Legal Literacy - Discusses the application of state responsibility in addressing forest deforestation as regulated in the Environmental Protection and Management Law and the Forestry Law and its law enforcement.

Causes of Environmental Damage

Exploitation of natural resources and the environment has resulted in increasingly poor environmental quality. The rise of natural damage such as marine ecosystems, damage to most forests, floods, landslides, and one of them is forest deforestation. The existence of forests globally is able to benefit human life and become an ecosystem for various species of plants and animals on earth. Forest land clearing is often used by irresponsible individuals by investing their capital in the forestry sector with the aim of enriching themselves without regard to environmental impacts. Many forests in Indonesia have been converted into plantation areas such as oil palm.

Law Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UU PPLH) in the provisions of Article 65 paragraph (1) states that: "Everyone has the right to a good and healthy environment as part of human rights". Environmental protection and management is carried out as a systematic and integrated effort with the aim of preserving the function of the environment and avoiding pollution and/or environmental damage.

The Indonesian government also formulates several regulations specifically related to forest deforestation as part of biodiversity, namely: Law Number 41 of 1999 concerning Forestry (UU Kehutanan), Law Number 18 of 2013 concerning Prevention and Eradication of Forest Destruction, especially Article 19, Article 20, Article 21, and Article 22 concerning forest destruction activities. This is a special provision to follow up on forestry violation and criminal penalties that are difficult to handle from the existence of the Forestry Law. The rate of forest deforestation can increase every year due to various human activities, so collaboration and shared awareness are needed in an effort to avoid forest deforestation. The protection that the state provides to the environment certainly refers to the provisions of environmental law, which has a positive impact on the environment and the community itself.