Environmental Crime Enforcement in Indonesia: Ultimum and Primum Remedium Perspectives

Valerie Zhou

doi:10.56444/jidh.v10i1.6579

Environmental Crime Enforcement in Indonesia: Ultimum and Primum Remedium Perspectives

Valerie Zhou

Sari

Environmental law enforcement in Indonesia continues to face significant challenges despite severe ecological and socio-economic impacts caused by environmental degradation. A key issue is the tendency to treat criminal law as primum remedium, leading to excessive criminalisation, whereas environmental law principles emphasise criminal sanctions as ultimum remedium. This imbalance weakens the role of administrative and civil instruments that are essential for achieving effective environmental restoration. This study aims to critically analyse the appropriate positioning of ultimum remedium and primum remedium within Indonesia’s environmental law enforcement framework and to identify the challenges encountered by law enforcement officials. Using a normative juridical method, it adopts a conceptual and legislative approach while examining legal doctrines and selected court decisions on environmental crimes. The findings indicate that although criminal sanctions remain crucial as deterrents, prioritising them as the main enforcement tool may undermine more substantive efforts toward ecological recovery. Strengthening administrative and civil mechanisms offers a more proportional and sustainable approach. The study concludes that Indonesia must clarify parameters for applying criminal sanctions and enhance synergy across legal instruments to realise effective environmental protection and ecological justice.

Kata Kunci

Ecological Justice; Environmental Law Enforcement; Environmental Crimes; Primum Remedium; Ultimum Remedium

Teks Lengkap:

PDF (English)

Referensi

Abdurrachman, Hamidah, Achmad Irwan Hamzani, and Joko Mariyono. "Environmental crime and law enforcement in Indonesia: some reflections on counterproductive approaches." Environmental Policy and Law 51, no. 6 (2021): 409-416.

Al Kautsar, Izzy, and Danang Wahyu Muhammad. “Sistem hukum modern Lawrance M. Friedman: Budaya hukum dan perubahan sosial masyarakat dari industrial ke digital.” Sapientia Et Virtus 7, no. 2 (2022): 84-99.

Altura, Thomas G., Yuki Hashimoto, Sanford M. Jacoby, Kaoru Kanai, and Kazuro Saguchi. “Japan meets the sharing economy: contending frames.” Social Science Japan Journal 24, no. 1 (2021): 137-161.

Amirullah, Setyo. “Tinjauan Yuridis Terhadap Pembangunan Pagar Laut Dalam Perspektif Perlindungan Lingkungan Hidup dan Partisipasi Publik.” Al-Zayn: Jurnal Ilmu Sosial & Hukum 3, no. 2 (2025): 731-743.

Anis, Muhammad, Sufirman Rahman, and Nasrullah Arsyad. “Penegakan Hukum Tindak Pidana Kehutanan Bidang Illegal Logging Balai Pengamanan Dan Penegakan Hukum Lingkungan Hidup Dan Kehuanan (BPPHLHK) Wilayah Sulawesi.” Journal of Lex Philosophy (JLP) 3, no. 2 (2022): 375-392.

Aristovnik, Aleksander, Hiroko Kudo, Eva Murko, Tadateru Sugawa, and Dejan Ravšelj. “Investigating public governance models in Slovenia and Japan: a comparative survey on state and local government.” Administratie si Management Public 41, no. 5 (2023): 6-25.

Astriani, Nadia. “Pengaturan Air dalam Sistem Hukum Indonesia.” Bina Hukum Lingkungan 5, no. 2 (2021): 371-398.

Auz, Juan. “The Political Ecology of Climate Remedies in Latin America and the Caribbean: Comparing Compliance Between National and Inter-American Litigation.” Journal of Human Rights Practice 16, no. 1 (2024): 182-207.

Burhanudin, Achmad Asfi. "Peran etika profesi hukum sebagai upaya penegakan hukum yang baik." El-Faqih: Jurnal Pemikiran Dan Hukum Islam 4, no. 2 (2018): 50-67.

Bustani, Simona. “Budaya hukum masyarakat dalam mengantisipasi dampak kerusakan lingkungan hidup akibat perkembangan bioteknologi pertanian.” Hukum Pidana dan Pembangunan Hukum 2, no. 2 (2020): 231-241.

Chai, HuiJie. “Analysis of the coordination relationship between the green principle of civil law and environmental law in environmental pollution and ecological destruction.” Journal of Environmental and Public Health 2022, no. 1 (2022): 253-274.

Herlina, Nina. "Permasalahan lingkungan hidup dan penegakan hukum lingkungan di Indonesia." Jurnal Ilmiah Galuh Justisi 3, no. 2 (2017): 162-176.

Johar, Olivia Anggie. "Realitas permasalahan penegakan hukum lingkungan di Indonesia." Jurnal Ilmu Lingkungan 15, no. 1 (2021): 54-65.

Kesek, Meike Negawati. "The Role of Environmental Law in Addressing Climate Change: An Analysis of Law Enforcement and Compliance in Indonesia." International Journal of Business, Law, and Education 6, no. 2 (2025): 1269-1274.

Laily, Farah Nur. "Penegakan hukum lingkungan sebagai upaya mengatasi permasalahan lingkungan hidup di indonesia." Wacana Paramarta: Jurnal Ilmu Hukum 21, no. 2 (2022): 17-26.

Mubarok, Nafi. "Penegakan hukum pidana lingkungan di Indonesia." Al-Jinâyah: Jurnal Hukum Pidana Islam 5, no. 1 (2019): 1-29.

Mulkan, Hasanal, and Serlika Aprita. "Sistem Penegakan Hukum Lingkungan Pidana Di Indonesia." Justicia Sains: Jurnal Ilmu Hukum 7, no. 1 (2022): 97-112.

Nishikawa, Yumeno Grace. “Japanese climate litigation and the development of personal rights.” Chinese Journal of Environmental Law 7, no. 2 (2023): 214-226.

Novianti, Linda. “Pidana Mati Terhadap Tindak Pidana Terorisme di Indonesia Dihubungkan dengan Tujuan Pemidanaan dalam Perspektif Hukum Positif dan Hukum Pidana Islam.” Jurnal Syntax Imperatif: Jurnal Ilmu Sosial Dan Pendidikan 4, no. 1 (2023): 50-70.

Nugraha, Arvin Asta, I. Gusti Ayu Ketut Rachmi Handayani, and Fatma Ulfatun Najicha. “Peran hukum lingkungan dalam mencegah kerusakan dan pencemaran lingkungan hidup.” Jurnal Hukum To-Ra: Hukum Untuk Mengatur Dan Melindungi Masyarakat 7, no. 2 (2021): 283-298.

Nurhaini, Elisabeth. “Metode Penelitian Hukum.” Bandung: PT Refika Aditama (2018).

Nurs-Al Umar, Santoso Budi. "Penegakan hukum lingkungan di indonesia." Wacana Hukum 10, no. 2 (2011): 343-356.

Pratjna, Dwientha Ayu, Nyoman Serikat Putra Jaya, and Purwoto Purwoto. "Kebijakan Hukum Pidana dalam Upaya Penanggulangan Tindak Pidana Lingkungan Hidup di Indonesia." Diponegoro Law Journal 8, no. 2 (2019): 1026-1041.

Ramadhan, Muh Zafri. "Failure of Criminal Sanctions in Law Enforcement Environmental Crime in Indonesia." Journal of Verum Legis Indonesia 1, no. 1 (2025): 28-37.

Salim, Agus, and Liberthin Palullungan. "The challenges of environmental law enforcement to implement SDGs in Indonesia." International Journal of Criminology and Sociology 10 (2021): 517-524.

Salim, Agus, Ria Anggraeni Utami, and Zico Junius Fernando. “Green Victimology: Sebuah Konsep Perlindungan Korban dan Penegakan Hukum Lingkungan di Indonesia.” Bina Hukum Lingkungan 7, no. 1 (2022): 59-79.

Saragih, Geofani Milthree, Mirza Nasution, and Eka NAM Sihombing. “Judicial Review Oleh Mahkamah Konstitusi: Judicial Activism vs. Judicial Restraint dalam Perspektif Kebebasan Kehakiman: Judicial Review by the Constitutional Court: Judicial Activism vs. Judicial Restraint in the Perspective of Judicial Freedom.” Jurnal Konstitusi 22, no. 1 (2025): 39-65.

Saragih, Geofani Milthree. “A Judges’ Role in Pursuing Justice: Oliver Wendell Holmes’ Sociological Jurisprudence Perspective.” International Journal of Law Society Services 3, no. 2 (2024): 58-66.

Syahrin, Alvi, Martono Anggusti, and Abdul Aziz Aisa. Asas-Asas Dan Ketentuan Pidana Perlindungan Dan Pengelolaan Lingkungan Hidup (Pasca Berlakunya Undang-Undang Cipta Kerja). Medan: Merdeka Kreasi (2022).

Widiartana, Gregorius, Vincentius Patria Setyawan, and Ariesta Wibisono Anditya. "Ecocide as an Environmental Crime: Urgency for Legal Reform in Indonesia." Journal of Law, Environmental and Justice 3, no. 2 (2025): 268-308.

Xu, Qi, Mengxue Zhang, and Peng Guo. “Reflections on Japan’s participation in negotiations of the global plastic pollution instrument under international environmental law.” Frontiers in Marine Science 10 (2023): 1328.

Yang, Meng. “Comparative Study on Marine Environmental Protection Legislation Between China and Japan from The Perspective of International Environmental Law.” J. Educ. Humanit. Soc. Sci. 1 (2022): 113-117.

Zico, Junius Fernando, Sarjana Putra Panca, and Sri Wulandari. “Potential overcriminalization in religious offenses: A critical analysis of the formulation of the new national criminal code (Law 1 Number 2023).” Jurnal HAM 14 (2023): 205.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.56444/jidh.v10i1.6579