Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MoEF) v. PT Waringin Agro Jaya

In 2015 there were 804 hotspots in Defendant's oil palm plantation area. As a result, there was a decrease in the surface of the peat, the extinction of species (flora and fauna), and a decrease in groundwater content—all of which are classified as irreversible damages. MoEF sued one of the companies supposedly behind the massive forest fire incidents in South Sumatra Province.

Accountability for the damages caused within the environment under Indonesia’s territory is regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009, and such serious threats to the environment are accommodated in Decree of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court No. 36/KMA/SK/H/2013, which explains that one of the forms of serious threats environmental damage whose impact cannot be recovered.

Thus, a company that works, produces or manages B3 waste should be responsible for the management of such wastes, which poses a severe threat to the environment’s sustainability. They are responsible for the losses that occur without the process of verifying elements of errors.

In this case, the defendant found being responsible for carrying out intentional combustion within the region for economic benefits and had to compensate for the damages.

-Supreme Court of The Republic of Indonesia Number 492/PDT/2017/PT.DKI