MANAGEMENT ACT
5. CONCLUSIONS
installing these instruments, international conventions on the environment, particularly those related to the protection of the marine environment, need to be taken into account. In this respect we refer more particularly to the obliga- tion contained in many international conventions (as for instance the conven- tion on civil liability for oil pollution damage, the so-called CLC Convention) to impose insurance or other financial guarantees to make sure that compen- sation to victims will be awarded. Since Indonesia is, as we stated clearly above, an archipelagic state, the guarantee of such funding for damages is especially important in marine environmental cases. Therefore, when redraft- ing the Indonesian Environmental Management Act, it seems important that the funding mechanisms provided for in international conventions and in inter- national standards are also incorporated in Indonesian law.
Finally, an environmental tribunal should also be installed to take responsi- bility for the administrative review of administrative decisions.12 Moreover, one might equally consider the setting-up of ad hoc tribunals to deal with envi- ronmental cases.
and standards, specifically of transnational aspects of the Environmental Management Act. Moreover, several specific conclusions can be based on the observations formulated above.
From the general provisions of the ratified conventions, which of course also have their importance for Indonesia, we can learn that environmental legislation has to be formulated, in simple terms in its legal terminology, in a way in which the terminology can be made operational as well. Therefore I believe that general principles of environmental law, as incorporated in the international conventions, can have an importance for Indonesian environ- mental law as well and more particularly for the revision of the Environmental Management Act. In this respect I more particularly refer to the precautionary principle, the principle of prior notification, the importance of creating scien- tific certainty where possible, the necessity to have reliable authority and scientific competence, the principle of common and differentiated responsibil- ity, just to mention a few.
In addition I believe that as a result of international conventions, the concepts and principles in a new Indonesian Environmental Law can substan- tially be improved. In this respect I refer for instance to a principle such as sustainable development. This could be incorporated specifically in environ- mental legislation applicable to a specific activity. In this respect one can refer to the legislation applicable to the use and management of natural resources (like forests, energy, mining, water and land), the goal of which is often to reduce conflicts between the users of the natural resources. That is indeed often the goal of natural resources and environmental legislation.
In addition, as a result of international conventions, specific legal instru- ments such as environmental impact assessment, environmental audits and environmental risk assessment can be either improved or formulated. For instance the notion of environmental risk assessment will still have to be developed. Moreover, environmental quality standards will have to be devel- oped for Indonesia as well. For instance, a role can be played in that respect by the Basle Convention on Transboundary Movement and Disposal of Hazardous Waste. Moreover, measures will have to be taken in national Indonesian law concerning toxic monitoring in order to improve the regulation of hazardous waste and toxic substances. In addition, legal instruments also have to be installed in order to promote the conservation and sustainable use of natural resources based on the Cartagena and Kyoto Protocols.
The legal procedures and more particularly the environmental legal proce- dures need to be clarified in order to promote integrated law enforcement. This is particularly important as far as dispute settlement with respect to environ- mental issues in Indonesian waters is concerned.
Environmental funding mechanisms will have to be developed, including insurance and other financial guarantees. Moreover one can think about
private legal dispute settlement mechanisms and the use of fines, such as are regulated in international maritime law conventions and the IMO conventions concerning marine pollution. The relationship between different legal instru- ments, such as the permit, the licence and the certification system, has to be clarified. Also a guarantee and insurance system has to be installed that takes into consideration the dispositions of international conventions with respect to investment processes.
New legal concepts and doctrines need to be adopted concerning the scien- tific verification of environmental cases. In this respect Indonesian national environmental law can also learn from international environmental cases. The final goal is, as we have argued in this chapter, to use international environ- mental law to improve the quality of Indonesian environmental law as much as possible. Hence, as a general issue, I believe that international legal rules need as much as possible to be taken into account in the revision process of the Environmental Management Act. Thus Indonesia may on the one hand implement its obligations under international environmental conventions and on the other hand such implementation may lead to an improvement in the quality of the Environmental Management Act.
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