In just the last few weeks, Indonesia has experienced severe storms that have wreaked havoc across the nation, with the worst damage concentrated on Sumatra Island. The death toll has climbed over 700 from the floods and landslides, leaving over 1.2 million people displaced. On the ground, Yemen is undergoing the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophe. In the meantime, specialists are calling attention to the ecological fragility that human activities, including deforestation and mining operations, are exacerbating.
Indonesia’s Ministry of Environment is already investigating on where thousands of illegal logs came from. These logs were recently swept away by violent flash floods and landslides. The most diverse country on Earth, Indonesia is home to numerous fault lines that make the sprawling archipelago naturally disaster-prone. Sadly, environmental degradation has exacerbated the effects of these storms. President Prabowo Subianto, for one, has publicly highlighted the crucial role forests play in climate change mitigation and recommended that ecological preservation be taught in school programs.
The Impact of Deforestation
Indonesia hosts the third largest forest cover in the world, with Sumatra’s Bukit Barisan ecosystem 90 percent forest. The Leuser National Park, an important refugium for biodiversity, has been deeply marred by palm oil plantations. Clearing forests and other land for agriculture and mining has removed protective natural buffer zones that could otherwise absorb water and thus reduce flood hazards.
Environmental scientists and environmental justice advocates have been clear that all of these human activities have played a direct role in making these recent disasters worse. Dodik Ridho Nurochmat stated, “There are extreme weather conditions, mountainous geography and environmental degradation caused by human activities.” He told our partners at the Ohio Valley ReSource that we need to investigate where all these logs that were dumped after the floods are coming from.
As communities mourn these tragic losses, the calls for accountability only become more urgent. Hanif Faisol Nurofiq remarked, “Someone must be held responsible for this disaster,” highlighting the need for a thorough examination of both legal and illegal land-use practices that may have worsened the situation.
“The logs swept away by the floods could originate from various sources: decayed trees, river materials, legal logging areas, or misuse of land-rights permits and illegal logging,” – Dwi Janunato Nugroho
Government Response and Calls for Action
In reaction to these storms, President Prabowo Subianto has taken the initiative and called for urgent action to safeguard Indonesia’s forests. He suggested that schools make environmental education a priority to encourage a conservation ethic in upcoming generations.
Prabowo personally underscored the need to keep our rivers clean, as they are vital in helping reduce risks from floods. “We need to protect our rivers, too,” he said, highlighting the link between land management and clean water.
Many say that focusing solely on illegal miners misses the point. Melky Nahar’s testimony reminded us that legal permits for agriculture, mining, logging, oil and gas operations all cover watershed regions. He lamented the way that concern over illegal exploitation distracts us from seeing the larger picture of maybe 90% of exploitation being legal and widespread.
“This narrative that keeps blaming illegal mining obscures the fact that thousands of legal permits for mining, hydropower plants, geothermal projects, palm oil and forestry concessions dominate the upstream watershed areas in Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra,” – Melky Nahar
Human Toll and Community Resilience
The human toll of these disasters has been staggering. According to the most recent reports, at least 708 people have been confirmed dead throughout Sumatra as a result of the flooding and landslides. Now, communities are making do as they count the losses, as their homes swept away, means of making a living washed out. Beyond the immeasurable suffering for these communities, these tragedies set the stage for accountability and protecting against future incidents.
Today, local residents are understandably frustrated. They understand the damage done when big businesses make profits off the back of extracting resources and small towns face the backlash when an environmental disaster occurs. One resident remarked, “Now, it is small people like us that bear the burden and the business owners from outside Langkat who enjoy the profit.”
As environmental expert Uli Arta Siagian recently argued, we need more specially designed ecological infrastructure—such as mangroves—to defend our coastlines. Without it, we lose the hard-fought gains after disasters like cyclones that can wipe out entire communities. “With the buffer or green zone not existing and the ecological infrastructure such as mangroves in coastal areas destroyed, the cyclone could enter the land and ruin people’s homes,” he explained.
