Ministry of Environment and Forestry v. PT Jatim Jaya Perkasa

Summary:

On March 23, 2015, the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry (the MoEF) sued a company of palm oil plantation, namely PT Jatim Jaya Perkasa, for fires occurring covering an area of 1000 hectares. the MoEF argued that the defendant had failed to comply with obligations of having preventive and fires control facilities within its controlled area. Moreover, the plaintiff also argued that the defendant had intentionally set fires on its land for the purpose of making it as the new crop field. Therefore, the plaintiff asked the court to declare that the defendant had conducted an unlawful act and to pay compensation of IDR 371.1 billion for restoration cost and damages. For climate-related damages, the MoEF requested compensation for carbon release and losses of carbon sinks. The MoEF ask the the defendant to pay for compensation of IDR 810 million (9000 tC released) and IDR 283.5 million (3150 tCO2 reduced).

On June 15, 2016, the District Court of North Jakarta ruled in favor of the plaintiff and held the defendant liable for damages and restoration cost from wildfires in its controlled area. On March 17, 2017, the Jakarta Court of Appeal upheld the district court rulings but annulled the amount of cost which decided by the district court. The Jakarta Court of Appeal held that the fires affected 1000 hectares of concessions area as the plaintiff mentioned on its petition. On June 28, 2018, the Supreme Court upheld the appeal court ruling and rejected the cassation from the defendant.

At Issue: Restoration for climate damage caused by palm plantation land clearing.