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Ministry of Environment and Forestry v. PT Bumi Mekar Hijau - decision

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On February 3, 2015, the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry (the MoEF) filed a tort-based lawsuit against PT Bumi Mekar Hijau for intentionally causing fires to the peatlands. The MoEF argued that the defendant had intentionally burn the peatlands area to clear the land for timber planting purposes. Thus, the MoEF requested the court to declare that defendant liable for damages amounting to IDR 5.299 trillion and restoration costs for IDR 2.687 trillion. With damages and restoration cost amounting almost to IDR 8 trillion, this lawsuit is ranked among the highest damages in Indonesian forest fires litigation. In relation to climate damages, the MoEF argued that fires on the peatlands had caused in the release of 135,000 tC and 5,670 tCO2. The MoEF set the price for reduction and restoration of carbon on IDR 90,000. Hence, the total of restoration costs for the release of Carbon and Carbon Dioxide, respectively, were IDR 12.2 billion and IDR 4.3 billion. 

On December 30, 2015, District Court of Palembang ruled in favor of the defendant and rejected all the plaintiff’s claim. Despite accepting the fact that the fires had occurred, the judges did not consider it as damages and believed the land were still able to be planted. On May 3, 2016, the Court of Appeal overruled the district court decision on the grounds that the damages had occurred in the form of air pollution and damages on the peatlands. The court of appeal also awarded the plaintiff the restoration costs for climate damages in the full amount as requested.


Ministry of Environment and Forestry v. PT Bumi Mekar Hijau

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Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

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The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

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Activities that relate to the production of goods and services from forests.

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Zoning and spatial planning are both methods for guiding the distribution of people and activities in a space, and are regulatory restriction.

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Ministry of Environment and Forestry v. PT Bumi Mekar Hijau - decision

Policy instrument

Risk

Impacted group

Renewable energy

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Adaptation/resilience

Finance