Tigers, elephants, Indonesians sue Japan over dam project
Tigers, elephants, Indonesians sue Japan over dam project
Shingo Ito, Agence France-Presse, Tokyo
Tigers and elephants joined more than 4,500 Indonesian villagers
Friday on the list of plaintiffs suing for compensation for
losses caused by a Japanese aid-financed dam.
Some 4,535 people from the northern Indonesian island of
Sumatra filed a suit with the Tokyo District Court against the
Japanese government, official aid agencies and firms engaged in
building the Kotopanjang Dam, completed in 1997.
The plaintiffs include the "ecological system formed by such
animals as Sumatran elephants, Sumatran tigers and Malay tapirs".
The human plaintiffs claim the animals are also victims of the
dam construction.
The plaintiffs are seeking 22.7 billion yen (US$189 million)
in compensation and a halt to operation of the 31.2-billion-yen
hydropower project which was financed with Official Development
Assistance (ODA), as Japan's aid is formally known.
A similar lawsuit was filed by another 3,861 residents from
the same village in September last year seeking 19.3 billion yen
in compensation.
The September case was the first brought by local residents
against the Japanese government and aid organizations over their
responsibility for the impact of ODA.
Lawyers said the area in which the dam was built is the
habitat of elephants, tigers and tapirs. The number of elephants
in the area had declined from 100 before the dam was built to
less than 40, they said.
Lawyer Fumio Asano said it was not known if the court would
accept the animals as plaintiffs.
"But in the past there were some cases involving non-human
plaintiffs," Asano said. "We will try to leave the animals on the
plaintiffs list as damage to ecology is a key concept for this
lawsuit."
Plaintiff Taufik Hidayah said tens of thousands of villagers
suffered financial hardship after they were forcibly resettled or
lost part of their property due to the dam.
Co-defendants Japan Bank for International Cooperation and the
foreign ministry have not yet commented on the case.