The government of Indonesia has enacted multiple laws and regulations that provide access to environmental information, including the Public Information Disclosure Act (PIDA) of 2008 and the Environmental Protection and management Act (EPMA) 0f 2009. It has also developed a public information disclosure program, the Program for Pollution Control, Evaluation and Rating (PROPER). Launched in 1995, PROPER rates company performance related to environmental management. However, PROPER is often criticized for poor public access to information and a lack of genuine public participation. TAI’s Strengthening the Right to Information for People and the Environment (STRIPE) project showed that Indonesia’s FOI law, PIDA, is also poorly implemented. ICEL, established in July 1993, is an independent non-governmental organization that specializes in the development of an environment and natural resources regulatory framework, as well as advocacy and empowerment toward good sustainable development governance in environment and natural resources management in Indonesia. They are also a lead partner in the TAI STRIPE project. The first TAI assessment identified the need for a nationwide Freedom of Information Act. Using this recommendation, TAI partner organizations worked with the Indonesian government to draft an act that was adopted in 2008. Additionally, TAI partners worked with the Ministry of Environment to develop an access road map and guidelines to implement the Freedom of Information law and also played an essential role in the passage of new list of public information, which required over 111 documents, maps, and reports to be made “proactively available periodically.”
Indonesia
Region
South East Asia
1.80
Environmental Democracy Index Score
Indonesia performed very well on the Transparency pillar, well on the Justice pillar, and received a fair score on the Participation pillar. For the Transparency pillar, the law establishes a right to access environmental information on request, government agencies must collect a wide range of environmental information, and the law requires environmental information to be made proactively available to the public. For the Participation pillar, the public has the right to participate in a wide range of environmental decisions, but only a few laws obligate government agencies to account for public comments on environmental decisions. The law also provides for public participation in the preparation of environmental regulations. However, requirements on how to raise public awareness of these opportunities are lacking. For the Justice pillar, the public is granted the right to challenge decisions that do not adequately protect the environment. However, the law could do more to provide adequate, effective, and prompt remedies to aggrieved persons when their environmental rights are violated. Overall, Indonesias national laws show a commitment to transparency with some key strengths in the other two pillars that could be enhanced by improvements in certain areas.
Visit the Environmental Democracy Index to explore the EDI score.
