Green Constitution in Practice: Environmental Policy Analysis During the Jokowi Era

¹ Faculty of Law, Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
² Faculty of Law, Universitas Brawijaya, Malang, Indonesia
³ Research Fellow, Faculty of Law, Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

^* Corresponding author: indah.qurbani80@ub.ac.id

Abstract

This study critically examines the dissonance between Indonesia’s constitutional environmental commitments and the legal and political developments under President Joko Widodo’s administration. While the government promoted international narratives of sustainability, emphasizing the reduction of deforestation, energy transition, and ecological restoration, domestic legislative reforms revealed systemic contradictions. Notably, the enactment of Law No. 11/2020 on Job Creation and Law No. 3/2020 on Mineral and Coal Mining significantly weakened environmental safeguards in favor of investment liberalization. These reforms stand in tension with the 1945 Constitution, particularly Articles 28H (1), 33(3), and 33(4), which affirm the rights to a healthy environment, the public trust doctrine, and the principles of sustainable development. Using a normative legal method, this study reveals that while Indonesia’s Constitution and statutory laws provide a strong foundation for green constitutionalism, recent environmental governance trends demonstrate a significant gap between normative ideals and their implementation. The study advocates for a paradigm shift toward ecocentric legal reform, aiming to realign environmental legislation with constitutional mandates and enhance judicial and public oversight mechanisms.