Many Indonesians living along rivers face the negative environmental impact of industrial activities. The Indonesian government is frequently reluctant in taking appropriate measures to halt such pollution. This can be partly explained by economic and political interests. However, another part of the explanation for the pollution problem lies in Indonesia’s institutional and legal framework for environmental regulation. Although significantly advanced over the last four decades, there seems to be a lack of understanding among the officials in environmental agencies about how to perform their regulatory tasks in an effective manner – even if the political will is present. Two problems stand out, and will be addressed by this project. First the lack of knowledge about basic legal principles and mechanisms on how to address industrial pollution. Second, the fact that government and CSO alike prefer 'alternative forms' of environmental regulations over 'command-and-control'  regulation. 

As part of the project various reports were published, which are listed below:

• Handbook for Monitoring and Law Enforcement of Water Pollution (in Bahasa Indonesia), by joint project team of the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law and Van Vollenhoven Institute
• Proper and law enforcement: a critical assessment on the implementation of environmental rating in Indonesia, by Andri Gunawan Wibisana
• Regulating water pollution through the administrative law framework, by Feby Ivalerina Kartikasari
• Performance of local governments in regulating industrial water pollution: an empirical study on norm-setting, monitoring and enforcement by the environmental agencies of North Sumatra province, and the districts Medan and Deli Serdang, by Raynaldo Sembiring and field researchers
• Performance of local governments in regulating industrial water pollution: an empirical study on norm-setting, monitoring and enforcement by the environmental agencies of East Java Province, and the districts Gresik and Mojokerto, by Isna Fatimah and field researchers
• Policy Brief on strengthening monitoring and law enforcement of administrative environmental law (in Bahasa Indonesia)
• Mission report October 2017, by Laure d'Hondt and Bart Teeuwen
• Handbook for Civil Society Organisations (in Bahasa Indonesia) by Raynaldo Sembiring, Margaretha Quina and Shafira Anindia Alif Hexagraha

• capacity development
• environmental law
• rule of law
• socio-legal studies