Sumatra Drained, Flooded, and Forsaken: A Island Sacrificed Through Government-Issued Mining Permits
JAKARTA — Sumatra is not merely damaged; it is being sacrificed. The 473-thousand-square-kilometre island, home to 60 million people, has been transformed into a vast surgical table where forests, rivers, and mountains are carved open in the name of investment and mineral extraction.
Official data from Indonesia’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) as of December 2025 records 2,054 active mining permits controlling a combined 2.7 million hectares of land—four times the size of Bali. Every week, an estimated 7,400 hectares undergo drastic land-use changes, most of them located in upstream watersheds and protected forest zones that should, by law, remain untouched. The government no longer appears to fulfil its mandate of ecological protection; instead, it has become an extension of the extractive industry.
Arizal Mahdi, Chairman of Relawan Peduli Rakyat Lintas Batas, asserts that the government has failed to protect its citizens by authorising permits that destroy the very ecosystems communities depend on.
Aceh and North Sumatra: The Deliberately Broken Headwaters
Aceh, long viewed as the last stronghold of Sumatra’s natural forests, is now pressured by more than 145 mining permits. Linge, Pidie, Aceh Barat, and Nagan Raya have become epicentres of destruction. According to WALHI Aceh, over 320,000 hectares of forest have disappeared in the past decade. The recurring flash floods in Pidie, landslides in Southeast Aceh, and the collapse of the Krueng Aceh watershed are not natural disasters—they are political decisions materialised as ecological damage.
In North Sumatra, Forest Watch Indonesia (FWI) reports a loss of 403,000 hectares of forest within ten years. From Tapanuli to the Lake Toba region, the landscape is now marked by open-pit mines, monoculture plantations, and vanished primary forests. Floods in Mandailing Natal, landslides in Tapanuli, and deteriorating water quality in Lake Toba are direct consequences of upstream destruction.
Other Provinces Show the Same Pattern
Bangka Belitung holds 452 mining permits, turning the island into a crater-filled moonscape. The Riau Islands have 349 permits, with coastal zones turning murky from bauxite sedimentation. South Sumatra, West Sumatra, Jambi, and other regions contribute hundreds more permits, collectively forming the mosaic of Sumatra’s degradation.
Nearly half of these permits operate within protected forests, karst ecosystems, and upstream watersheds—areas that should be strictly off-limits under government regulations. Yet the permits are issued, operations proceed, and destruction continues.
Government Continues to Issue New Permits Amid Crisis
Despite the mounting ecological damage, the government continues to approve new mining concessions every month, treating Sumatra as if it were a board game that can be divided and allocated at will. Promises of reforestation are repeatedly made but rarely materialise. An 80-metre-deep mining crater cannot be restored simply by planting saplings.
Environmental Groups Call It a Legalised Ecological Crime
Environmental coalitions, including JATAM and WALHI, have labelled the ongoing destruction “a legalised ecological crime”, “a seizure of public living space”, and “a transfer of disaster risks from the state to ordinary citizens”. Their warnings, however, rarely translate into policy reform.
Communities Pay with Disaster While Companies Pay Pennies
Sumatra supplies coal, tin, nickel, bauxite, and gold to global supply chains. But local people pay the price through flash floods, toxic air, dead land, collapsing water sources, and trauma passed on to their children. Royalties flow in, but in small amounts. Disasters strike, but with massive consequences.
Conclusion: Sumatra Is Not Dying — Sumatra Is Being Killed
This crisis is not a natural phenomenon. It is not fate. It is not an act of nature. It is a deliberate, structured, and prolonged process, signed and legitimised through government-issued mining permits.
Sumatra is not dying. Sumatra is being killed. And its killers are clear: policies, permits, and the state’s failure to protect its own people.
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