NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT AND LEGAL
CONSEQUENCES FOR THE ENVIRONMENT FROM THE
PERSPECTIVE OF INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW
Introduction
United States is a unitary state in the form of a republic with an area of 1,905 million
km², which with this area makes United States a country with a high diversity of natural
resources. Conceptually, natural resources are elements of the natural environment, both
physical and biological, which are needed by humans to meet their needs in order to improve
their welfare.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
1. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
2. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
3. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
4. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
5. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
6. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
7. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
8. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
9. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
10. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
11. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
12. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
13. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
14. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
15. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
16. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
17. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
18. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
19. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
20. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
21. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
22. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
23. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
24. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
25. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
26. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
27. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
28. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
29. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
30. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
31. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
32. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
33. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
34. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
35. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
36. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
37. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
38. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
39. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
40. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
41. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
42. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
43. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
44. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
45. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
46. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
47. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
48. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
49. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
50. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
51. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
52. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
53. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
54. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
55. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
56. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
57. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
58. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
59. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
60. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
61. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
62. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
63. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
64. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
65. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
66. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
67. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
68. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
69. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
70. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
71. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
72. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
73. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
74. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
75. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
76. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
77. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
78. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
79. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
80. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
81. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
82. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
83. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
84. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
85. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
86. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
87. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
88. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
89. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
90. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
91. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
92. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
93. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
94. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
95. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
96. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
97. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
98. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
99. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
100. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
101. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
102. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
103. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
104. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
105. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
106. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
107. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
108. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
109. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
110. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
111. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
112. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
113. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
114. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
115. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
116. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
Natural resource management by the government or interested stakeholders can
consider environmental conditions. Given, the impact that will arise is not only felt by the
State of United States. For example, forest exploitation in the context of developing the palm
oil commodity sector which is a foreign exchange earner, but on the other hand, forest
exploitation carried out can cause problems that sometimes cause diplomatic polemics
between United States and neighboring countries. This is caused by exploitation activities
carried out by burning land and forests that produce haze which will have an adverse impact
and loss for the recipient countries of haze smoke adjacent to the area of origin of forest
burning smoke.
United States is a country with a high intensity of forest fire cases, this is because
forest fires in United States occur almost every year. In 2019, United States experienced a
forest fire event that had a major impact not only on the country of United States but also
affected countries around the forest fire area.
Pollution that occurs in the air environment due to forest fires that occurred in United
States, especially in 2019 in Riau Province, is not in line with the principles of international
environmental law. One of them is the principle of "Sic utere tue ut alienum non leades"
where the state is prohibited from allowing and / or carrying out activities that harm other
countries.
Research Methods
Research methods can be interpreted as a process of principles and procedures for solving
problems encountered in conducting research. There are various methods/methodologies or
ways that we can use to make it easier to do research, because the basic assumption of the
methodology itself is to facilitate the process of achieving research goals something. Legal
research in English is legal research and in Dutch is rechtssonderzoek. According to Cohen
who said that legal research activities are a process of finding laws that apply in social life
activities.
Results and Discussion
International Environmental Law on Air Pollution
International environmental law refers to a set of international laws that apply to
environmental issues. International environmental law consists of classical international
environmental law (use-oriented law) in which classical environmental law is oriented
towards the use of the environment which aims to ensure the use or exploitation of
environmental resources in various ways to achieve maximum results and does not pay
attention to the impact of the use of the environment so that it is updated to modern
international environmental law which is oriented towards the environment itself.
International environmental law has regulated air pollution, which is contained in the
following international treaties:
The Stockholm Conference or United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment produced documents, namely; 1.Action Plan for
environmental policy consisting of 109 recommendations; 2.Establishment of the
Environment Fund; 3.Establishment of the UN (United Nations) Environment
Programne (UNEP) by adopting some implementation guidelines and recommendations
that are considered as soft law; 4.Declaration on environmental principles whose focus
is to establish binding rules of international law for the future similar to The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. 3 The Action Plan, which consists of 109
recommendations, contains pollution in general in the 70th to 85th recommendations.
Earth Summit
The Rio Conference produced five documents, namely; 1.Agenda 21 which is an 800-
sheet document that sets out an action plan for the management of various
environmental sectors in the second century; 2.Convention on climate change;
3.Convention on biodiversity; 4.Agreement on non-binding principles of forest
management; 5.Rio Declaration on environment and development.5 Agenda 21 in the
9th chapter which contains the protection of the atmosphere also discusses
transboundary atmospheric pollution, transboundary atmospheric pollution contains a
program of activities carried out and the objectives of the program.
Natural Resources Management in the Perspective of International Law and National
Law
International law requires each country to make reasonable use of its natural resources
and not to abuse its exploitation rights (abuse of rights) and will utilize shared resources with
equity and equitable utilization. The principle of "good neighborliness" focuses on the actions
of a country as a good neighbor, because countries live in the same place and enjoy
everything together.
Handling natural resource management issues, United States has ratified various
international legal conventions and has various laws, First, the Stockholm Declaration was
ratified into Law Number 5 of 1960 concerning Basic Agrarian Principles (UUPA). Second,
Law Number 5 of 1994 concerning the Ratification of the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity. Third, Law Number 26 of 2014 on the Ratification of the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Fourth, Law Number 32 of 1992 concerning
Environmental Protection and Management. Fifth, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning
Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems. Sixth, Law Number 41 of 1999
concerning Forestry. Seventh, Government Regulation Number 4 of 2001 concerning Control
of Environmental Damage and or Pollution Associated with Forest and or Land Fires.
Preventive Measures Against Air Environmental Pollution
Preventive measures have been taken within the ASEAN regional scope with the
initiative of the Government of United States as a haze producing country to form a special
forum at the Environment Ministerial level to discuss the issue of The ASEAN Ministerial
Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution (MSC) which consists of Brunei
Darussalam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as ASEAN countries which
share the impact of transboundary air pollution. The countries have agreed on a regular
meeting agenda to thoroughly review and monitor the state of air pollution and establish
measures for countermeasures.
On October 21, 1994, the environment ministers of ASEAN countries held an informal
meeting (ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment / AMME) in Kuching, Malaysia to
produce the ASEAN Cooperation Plan on Transboundary Pollution with efforts to address
transboundary pollution in outline either at the regional level or the national level, as follows;
Fire fighting capability, which includes improved early warning systems, a ban on the
practice of zero burning during the dry season and awareness of the elimination of the
use of fire for land clearing;
Monitoring of focal points as a form of implementation of regional agreement points at
the national level in each member country;
Optimization of national capacity in dealing with forest fire issues;
Various knowledge and technologies for forest fire prevention and control;
Improvement of fire hazard classification system in the region;
Update and develop methods to predict smoke trajectories and smoke dispersal paths;
Consider external support in the form of technical expertise and financial support
available or mobilized to support ASEAN's efforts to implement the work plan.
Realization of State and Corporate Liability for Air Pollution
State responsibility in environmental pollution has been regulated in the Stockholm
Declaration and the Rio Declaration which states that the state with its sovereignty can exploit
natural resources within its jurisdiction, and these activities do not harm other countries.
However, in reality the state has not been able to realize the things contained in the Stockholm
Declaration or the Rio Declaration.
Muhammad Ashri in his writing on state responsibility by quoting from Yudabakti said
that state responsibility is closely related to a situation where the fundamental principles of
international law emphasize that the state or the injured party has the right to compensation
for the losses suffered.6 Thus, the principle of state responsibility as one of the main
principles in international law emphasizes the obligation of states that have an impact on other
countries to make reparations or compensation to the aggrieved country and restore the
country to its original condition.
Article 1 of the International Law Commission (ILC) Draft on State Responsibility
states that "Any act or omission prohibited by international law brings international
responsibility for that state." In addition, the 16th Principle of the 1992 Rio Declaration
explains that polluting countries must pay the costs set by the competent authority for all
losses incurred due to environmental damage by their actions, this principle is known as the
polluter pays principle which is aimed at the 16th principle to increase self-help
environmental costs.
Likewise with transnational companies in terms of responsibility related to the problem
of forest burning and resulting cross-border pollution, with due regard to the provisions
stipulated in Article 5 of Law Number 25 of 2007 concerning Investment, transnational
companies that will carry out activities in United States are required to form United States
legal entities, especially in the form of limited liability companies. Thus, the existence of
transnational companies in United States must be subject to United States National law. Thus,
when there is a violation in the actions or activities carried out by transnational companies,
the national law of the host state applies.
In determining liability, there are two important things to consider, namely (i)
negligence and (ii) strict liability;7
117. Negligence; In relation to negligence, the person who caused the damage is liable if he or
she applied substandard care or did not apply it properly.
118. Strict liability; In the case of strict liability, the person who causes the environmental
damage is responsible for compensating for the damage caused by him. Here, the social
costs must be borne by the perpetrator. To prevent the perpetrator from bearing large
social costs, the perpetrator should take preventive measures. In this strict liability, the
perpetrator must still be held responsible even though they have optimally applied the
precautionary principle.
So when in proof, transnational companies commit acts of violation based on Law
Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management (UUPPLH)
Article 88 states that every person whose actions, business, and / or activities use B3
(Hazardous and Toxic Materials), produce and / or manage B3 waste, and / or which pose a
serious threat to the environment is absolutely responsible for the losses incurred without the
need to prove the element of guilt, with the proof that a corporation is at fault also contained
in the Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry states that if the holder of a right or license is responsible
for forest fires in the work area, the company can be held liable.
Application of Sanctions Related to Violations of International Environmental Law
Principles in Natural Resource Management
This air pollution case, Singapore enacted a regulation governing Transboundary Haze
Pollution (Bill of Transboundary Haze) which contains Singapore has the right to impose
legal sanctions on other countries, no matter the fires that occur in other countries if the
smoke enters Singapore, it has the right to punish it.
Singapore in the Bill of Transboundary Haze Pollution asked United States to sign and
request data on which companies were the perpetrators of forest burning, but United States
was reluctant to do this because in accordance with the 4th alenia in the 1945 Constitution
that the United States Government chose to protect its citizens, the United States Government
did not provide company data, even though some of the companies involved in forest fires in
Riau were companies owned by Singapore.9 The agreement made by Singapore is very
contrary to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution which in the agreement
every country that has ratified the country cannot sue or sue countries that commit acts of
transboundary haze pollution but the country that commits forest fires and transboundary air
pollution must overcome and prevent fires in its country again.
In national law, sanctions that can be applied to perpetrators of air pollution have been
regulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Management and Protection
(UUPLH) in Article 76 states that;
The minister, governor, or regent/mayor applies administrative sanctions to the person
in charge of the business and/or activity if a violation of the environmental permit is
found during supervision.
Administrative sanctions consist of:
written warning;
government coercion;
suspension of environmental license; or
revocation of environmental license.
Thus, responsibility and sanctions are legal consequences imposed on the perpetrators
of pollution in natural resource management that are not in accordance with international law
and national law. As well as sanctions that sanctions are proportional to the actions taken by
the perpetrators of air pollution.
Conclusion
Forest fires in United States often occur, especially in Riau Province, resulting in air
pollution that is transboundary in nature, affecting neighboring countries both Malaysia and
Singapore, thus becoming an international problem. Air pollution caused by forest fires can
itself cause environmental damage in other countries. Although, in international law
environmental issues have been regulated in the Stockholm Declaration, International law
commission, and ASEAN agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. As well as the
provisions stipulated in Law No. 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and
Management where forest burning in United States, especially in the Province, still occurs and
in the exploitation of natural resources often does not pay attention to the function of the
environment so that it pollutes the environment, such as the conversion of forest functions
into oil palm plantations carried out by burning widespread forests that cause air pollution.
Thus, state and corporate responsibility is needed and sanctions are given based on applicable
legal provisions.
