Mining minerals to meet global green energy goals is sparking conflict in Asia and elsewhere, uprooting communities, harming the environment and violating human rights, according to a new report by Global Witness.
“We see everything from people protesting about environmental effects, about their land being taken from them, and human rights abuses, to miners themselves having disputes with companies about, for example, lack of payment or poor working conditions,” said Emily Iona Stewart, head of policy and European Union relations at Global Witness, an international NGO focused on exposing environmental and human rights abuses in resource industries.
The report – co-produced with African Resources Watch and Jaringan Advokasi Tambang – found that mining for critical minerals like lithium, cobalt, nickel and copper, essential for electric vehicles, wind turbines, solar panels and electric grids, was linked to 334 incidents of violence, protests and deaths between 2021 and 2023. 90 per cent of those occurred in emerging economies.
Southeast Asia, with some of the world’s largest mineral reserves, has become a particular hotspot of unrest. Indonesia houses almost a quarter of the world’s nickel reserves, followed closely by the Philippines, while Vietnam and Myanmar possess between 10 per cent and 20 per cent of the world’s rare earth elements.
Communities in these countries are bearing the brunt of global efforts to mine these resources to support the energy transition. “We’re doing this to protect humanity from the worst effects of climate change, so it doesn’t make any sense if we’re hurting humanity in the process of trying to get the chance to decarbonise,” Stewart said.
In the Philippines, people have been forced off their land to make way for new mines, threatening local biodiversity, while in Myanmar, illegal mines that have emerged since the 2021 military coup have polluted water sources, exacerbating food insecurity. Indonesian nickel miners, meanwhile, report poor working conditions.
Coal-powered mines in places like Halmahera, Indonesia, add to carbon emissions, affecting local air quality, said Danny Marks, assistant professor of environmental politics and policy, focused on Southeast Asia, at Dublin City University. “Even though you’re making more nickel, you’re still causing more carbon emissions just to make that nickel for these mines,” he said.
Although the end goal is to make the planet greener by shifting away from traditional fuels like coal, local communities are often still negatively impacted. “You’re essentially still grabbing their land, you’re still stealing their resources, you’re still taking away their lives, livelihoods and homes to conduct mineral exploration and extraction activities,” said Prarthana Rao, manager of the business and human rights programme at FORUM-ASIA.
Rao also explained that the transition away from coal isn’t happening fast enough. With mounting international pressure to meet climate targets like the Paris Agreement, mining activity is accelerating, leading to more land grabs and protests, which often turn violent.
Unrest is likely to escalate, warned Stewart, as countries ramp up their efforts to phase out fossil fuels. The Global Witness report projects that copper mining will increase by over 25 per cent by 2028, cobalt by more than 100 per cent, lithium over 300 per cent and nickel over 75 per cent.
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You’re essentially still grabbing their land, you’re still stealing their resources, you’re still taking away their lives, livelihoods and homes to conduct mineral exploration and extraction activities.
Prarthana Rao, manager, Forum-Asia
All the costs, none of the gains
While mining for critical minerals is booming across the Global South, the financial rewards mainly benefit production companies in wealthier nations like Australia, the United States, Switzerland and China, the report found.
“We’re seeing that the Global South is essentially becoming a mining ground for the Global North to export all these critical minerals,” said Rao, noting that companies rarely consider affected local communities. Limited environmental and social impact assessments are conducted, she said, and there are often no channels for communities to raise concerns.
“When they do voice their grievances, there aren’t grievance redressal mechanisms in place … creating frustration [and] anger,” she said. As a result, many communities rally together to stage mostly peaceful protests: “When they’re met with resistance, of course, they fight back,” she added.
In New Caledonia, home to the fifth largest reserve of nickel globally, economic pressures led to riots and strikes earlier this year. In the Philippines, residents in Palawan province erected barricades to protest environmental destruction from mining activities in 2023.
The Philippines is the deadliest country in the region for environmental activists, with 298 killed since 2012, and 17 in 2023 alone, according to a separate Global Witness report. In Indonesia, two nickel mine workers were killed last year during protests over working conditions.
It’s also not uncommon for protestors to face charges of sedition, defamation or criminal violence against authorities. Reports from Indonesia and the Philippines reveal arrests of both miners and community members opposing conditions or mining operations.
But in Myanmar, where a de-facto military government rules and any form of opposition is detained, communities often receive no information about new mining projects. With the fear of detention silencing many, those same communities “are also afraid of social movements, because [since] the coup there [has been] no rule or law,” said Saw Hea Say, advocacy officer at the Karen Environment and Social Action Network.
Looking ahead
With demand for critical minerals showing no sign of slowing, Global Witness is calling on leaders meeting at this week’s global climate conference, COP29, in Azerbaijan, to address the human and environmental costs of renewable energy mining and to implement stronger protection mechanisms.
But for Rao, the future seems bleak as Asia continues to prioritise economic growth over civil liberties. “The situation seems like it’s not going to improve because we’re operating in a context that’s becoming more and more oppressive. Against the backdrop of civic space decreasing, people are unable to speak out, authoritarian governments are taking over, and then there’s the focus on sole economic growth. Where is the ray of hope?”
Over the past decade, countries like Vietnam, Cambodia and Kyrgyzstan have increasingly restricted civil society, making it the most repressive region globally for environmental activism and journalism. Despite these challenges, Say believes civil society remains essential in pushing for responsible mining regulations. “They can document what is happening and conduct research and advocacy around these projects,” he suggested.
Stewart hopes Global Witness’ report, showing a clear correlation between countries’ efforts to switch to renewable energy and the rise in social unrest, will “serve as a wake-up call to ensure that supply chains are truly sustainable.” To get there, mining companies need to adopt and enforce higher standards to protect the rights of affected communities and the environment, while national governments need to strengthen enforcement of human rights, labour laws and environmental protections.
Echoing her views, Marks urged mineral-dependent companies, such as Tesla, Ford and Volkswagen, to invest more in understanding their supply chains and to assume responsibility for the damages caused by mining they are reliant on. “It’s great that people in Europe and elsewhere are moving towards EVs,” he said. “But the entire supply chain needs to take action in terms of justice and costs of it.”
This article was originally published on Dialogue Earth under a Creative Commons licence.
