"Massive hydroelectricity project planned for Indonesian Borneo" 7 November 2016

• A $17 billion hydroelectricity project on the Kayan River is slated to begin construction in early 2017.
• Experts fear the project, which is expected to affect 184,270 hectares, will have a severe impact on the area’s ecosystem and indigenous people.
• There has been little opposition to the project, with local leaders saying they believe it will bring economic development to the region.

It seems there is always something to take from the island of Kalimantan, Indonesia. The island, also known as Borneo, has already been vastly deforested — logged and cleared, mined for coal or burned and replanted with oil palm. Now, Indonesia’s government is turning to yet another resource: hydro-power. By building a series of dams along the Kayan River, which flows along the northern part of the island, the country’s electricity authority hopes to generate 6,080 megawatts of hydroelectricity. [...]

The Kayan hydroelectric project was first reported in 2013 when then-Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Jero Wacik  announced that Chinese state-owned utility company China Power Investment (CPI) had committed to investing around $17 billion into the project. The promise of such an enormous investment was welcomed by the government, and a host of dignitaries from the ESDM, local governments and the military attended a 2014 ground-breaking ceremony. [...]

Experts fear damming the Kayan River for hydroelectric power could have a serious impact on both the area’s ecosystem and its human population. Like all rivers in Kalimantan, the Kayan is socially and ecologically important. It is integral to the culture of the island’s indigenous peoples, including the Dayak Kayan who have lived along the river’s banks for centuries. The river is also a migration path for both freshwater and marine fish, while the forests surrounding the river are home to orangutans, gibbons and an astonishing array of other plant and animal species. [...]