were beaten, tortured or raped 'by rangers who are managed and paid for by African Parks.' It did not provide details. Jonathan Mazower, a spokesperson for Survival International, alleged that African Parks has known since at 'least 2013' of cases of abuse when a researcher raised the issue with them. 'This is not a particularly isolated case,' he said. Founded in 2000, African Parks established a hard-nosed reputation by going into seriously degraded places armed with the right to hire and fire from governments, which retained broad authority but respected a clear separation of roles. The group assumes day-to-day management of countries' wildlife areas, seeking more efficiency and accountability in the campaign to protect flora and fauna from poaching and habitat depletion. Many partner nations struggle to run parks on their own, challenged by poverty, corruption and conflict. ___ Louis Patrick Okamba contributed from Brazzaville
