A good and healthy environment is the basic right of every
Indonesian citizen guaranteed by the State, written on the Indonesian
Constitution Article 28 H paragraph (1).
To guarantee such rights, pollution
prevention and environmental damage instruments are conducted, including the
standard criteria for damage to peatland ecosystems, which have not been
maximized to date in the environmental law aspect. Peat is included in the
standard criteria of ecosystem damage written on Article 21 paragraph (3)
letter f of Law Number 32 Year 2009 on Environmental Protection and Management.
Peatlands have important ecological functions as supporting ecosystems,
hydrological regulators, water supplies, and flood controllers, and
biodiversity conservation facilities, as well as global climate control.
Peatland clearing and peatland management are widely implemented and pay more
attention to economic value, thus marginalizing the ecological aspects of the
environment. This causes the destruction of peat soil which has significant
impacts on the environment. In East Kalimantan, peat is important to the
coal-forming process. Coal comes from the remains of
plants that become peat and then become young coal to old coal. Therefore,
the standard criteria for the destruction of peat ecosystems is important to
maintain the ecosystem sustainability within the forest area.
Keywords: Peat, Environment, Ecosystem, Law
Perspective.