Nickel is essential for the energy transition, and demand is...

Nickel is essential for the energy transition, and demand is booming. But did you know that 60% of the world's nickel supply comes from a unique and fragile environment: tropical ultramafic rainforests.

The nickel mines (and the associated agricultural activities that follow) have a significant footprint in the world's largest tropical ultramafic outcrops, located in Sulawesi and Halmahera. Yet, we don't have any scientific information on the cumulative impacts of these activities.

Although available science indicates that these ultramafic rainforests are biodiversity hotspots, we don't have much in the way of systematic scientific surveys. Only one scientific paper (from 2017) has looked at ultramafic ecology across Asia. This paper highlighted the lack of data on Sulawesi and Halmahera ultramafics.

Some of the key points from the study are:

Ultramafic rainforests harbor populations that are morphologically and physiologically distinct from those found on non-ultramafic soils.

The Southeast Asian tropical ultramafic forests contain a higher proportion of its vascular plant, reptile, bird, and mammal species categorized as globally threatened on the Red List compared to other ultramafic outcrops.

"Ultramafic areas are a high priority for biodiversity conservation because of the relatively large numbers of endemic species, ecotypes, and rare species that they harbour."

"With such limited study of ultramafics in South and Southeast Asia, it is unclear how increasing habitat loss is impacting biodiverse ultramafic outcrops in the region."

It is "critical that basic geoecological surveys of ultramafic outcrops, including the extensive exposures in Sulawesi and Halmahera, are prioritised for cataloguing plant diversity and other biota. This is especially critical as many of these outcrops likely harbor rare and endemic species in need of urgent conservation attention."

"Ultramafic outcrops are natural laboratories for experimental and applied research in a wide range of disciplines. They provide numerous opportunities for collaborations among geologists, edologists, botanists, zoologists, microbiologists, and land managers focusing on conservation and restoration research. However, research on the ultramafic outcrops in South and Southeast Asia has been limited".

In Indonesian ultramafics, "detailed and systematic surveys will likely reveal numerous species
new to science".

See the paper here: https://lnkd.in/gYvRBbPW

Given the dramatic increase in nickel mining activities in tropical ultramafics, it is essential that more studies are done before it's too late. Some of Indonesia's leading nickel miners are making huge improvements in the way they operate, but more effort is needed from the broader nickel sector in Indonesia. We also need the battery supply chain to fund and support the scientific community to help build up more data on this important topic.