Your smartphone could be linked to crocodile attacks in Indonesia. Here’s how

What is the connection between your smartphone and crocodile attacks? It’s very simple.

Smartphones require tin, which is often mined illegally in Indonesia. When illegal tin mines are abandoned, they fill with water. Crocodiles come to the mine from nearby waters in search of food, as prey has become scarce due to fishing and other human pressures. Crocodile attacks are on the rise.

That’s the short version. Here’s the longer version.

After intensive culling in Indonesia in the 20th century, saltwater crocodiles (Crocodylus scrofa) are now returning to islands such as Bali and Java. Crocodile attacks have become a serious problem. In the ten years to 2023, there were over 1,000 attacks, resulting in 486 deaths.

But these attacks are not evenly distributed. Crocodile hotspots include the Bangka-Belitung Islands off the southeast coast of Sumatra. And these islands have huge tin deposits.

The Islands of Tin

The province of Bangka-Belitung consists of two large islands of the same name and hundreds of smaller islands. Around 1.5 million people live here. Tin is the mainstay of the economy.

Tin is essential for smartphone production, as it is used to solder different components together. Indonesia is the second largest tin producing country after China, producing around a third of the world’s production. And within Indonesia, almost all tin – 90% – comes from the Bangka-Belitung Islands.

During the authoritarian Suharto regime, tin mining here was controlled by the central government. After Indonesia’s democratization in 1998, the Bangka-Belitung regional government took control of tin mining. In 2001, the government gave its citizens the right to mine tin. The number of illegal tin mines increased rapidly as a result, quadrupling in just three years after the laws were passed.

Two decades later, illegal tin mining has destroyed much of the province’s biodiversity, particularly fish populations. For humans, the work is dangerous – around 150 miners die each year in accidents, including crocodile attacks. The miners also invade crocodile habitats such as mangroves.

Tin mining makes the landscape look like the moon. Native animals flee or die. Mud pollutes the waters. Fish stocks dwindle. And crocodiles get hungrier. They start to look for other prey. Dogs. Cows. People.

Desperate people, desperate crocodiles

Illegal tin mining brings crocodiles closer to humans by creating new habitat, but it is of poor quality. After miners excavate the tin ore by hand, the craters left behind fill with water, forming pools known as “kulongs.”

These kulongs are often found close enough to waterways that they can become home to fish and other prey after a flood. These mining pools extend much further inland than the islands’ natural waterways, allowing saltwater crocodiles to reach much further inland. Hungry crocodiles come for the fish, but could also be after dogs or people.

It’s not just about mining – deforestation and oil palm cultivation often involve the construction of drainage canals. These canals make it easier for crocodiles to approach areas where workers swim or fish.

All this means that the sharp rise in crocodile attacks was almost inevitable. Habitat destruction from mining in or near waterways has made it increasingly easier for crocodiles to stay close to humans.

In the ten years to 2023, nearly 100 crocodile attacks were reported on these islands, resulting in 41 deaths. Almost a third of these attacks (32%) occurred in current or former tin mines, and a sixth (16.5%) were in mining operations at the time.

In comparison, Queensland had only five fatal and 14 non-fatal attacks in the same decade.

Langka Sani, founder of local wildlife conservation group Alobi Foundation, said:

In the past, we may never have heard of a crocodile attack in the course of a year, but now, in the last two weeks, there have been dozens of reports of crocodile cases.

His organization has taken in dozens of crocodiles attacked by humans in retaliation for crocodile attacks, and some of them are being relocated.

To reduce the number of crocodile attacks, illegal tin mining would have to be stopped. Is that possible? Yes, but unlikely. The state-owned tin mining company PT Timah offers miners safer working conditions. But they cannot compete with the additional income from illegal mining.

This means that the global demand for tin for smartphones will be fatal in the foreseeable future.

Read more: Saltwater crocodiles are slowly returning to Bali and Java. Can we learn to coexist with them?