Ecological Justice-Based Environmental Criminal Law Policy: Balancing The Rights Of Nature And Human Rights From The Perspectives Of Indonesian And Indian Law
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59261/jlsp.v4i5.283Keywords:
environmental criminal law, ecological justice, rights of nature, Indonesia, IndiaAbstract
Background: Environmental degradation caused by pollution, deforestation, and biodiversity loss raises a fundamental question for criminal law: whose interests does environmental criminal law actually protect? This study examines the imbalance between the protection of human rights and the protection of ecological interests in environmental criminal law policy.
Objective: To analyze how environmental criminal law policy protects human rights and ecological interests in Indonesia and India and to compare both legal frameworks in realizing ecological justice.
Methods: The study employs normative juridical research with statutory, conceptual, and comparative approaches, analyzing constitutional provisions, environmental legislation, and landmark judicial decisions in both jurisdictions.
Results: The findings demonstrate that Indonesia relies on a strong legislative foundation through Law No. 32 of 2009, which integrates criminalization, corporate criminal liability, and restoration obligations, whereas India has developed environmental protection primarily through constitutional jurisprudence, including the expansive interpretation of Article 21 of the Constitution of India, the Public Trust Doctrine, and the National Green Tribunal. Both jurisdictions, however, remain predominantly anthropocentric and have not recognized nature as an independent legal subject. The novelty of this study is the proposal of the Ecological Justice-Based Environmental Criminal Law Model, constructed upon four pillars: human environmental rights, ecological interest protection, criminal accountability, and ecological restoration.
Conclusion: This study contributes to legal reform by demonstrating that ecological integrity can be protected as an autonomous legally protected interest without transforming nature into a full legal person. The proposed model offers a framework for advancing ecological justice by integrating human environmental rights, ecological interest protection, criminal accountability, and ecological restoration into environmental criminal law policy.
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