Open letter : Leading scientists, international NGOs and Scottish environmental groups urge ministers to act to save world’s rarest great ape

A coalition of international and Scottish organizations is calling on the Scottish Government to challenge the Batang Toru dam project in Indonesia. The project, developed by SDIC Power and its Edinburgh-based subsidiary Red Rock Power, threatens the Tapanuli orangutan, the world's rarest great ape. The letter highlights environmental risks, human rights abuses, and the contradiction between the project and Scotland's biodiversity and just transition commitments.

• The Batang Toru hydroelectric dam project in North Sumatra threatens the Tapanuli orangutan, a species discovered in 2017 with fewer than 800 individuals, by slicing through its habitat and pushing it toward extinction.
• The dam is being constructed by the Chinese State Development & Investment Corporation (SDIC Power) via its subsidiary, Red Rock Power. Red Rock Power is based in Edinburgh and holds significant stakes in the Inch Cape, Benbrack, and Beatrice wind farms.
• The project is associated with severe human rights and safety concerns, including the deaths of over 17 workers and locals, the suspicious death of lawyer Golfrid Siregar, and a pattern of intimidation against critics.
• The authors argue that the link between Scottish renewable energy profits and a project involving potential ecocide and human rights abuses undermines Scotland's position as a global biodiversity leader under the Edinburgh Declaration and its just transition commitments.
• The signatories demand that SDIC respect the IUCN moratorium on construction and commit to a long-term conservation management plan for the Batang Toru ecosystem and a public, independent impact assessment.

APA

Meijaard, E., Laurance, W. F., Wich, S., & Redmond, I. (2023). Open letter : Leading scientists, international NGOs and Scottish environmental groups urge ministers to act to save world’s rarest great ape. Mighty Earth. https://mightyearth.org/article/open-letter-leading-scientists-international-ngos-and-scottish-environmental-groups-urge-ministers-to-act-to-save-worlds-rarest-great-ape/

Chicago

Meijaard, Erik, William F. Laurance, Serge Wich, and Ian Redmond. Open letter : Leading scientists, international NGOs and Scottish environmental groups urge ministers to act to save world’s rarest great ape. Mighty Earth, 2023. https://mightyearth.org/article/open-letter-leading-scientists-international-ngos-and-scottish-environmental-groups-urge-ministers-to-act-to-save-worlds-rarest-great-ape/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Meijaard |first1=Erik |last2=Laurance |first2=William F. |last3=Wich |first3=Serge |last4=Redmond |first4=Ian |title=Open letter : Leading scientists, international NGOs and Scottish environmental groups urge ministers to act to save world’s rarest great ape |publisher=Mighty Earth |date=11 September 2023 |url=https://mightyearth.org/article/open-letter-leading-scientists-international-ngos-and-scottish-environmental-groups-urge-ministers-to-act-to-save-worlds-rarest-great-ape/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{meijaard2023open, author = {Meijaard, Erik and Laurance, William F. and Wich, Serge and Redmond, Ian}, title = {{Open letter : Leading scientists, international NGOs and Scottish environmental groups urge ministers to act to save world’s rarest great ape}}, publisher = {Mighty Earth}, year = {2023}, month = sep, url = {https://mightyearth.org/article/open-letter-leading-scientists-international-ngos-and-scottish-environmental-groups-urge-ministers-to-act-to-save-worlds-rarest-great-ape/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }