Aversion or Inertia? A Research Programme to Understand the Prospects of Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Agriculture in Indonesia

7 Pages Posted: 21 Jun 2023 Last revised: 15 Jul 2023

See all articles by Alexander Zahar

Alexander Zahar

Ashurst Australia; Macquarie University - Macquarie Law School (Sydney, Australia)

Date Written: June 15, 2023

Abstract

In Indonesia, agricultural regulation is entirely adaptation-focused. No specific mitigation obligation is present in the country’s body of agricultural law. The situation does not facilitate a strong agricultural mitigation policy in the country, and, as a matter of fact, Indonesia’s planned actions on emission-reduction in agriculture are narrow, vague, and lacking in ambition. What is not clear, however, is whether the emphatic adaptation focus in Indonesia’s body of agricultural regulation reflects entrenched social values about the role of agriculture. For it might also be the case that the emphasis on adaptation in Indonesia’s agricultural regulation is simply an instance of regulatory inertia, which is to say that it is not reflective of any underlying values-based resistance to the concept of mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture. An inquiry that seeks to elicit the opinion of Indonesian farmers in this respect would throw some light on whether the lack of ambition regarding agriculture’s contribution to the effort against climate change goes deeper than a mere regulatory inertia which perpetuates agricultural protectionism. This, in turn, might help us understand the nature of the risks we are up against with our planned response to climate change.

Keywords: Indonesia, climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, mitigation policy, agriculture, agricultural regulation, adaptation-focused laws, agricultural protectionism, agricultural subsidies, food security, food self-sufficiency, farmers’ support for mitigation policy

Suggested Citation

Zahar, Alexander, Aversion or Inertia? A Research Programme to Understand the Prospects of Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Agriculture in Indonesia (June 15, 2023). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4479057 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4479057

Alexander Zahar (Contact Author)

Ashurst Australia ( email )

5 Martin Place
Sydney, 2000
Australia

Macquarie University - Macquarie Law School (Sydney, Australia) ( email )

Sydney
Australia

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