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.