Water Conflict in Indonesia
Map of Water Conflict
The picture below is a snippet from my presentation "Strengths and Limitations of The Constitutional Court's "6 Basic Principles"" at the 5th ICCIS, Bali, 5-7 October, 2022
You can find the map and its legenda here.
The draft paper is accessible at the SSRN Website.
English Summary
This paper discusses the strengths and limitations of the Constitutional Court’s “6 Basic Principles” as a normative guidance in resolving water conflicts in Indonesia. The paper clarifies some conceptual frameworks related to water conflict and how the principles have been interpreted by regulators. It explains the general categories of water conflicts and where the principles would or would not fit into these categories. The paper then criticizes the principles, namely in terms of its (i) Unclear Scope, (ii) Conflation Between Users and Uses, (iii) Neglection of Footprint and (iv) its implications on water reallocation. The paper finds that one of the strengths of the principle is that it provides a basic normative guidance for solving conflict in water allocation, the protection of human rights and the environment. However, it comes with some limitations: it neglects efficiency over perceived equity and can potentially restrict the reallocation of water among different users. The principles are also difficult to be implemented in conflict over water quality or water conflicts arising out of spatial development. As such, the paper recommends the Courts to reinvent the principles so that it can transcends its limitations.
Bahasa Indonesia Summary
Artikel ini menjelaskan bahwa prinsip-prinsip tersebut dapat digunakan sebagai pedoman normatif untuk mengimplementasikan regulasi sumber daya air dan berpotensi digunakan untuk menyelesaikan konflik air di masa depan. Namun, prinsip-prinsip tersebut ambigu di banyak bagian dan sulit untuk diterapkan dalam konflik kualitas air atau konflik air yang muncul dari pengembangan spasial. Artikel ini menemukan bahwa salah satu kekuatan prinsip tersebut adalah memberikan pedoman normatif dasar untuk memecahkan konflik alokasi air, perlindungan hak asasi manusia, dan lingkungan. Namun, prinsip-prinsip tersebut memiliki beberapa keterbatasan: mengabaikan efisiensi atas persepsi kesetaraan dan berpotensi membatasi realokasi air di antara pengguna yang berbeda. Prinsip-prinsip tersebut juga sulit untuk diterapkan dalam konflik atas kualitas air atau konflik air yang muncul dari pengembangan spasial. Oleh karena itu, artikel ini merekomendasikan agar Mahkamah Konstitusi mengembangkan kembali prinsip-prinsip tersebut sehingga dapat melampaui keterbatasannya.