Development of environmental policy in Indonesia regarding mining industry in comparison with the United States and Australia: The lesson that can be learned

Abstract

Indonesia is a developing country that has a major contribution to the coal producing in the world. As coal based energy still in high demand globally, eventually growing coal mining industry in Indonesia is also inevitable. Consequently, severe environmental problems due to the mining activity will also increase and escalate. Hence, environmental protection is prominent to be carried out in order to minimize the negative impact of mining. The most important tool to control the environmental issues within a country is a proper policy that well implemented and controlled. However, due to the lack of history of environmental pollution because of mining, the environmental mining policy in Indonesia is not well integrated to overcome issues regarding mining activity. This study aims to understand the current situation and suggest several improvements to Indonesia environmental mining policy by comparing the policy conditions with the other two countries, the United States and Australia that both have a long story in dealing with environmental pollution because of coal mining activities. Moreover, the latter is developed countries that have a large part of coal mining activities within them that considered environmentally well managed.