#halmahera

Tesla, plus French and German companies, all linked to massive nickel mining plans

A unique uncontacted tribe could be wiped out by a massive Indonesian project to produce nickel for electric car batteries.

A vast mining scheme on the island of Halmahera is part of Indonesia’s plan to become a major producer of electric car batteries – a plan into which Tesla and other companies are pouring billions of dollars.

But nickel mining is set to destroy vast areas of the forested interior of Halmahera. These forests are inhabited by 300-500 uncontacted members of the Hongana Manyawa tribe. If mining goes ahead as planned, they will not survive the destruction.

The Hongana Manyawa – which means ‘People of the Forest’ in their own language - are one of the last nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes in Indonesia.

They now face the threat of seeing their land, and everything they need to survive, destroyed by corporations rushing to provide a supposedly ‘sustainable’ lifestyle to people thousands of miles away.

Huff & Bolillo ♥ @geckomancyy‘s beautiful BTS boys! Skinks are so challenging to draw!

Some recent commissions people had me do of their pets.