Ecocide of the Tin Islands: Corruption, Environmental Collapse, and Community

Centuries of mining activities have left a trail of ecocide along the riverine “tin veins” of Bangka Belitung, Indonesia–an archipelago often referred to as the “TIn Islands” and responsible for producing one-fifth of the world’s tin. While industrial-scale mining is common, Bangka Belitung’s tin production is reliant on the approximately 50 thousand artisanal miners who work with neither legal permits nor appropriate safety equipment. Their illegal yield amalgamates with legal tin ore during the smelting process. This means, customers from around the world import illegal tin ore from Indonesia, with or without awareness of it.

The latest corruption case crackdown that has been unfolding since October 2023 reveals how unjust the value chain of tin production is. Artisanal miners lost their only means to make ends meet after the industry halted. The economy of many rural communities is also paralyzed as the buying power of locals depends heavily on the tin market. To make matters worse, their soil has become barren and their sea polluted because of the continuous scraping of the landscape by the mining industry. As a result, farming and fishing, local’s original professions before becoming artisanal miners, can no longer sustain livelihood.

There has been numerous coverage about the corruption, but most fall short in relating it to the societal collapse at local level and how the international market, predominantly China, is responsible for creating such a catastrophe. This project is interested in addressing this issue within the frame of “ecocide,” a combination of “ecology” and “genocide."