Political Law on the Environment: The Authority of the Government and Local Government to File Litigation in Law Number 32 Year 2009 on Environmental Protection and Management

The construction of legal norms concerning the government’s right to file litigation for compensation in Article 90 paragraph (1) of Law No. 32 Year 2009 on Environmental Protection and Management (hereafter referred to as UUPPLH) is very important. However, Article 90 paragraph (1) of UUPPLH raises legal problems in the form of obscurity of norms, regarding the basis that underlies government institutions’ and regional governments’ authority to file claims for compensation. The first hypothesis believes that most of the environmental problems are caused by the ineffectiveness of supervision by the government itself. This research focuses on studying the government’s right to file litigation as a law enforcement effort in the natural resources sector. The method used in this research is normative juridical, which comprehensively assesses the norms regulated by the government’s authority on the environment. The result of the study shows that the legal rights of the government can be utilized to claim civil liability in the form of compensation for ecosystem losses. Constitutionally, the legal basis of the government’s right to file litigation is the State’s right to control the earth, water, and natural resources as regulated in ground norm Article 33 paragraph (3) of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia. However, to enforce article 90, the government needs to realize that supervision is the key element of preventive measures.