Optimization of Environmental Crimes as a Criminal Law Instrument in Disaster Risk Reduction

Abstract

Environmental degradation caused by unlawful human activities has increasingly contributed to disaster risks in Indonesia. Environmental crimes such as illegal logging, land burning, illegal mining, and industrial pollution have weakened ecological resilience and intensified floods, landslides, forest fires, and other environmental disasters. This study examines two main issues: the optimization of environmental criminal law as an instrument for disaster risk reduction and the factors hindering effective environmental law enforcement in Indonesia. The research employs a normative juridical method using statutory, conceptual, and case approaches supported by legislation, peer-reviewed journals, official reports, and legal doctrines. The findings reveal that environmental criminal law possesses strategic potential in disaster mitigation through preventive and repressive legal mechanisms, particularly through stricter sanctions, stronger corporate criminal liability, and integrated environmental governance. However, law enforcement remains ineffective due to institutional overlap, limited law enforcement capacity, difficulties in proving environmental crimes, socio-economic pressures, and political influence. The study further finds that vulnerable communities are disproportionately affected by environmental destruction and disasters, requiring a more humanistic and justice-oriented legal approach. Therefore, this study recommends strengthening institutional coordination, enhancing environmental law enforcement capacity, integrating disaster mitigation policies with criminal law enforcement, and promoting community participation and environmental justice to achieve sustainable environmental governance in Indonesia.