Indonesia court allows construction of China-backed dam in endangered orangutan habitat to continue, angering environmental activists

Critics of the 510-megawatt hydro dam say evidence of the dam’s environmental impact assessment was deeply flawed

The dam will be built in the Batang Toru forest, which is home to the most endangered species of orangutans

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An activist in an orangutan costume protests outside the Chinese Consulate in Medan, Indonesia. Photo: AP

Published: 11:53am, 5 Mar 2019Updated: 10:26pm, 5 Mar 2019

A state court in Indonesia has ruled that a China-backed dam that will rip through the habitat of the most critically endangered orangutan species will be allowed to be built, in a case that has outraged environmentalists.

The three-judge panel in a state administrative court in Medan, North Sumatra, ruled that construction can continue, despite critics of the 510-megawatt hydro dam providing evidence its environmental impact assessment was deeply flawed.

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.

Activists protest against the construction of a Chinese-backed dam in Batang Toru. Photo: AP

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.

The group said the judges considered the case from a narrow administrative perspective and ignored its environmental and conservation dimensions.

Experts say the dam will flood and in other ways alter the habitat of an orangutan species whose population numbers only about 800.