Activists lose court battle against dam project

MEDAN: Environmentalists lost a court challenge to a Chinese-backed dam in Indonesia that will rip through the habitat of the most critically endangered orang utan species.

The state administrative court in North Sumatra’s capital, Medan, ruled that construction can continue despite critics of the 510MW hydro dam providing evidence that its environmental impact assessment was deeply flawed.

Experts say the dam will flood and in other ways alter the habitat of an orang utan species numbering only about 800 primates and likely make it impossible to take a crucial step toward ensuring the species survives – reconnecting fragmented forests the primates are spread across.

Scientists announced the discovery of a third orang utan species, Pongo tapanuliensis, in November after DNA analysis and field study revealed unique characteristics.

They have frizzier hair and distinctively long calls for males, previously thought to be Sumatran orang utans, also critically endangered.

Without special protection, it’s in danger of rapid extinction, scientists say.

The species is found only in the Batang Toru forest, where the dam will be built.

Announcing the decision of a three-judge panel, presiding judge Jimmy C. Pardede said the witnesses and facts presented by the Indonesian Forum for the Environment, the country’s largest environmental group, in its case against the North Sumatra provincial government were irrelevant.

The group, known by its Indonesian acronym Walhi, said it would appeal.

“We will take all available legal channels,” said Dana Prima Tarigan, the group’s executive director for North Sumatra

China’s state-owned Sinohydro is building the dam.

Critics of the project say it’s part of China’s Belt and Road plan to carpet Asia with Chinese-financed infrastructure and extend its influence.