Arthur Neher
Technical sectretary
The Bahasa Indonesian term for EIA is AMDAL. Indonesia established a legal basis for EIA in 1982, and has revised its impact assessment system several times since then, both to reflect institutional changes, and in response to developments in the understanding of EIA. Detailed procedural requirements were first put in place in 1986, further refined in 1993, and amended in 1999, 2001, 2006, 2012, and most recently in 2020, when the Job Creation Law (JCL, also referred to as Omnibus Law) was introduced to bring a more “corporate-friendly” approach to environmental legislation.
The government passed this Omnibus Law in recognition of the need to improve competitiveness, enhance the investment climate, eliminate red tape and create new jobs. Alongside the 2009 Environmental Protection and Management Law, it is commonly referred to as the Environment Law. The Environment Law increases the possibility to take action against infringements of the EIA procedure, introduces a widely applicable requirement to carry out SEA for policies, plans and programmes, and includes a revised regulation for environmental permitting, also revising the EIA procedure.
EIA falls under the responsibility of the Ministry of Environment (Kementerian Lingkungan Hidup – KLH).
Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA, or Kajian Lingkungan Hidup Strategis – KLHS), is becoming increasingly prominent in Indonesia following the promulgation of the 2016 Government Regulation No. 46, concerning the implementation procedures. Initially the SEA was carried out on a voluntary basis, but is now mandatory, and should precede the integration into a regional spatial and a medium-term development plan.
The Ministry of National Development Planning/National Development Planning Agency (PPN/Bappenas) started the preparations of the 2025-2045 National Long-Term Development Plan (RPJPN), with an SEA, to ensure sustainable development is properly integrated both at the regional and national level. At the regional level, the Regional Development Planning Agency (Bappeda) conducted an SEA for the Regional Spatial Planning Plan 2016-2036 and the Medium Term Development Plan 2018-2023.
SEA is carried out in an inclusive, participatory and transparent manner and involves several parties including ministries/agencies, the private sector, academics, and non-governmental organisations.
Article 16 of the Environmental Protection and Management Act (2009) mentions three steps of SEA:
Content of SEA report
According to the Environmental Protection and Management Act (2009), an SEA should contain assessments of the following: