Beyond Regulatory Compliance: Reorienting Indonesia's Post-Mining Governance Through Ecological Justice

Post-mining governance in coal-producing regions is often unable to translate regulatory compliance into actual ecological recovery, as evidenced by East Kalimantan's environmental challenges. Therefore, this study aimed to examine implementation gaps in Indonesia's legal framework for reclamation and propose legal reforms grounded in ecological justice. A socio-legal method was used to integrate normative analysis, semi-structured interviews with 12 multi-level stakeholders, and comparative assessments of Australia, South Africa, and India. The results identified four critical gaps, namely discrepancies between administrative compliance and ecological outcomes, inadequate financial assurance, uncertain land transfer, and fragmented institutional oversight. This study showed that regulatory compliance without corresponding ecological outcomes could not ensure environmental restoration and contributed the Ecological Outcome-Based Post-Mining Governance (EOB-PMG) framework. The model shifted legal effectiveness from formal compliance toward measurable ecological recovery, risk-based financial assurance, integrated enforcement, and long-term stewardship, supported by international lessons in progressive rehabilitation and integrated mine-closure planning.