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Rahmadi, Takdir --- "Toward integrated environmental law: Indonesian experiences so far and expectations of a future Environmental Management Act" [2006] ELECD 505; in Faure, Michael; Niessen, Nicole (eds), "Environmental Law in Development" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2006)

Book Title: Environmental Law in Development

Editor(s): Faure, Michael; Niessen, Nicole

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781845425197

Section: Chapter 6

Section Title: Toward integrated environmental law: Indonesian experiences so far and expectations of a future Environmental Management Act

Author(s): Rahmadi, Takdir

Extract:

5. Elaborating on integration of
environmental legislation:
the case of Indonesia
Marjan Peeters1

1. TO DISTINGUISH THE CONCEPTS OF EXTERNAL
AND INTERNAL INTEGRATION
1.1. Sustainable Development and External Integration

The Environmental Management Act of 1997 marked an important evolution
in Indonesian environmental law: a step was made in the process of building
an adequate environmental legislative framework, aiming at the holistic
concept of sustainable development and ­ in that respect ­ recognizing the
importance of having integrated policies for protecting the environment. Of
course, the real effectiveness of this Act only becomes clear after an examina-
tion of its concrete provisions and their implementation in practice.2 But, to
start with, the basic goal of the EMA 1997 is clearly to improve the environ-
mental situation, in order to ultimately reach the challenging goal of a sustain-
able society. This is confirmed in the considerations of the EMA 1997, where
it is stated that:

In utilising natural resources . . . , it is necessary to implement environmentally
sustainable development guided by an integrated and comprehensive national
policy which takes into account the needs of present as well as future generations.3


1 The author wishes to thank Michael Faure and Anthony Ogus for their
comments. The text was concluded on 1 December 2004.
2 Nicole Niessen has already argued that the EMA 1997 lacks sufficiently
detailed provisions for immediate application. She has noted that a few years after its
entry into force, only a few implementing regulations of the EMA 1997 had been
produced, ...