This film, which presents testimonies from local communities, highlights the real impact of the nickel industry: water contaminated with heavy metals, fatal workplace accidents, and the dangers of nickel waste to public health. “The amount of tailings or nickel mining waste is twice as much as the waste produced by the capital city of Jakarta, namely 6 million tonnes of waste, because only 0.7% of each tonne mined is actually nickel. The tailings that are formed accumulate without adequate management. The tailings are carried by water, enter rivers, enter the soil and poison the natural resources of the people there. Don’t hide all this from the public,” said Pius Ginting, AEER Coordinator, in a discussion after the launch.

According to Geger Riyanto, a researcher at the University of Indonesia who has conducted research on Weda Island, Central Halmahera, inadequate downstream mining management in eastern Indonesia still continue to attract residents to work there due to the lack of local opportunities to earn a living for their families. ‘The risk of fatal accidents that result in death is also faced because the supply of labour is very large compared to the available jobs,’ he said.

In response to this, the Head of the Industrial Services Standardisation and Policy Agency, Mr Andi Rizaldi, said that technology and development progress are like a double-edged sword, which can be viewed positively in terms of increased income or negatively in terms of environmental pollution. ‘To find a solution, all stakeholders must sit down together. What is clear is that the industry can operate because it has obtained permits from various ministries, not just one,’ he said.

According to Aloysius Wiratmo, a representative of the Indonesia Business Council for Sustainable Development, companies should conduct assessments, commit to planning changes, and undertake transformations to protect nature.

The film ‘Nickel Waste & the Dream of Clean Energy’ is a call for the government to immediately improve the governance of the nickel industry, enforce environmental and human rights regulations, and limit the expansion of industries that damage the ecology and society.