Publications

The Indonesian National EIA System (AMDAL) had been in place since 1982 as the primary tool for managing potential adverse development impacts. After 20 years in practice, this study questions whether AMDAL has made a difference, i.e., its effectiveness, in the most strategic industry sector - upstream Oil and Gas (O&G). Gauging through the perspective of its stakeholders using a mixed-method approach, the study aimed to reveal the perceived effectiveness of AMDAL, the reasons behind it, and puts forward a concept to improve the future implementation value. Using descriptive statistics, coding exercise, and thematic analysis to analyse the data, the results suggest that AMDAL only has a weak influence on consent decision and project design. This poor performance is a result of a flawed system design that leads to a stagnation in the actors’ social learning. The absence of a change-inducing factor has bolstered a practice that lacks leadership and innovation, producing a good procedural performance but a low achievement of substantive effectiveness. Applying the internationally adopted Mitigation Hierarchy, coupled with private sector leadership could be the win-win-win solution. Regulators would welcome the movement as it does not require institutional or regulatory reform, yet create positive feedback and increase institutional capacity. The companies will benefit from a better business portfolio and a stronger relationship with stakeholders, improving access to international funds and boosting the stock price. Government-sponsored incentives, embedded in existing environmental performance rating scheme such as PROPER, would secure long-term implementation of such an innovation, elevating the role of AMDAL for the achievement of sustainability.