Deforestation, Agriculture, Mining, and Development Fuel Malaria Epidemic

The construction of the Nusantara Capital City (IKN) has been underway since 2022 and has cleared 256,142 hectares of forest in Indonesia. As forest land is converted, the ecosystem is disturbed, and people are displaced, the risk of malaria transmission increases.

Malaria is a disease caused by the Plasmodium parasite, which is transmitted through the bites of infected mosquitoes. In Indonesia, there are about 450 species of mosquitoes, of which 30 species of Anopheles mosquitoes carry malaria-causing parasites. One such parasite, Plasmodium knowlesi, caused an epidemic in 2004, taking hold of the Sabah and Serawak regions of neighboring Malaysia. East Kalimantan, in Indonesia, is in the same ecological region as Malaysia. As deforestation continues, the risk of a malaria epidemic in this region rises. In Kalimantan, 59% of the total deforestation in Indonesia, covering an area of 250,000 hectares, has occurred. East Kalimantan is the region with the highest deforestation rate, covering an area of 44,483 hectares. In addition, outdoor workers and migrants who have been exposed to malaria in their home regions have become new vectors for the spread of the disease.

This project looks into how the conversion of forest land and the displacement of people from various regions for the construction of the Nusantara Capital City have increased the vulnerability to malaria transmission. This report found that the cycle of mosquito attacks never stops. When forests begin to be cleared, malaria spreads. When the forest landscape is transformed into settlements, Anopheles attacks decrease or even disappear, but Aedes mosquitoes, which carry dengue fever, increase. Researchers call it a "tangled thread" that can never be untangled.