Realizing the Law-Religion Synergy in Environmental Governance: The Right to Religious Freedom as an Instrumental Environmental Right in Indonesia
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Instrumental environmental rights typically refer to constitutional rights that do not explicitly protect the environment but can be invoked to advance environmental protection. While the right to life and the right to health are prominent examples, limited attention has been given to the potential role of religious freedom in performing this function. This article examines whether and under what conditions the right to practice one’s religion or belief can operate as an instrumental environmental right in Indonesia. It considers the existing culture of environmental public interest litigation and religious freedom jurisprudence before the Indonesian Constitutional Court, as well as comparative analysis of Native American religious freedom cases in the United States. The article argues that environmental protection may become necessary for the exercise of religious freedom where a sufficiently direct relationship exists between an environmental condition and a constitutionally-protected religious practice. In such circumstances, the right to religious freedom and the right to a good and healthy environment may operate concurrently, while Islamic environmental norms provide the substantive religious/moral basis for establishing that relationship without becoming a source of positive law. The article thereby proposes a more substantive account of law-religion synergy in Indonesian environmental constitutionalism, and Indonesian environmental law more generally.
Source: Jambe Law Journal
DOI: 10.22437/xwm1zy45
Author: Shazny Ramlan
Institution: Temasek Polytechnic
Language: English
Subfield: Law
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7213909250