Learning Environmental Rights, Finding Green Future: The Road to Ecojustice

Abstract

This paper will make a reconstruction of legal environmental paradigm and find the alternative
paradigm which sees the environment as a unity with human being. The debates of environmental rights
offer new perspective on rights and environmental issues. The carelessness of sustainable environment
often occur when the state apply the environmental regulations or policies.
Nowadays, the thought of “ecojustice”—environmental justice—has been rapidly developed.
Otto Sumarwoto said about “Our Common Future” (Otto, 1991), Jimly Asshiddiqie said about “Green
Constitution” (Jimly, 2009), and Fritjof Capra could say the same in “Green Politics: The Global
Promise” (Capra, 1984). They make a sense that environmental protection is insufficient if it does not
include the consideration of whole life, including present and future, that Environmental Rights is a road
to Intergenerational Justice.
In developing country such as Indonesia, the development activities cause environmental
damages. These conditions became worse in the autonomy era (since 2001) until present day, which
environmental institution become weak in environmental law enforcement. As examples are Buyat Bay
Case by Newmont Minahasa Raya, Ltd. (2004); and illegal logging by Adelin Lis (2007). These problems
should be solved by beginning with an examination of the notion of rights to the environment and to the
identification of such rights in formulation of regulations and policies