Legal Protection for Environment and Coastal Community from Marine Ecosystem Degradation and Climate Change Impact

Abstract

Objective: This research aims to explore international and Indonesian legal framework in environment and coastal community protection from marine ecosystem degradation and climate change impact, further examining its application through empirical examination. Theoretical Framework: Diversified legal approaches by international law and its harmonization to Indonesian law for protecting the environment and coastal community and the implementation of regulations for legal protection and access to justice for the environment and coastal communities. Method: This article utilizes a combination of normative and empirical legal research, which applies various legal instruments and field observation as primary data and secondary legal materials to be descriptively analyzed in order to reveal the legal issues. Results and Conclusion: The main findings show that the current laws, regulations, and policies are not yet able to effectively provide legal protection for the environmental degradation and coastal community to mitigate and adapt with climate change impacts, due to the lack of implementation and absence of a harmonized legal framework on climate change mitigation and adaptation from national, regional, to local level. Originality/value: This paper recommends to encourage key stakeholders, especially public sector to empower its intervention tool by regulating strategic development plans which are in line with mitigation and adaptation from climate change and will not contribute to any environmental degradation.