Indonesians Demand Government Match Words with Action and Ditch Ocean Dumping – by Ellen Moore (Earthworks.org – June 7, 2021)

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Less than a year ago, two major nickel EV battery chemical processing plants planned to dump 31 million tonnes of toxic mine waste into the Coral Triangle, threatening fragile and endangered coral reefs and subsistence fishing communities.

Today, both projects have withdrawn their permits to dump mine waste into the ocean, and the Indonesian government has publicly committed not to issue permits for the harmful practice. But there is still work to do.

Earthworks is collaborating with Action for Ecology and People’s Emancipation (AEER) to ensure the Indonesian government uphold its promise to prohibit all future submarine tailings disposal. Until then, the risks to downstream users, financial backers, and most of all communities and the marine environment, remain.

The transition to electric vehicles shouldn’t be built on the backs of Indonesians. Indonesia is the world’s largest nickel producer and is poised to dramatically scale up production to meet skyrocketing demand.

Nickel demand is expected to increase six-fold by 2030, driven in large part by demand for electric vehicle batteries.

For the rest of this article: https://www.earthworks.org/blog/indonesians-demand-government-match-words-with-action-and-ditch-ocean-dumping/