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Introduction On 28 January 2003 a slurry of mud and rocks poured down Mount Mandalawangi in West Java, burying dozens of houses, killing 21 people, injuring at least 74 and destroying the rice fields, fishponds and farm animals that formed the livelihood of many others.
This house had a narrow escape from the mud slide. Others were not so lucky.
Source: Used with permission of J. Russell.
Torrential rain had pounded the district for days. Logging over previous years had left the slopes cleared. Without forests to absorb and filter the rainfall, huge amounts of water and mud washed into waterways and built up into a flash flood within hours.
Had human activity contributed to the destruction? And if so, who was responsible?
An expert from the Bandung’s Directorate of Vulcanology and Mitigation of Geological Disturbances concluded that the cause of the landslide was the extreme nature of the rain as well as the clearing of the slopes.
The slopes of Mount Mandalawangi formed part of what was originally a ‘restricted jungle zone’ under the management of the State Forestry Company (Perhutani). At some time, however, the State Forestry Company had allowed the area to be converted to a ‘limited production area’. Once the trees were removed, local people used the land for cultivation.
The Government of West Java blamed the State Forestry Company for the change in usage. The State Forestry Company in turn shifted the blame to the local people who had cleared the mountainsides for farmland.
The denuded slopes of Mount Mandalawangi
Source: Used with permission of J. Russell.
Environmental protection
Indonesia has a reasonably comprehensive body of environmental and natural resources laws, for example the Environmental Management Act (Law Number 23, 1997). There are also a number of organisations that help to educate the public about environmental issues and promote changes in attitudes and behaviours, for example the Indonesian Centre for Environmental Law (ICEL) and Wahana Lingkungan Hidup Indonesia (WALHI), also known as the Indonesian Forum for the Environment, the Indonesian chapter of Friends of the Earth.
Resources to administer and enforce environmental laws have been scarce since the 1998 financial crisis. Moreover, decentralisation of many powers to the provinces means that inexperienced provincial and local officials have increased responsibility for the enforcement of environmental law. Corruption and the involvement of powerful figures mean the implementation and enforcement of environmental laws present enormous challenges.
Environmental law training
In recent years, Australia’s foreign aid program has focused on helping neighbouring countries strengthen the institutions that will help them to govern democratically, efficiently and effectively. The Environmental Law Training program, conducted under the Indonesia Australia Specialised Training Project (IASTP), is an example of one such development cooperation program funded by AusAID. At the request of the Indonesian Government, the programs aim to deliver specialised courses tailored to address skills gaps in Indonesian government, private and community sectors. Trainees were then supported by mentors to use their new skills in their workplaces.
IASTP Phase II operated from 1998 to 2004 and was managed on behalf of the Australian Government (AusAID) by Melbourne University Private. The majority of participants in the Environmental Law Training program were judges and prosecutors. However, as judges need the support of environmentally aware police, lawyers and others, places were also made available to police officers, representatives of regional environmental agencies and non-government organisations. University academics were also included when environmental law was made a compulsory subject in a law degree.
The training courses were designed and delivered by staff from the School of International Business of the University of South Australia and the Australian Centre for Environmental Law at the University of Sydney, working alongside personnel from IASTP II and the Indonesian Centre for Environmental Law (ICEL).
Participants at a basic training course heard comparisons of Australian and Indonesian environmental problems and environmental law.
Source: Used with permission of R. Fowler, Professor of International Environmental Law, University of South Australia.
Judges from Indonesia’s Supreme Court contributed to the discussion of environmental law and enforcement and supported participants with ongoing mentoring.
Source: Used with permission of R. Fowler, University of South Australia.
Training was conducted in both Australia and Indonesia, and in both English and Indonesian, with an Australian and an Indonesian trainer. The eight training programs conducted in Australia involved 136 participants. In Indonesia, ‘basic’ courses were held in Jakarta as well as many regional centres across the archipelago and were attended by 1,386 individuals, including almost 1,000 judges. Later, 11 ‘advanced’ courses were offered to those who had attended the basic courses, and a two-day symposium was presented for 18 members of the Indonesian Supreme Court.
Topics covered included criminal investigation and principles of criminal liability; and civil liability, including the class action procedure, civil enforcement, judicial review, and alternative methods of dispute resolution. A broader perspective was provided by examining the concept of good governance in relation to the environment: for example, the rule of law and independence of the judiciary, sustainable development, international environmental law and the role of specialist environmental courts.
Most topics were illustrated through case studies and complemented by a field trip to one local site of environmental damage. For many course participantsthis was the first time that they had seen first-hand evidence of major environmental degradation and it had a powerful impact. To encourage change once they had completed the course, participants wrote action plans setting out how they intended to apply their new knowledge in their work settings and regions.
Field trips
Below are three examples of locations selected for field visits by students of the environmental training courses.
Caged parrots at a bird market.
Source: Used with permission R. Fowler, University of South Australia
The Pramuka bird market in Jakarta is Indonesia’s largest bird market. While some of the birds are sold legally, endangered species (both birds and other animals) are often readily available. In 2005, Tempo magazine reported that as a result of hunting, illegal trading and the destruction of their habitat, around 119 types of birds in Indonesia are now highly endangered, with six species all but extinct.
Sand mining
Source: Used with permission R. Fowler, University of South Australia
Sand is a most valuable commodity in South East Asia’s burgeoning construction industry. WAHLI claims that many local communities are being devastated by sand-dredging.
Prawn farming
Source: Used with permission R. Fowler, University of South Australia
Prawns are a delicacy in great demand throughout Asia. Indonesia is the world’s third-largest supplier of prawns, after Thailand and China. To create new prawn farms, the operators destroy the mangrove swamps that protect the coastline from storm damage and salt water incursion. Farms become uneconomic after a few years due to the build-up of silt and chemicals so they are then abandoned in favour of newly cleared areas, leaving long-term environmental damage.
Results of the environmental law training
There have been a number of tangible results from the environmental law training program. In March 2003, an ‘alumni association’ for 1,300 course graduates was set up to enable them to maintain contact and disseminate information about developments in environmental law. The moral and practical support of a network of colleagues helps judges take a firm stance against the ‘powerful figures’ whose companies are often implicated in environmental degradation.
The Chief Justice of Indonesia issued a direction that only judges who have undertaken the environmental law training course should hear environmental cases. There have been a number of successful prosecutions for illegal logging, set in motion by prosecutors and heard by judges who have completed the training.
With the assistance of some of the environmental law trainers and graduates, the Indonesian Supreme Court adopted the Class Action procedure in 2002. (A class action is a representative action in which one or more persons pursue a case for themselves and a defined class of other defendants whose claims arise out of the same circumstances.) The first class actions to be brought were on behalf of victims of the major Jakarta floods of 2002 and the landslide on Mount Mandalawangi.
Environmental law and the landslide on Mount Mandalawangi
The landslide on the slopes of West Java’s Mount Mandalawangi in January 2003 is a good example of the complex environmental challenges that confront Indonesia.
A class action was launched by an alliance of NGOs on behalf of local victims against the State Forestry Company. The class action claimed that the landslide resulted from deforestation on the mountain which, in turn, ought to have been prevented through the control and supervision of the State Forestry Company.
Rocks and mud litter this house’s floor after the landslide.
Source: Used with permission of J. Russell.
The panel of judges who heard the case in the district court of the provincial capital of Bandung had to consider a number of complex issues, including the cause of the tragedy, whether the actions of local people had contributed to the disaster, whether compensation should be paid, how to rehabilitate the devastated environment and how to prevent future landslips.
In September 2003 the panel of judges granted the class action, and required the State Forestry Company to carry out environmental rehabilitation of the affected area (to a value of US$240,000), pay damages to the victims and establish a panel to monitor the rehabilitation process and allocate and distribute the compensation. The leader of the panel of judges who made this historic verdict had undertaken the IASTP-II training program in environmental law.
The Mandalawangi decision was the first to obtain a ruling in favour of the victims and the environment. Unfortunately, the case then became bogged down in a drawn-out appeal process, which is unsurprising given how new class action procedures are in Indonesia. As the lawyer for the victims told a local newspaper, ‘We must acknowledge that the Mandalawangi case includes some “firsts” for Indonesia, so we are all just “feeling our way along”’. However, the creation of an informed and supportive network within Indonesia’s legal fraternity is an important step in protecting and rehabilitating the environment and seeking justice for the victims of environmental tragedies.
Villagers rebuild their homes in the shadow of Mount Mandalawangi.
Source: Used with permission of J.Russell.
Further reading
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