Nomadic Hongana Manyawa family. Photo taken during early contact. © Survival

Help stop an uncontacted tribe being wiped out to produce electric car batteries

Dear Jack,

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

Rainforest inhabited by hundreds of uncontacted Hongana Manyawa people has been targeted for highly destructive mining, which will devastate the forest – and the people.

Hugely powerful companies are involved. The Hongana Manyawa desperately need your support if they’re to survive.

The 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. Nickel is currently a key ingredient of these batteries.

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 produce supposedly climate-friendly cars for people living thousands of miles away.

Please urge Tesla to publicly commit to ensure that none of the minerals they buy ever comes from the lands of uncontacted Indigenous people in Halmahera, and let the mining companies, and the Indonesian authorities, know you’ve done so.

With many thanks for your support,

Caroline Pearce
Director
Survival International