KEHATI: Climate Policy Must Integrate Protection and Interests
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The KEHATI Foundation is encouraging national climate change policies to integrate biodiversity protection and the interests of the community, particularly the groups most vulnerable to the climate crisis.
According to the Programme Director of the KEHATI Foundation, Rony Megawanto, maintaining a balance between mitigation and adaptation strategies within climate change regulations is essential. “The Climate Change Management Bill must be able to maintain a balance between mitigation and adaptation efforts,” Rony stated in a briefing in Jakarta on Saturday.
KEHATI noted that climate change has triggered various impacts, ranging from rising sea levels, droughts, forest and land fires, to floods and the loss of biodiversity. These impacts are considered most severely felt by indigenous peoples, the poor, persons with disabilities, children, and other vulnerable groups.
This situation highlights issues of climate justice, as communities whose carbon emission contributions are relatively small are the ones facing the greatest impacts from climate change. On the other asides, climate change and biodiversity share a mutually influential relationship; biodiversity acts as a natural carbon sink, while climate change can accelerate the destruction and extinction of various species.
According to KEHATI, the degradation of these ecosystems ultimately has the potential to worsen the impacts of climate change while reducing the quality of life for the population.
KEHATI, alongside researchers from ITB, BRIN, and the AKATIGA Social Analysis Centre, has compiled a study resulting in a policy brief titled “Climate Change, Biodiversity, and Society: A Critical Review and Recommendations for Climate Policy Focus in Indonesia”.
In this policy brief, KEHATI identified four main gaps in national climate policy. First, the fragmentation of climate change governance; the study suggests that attention to climate issues is not yet uniform across all ministries, agencies, or local governments. Collaboration between the government, local authorities, civil society organisations, academics, and indigenous communities needs to be strengthened.
Second, the issue of policy priority and continuity. Climate policy is deemed to focus too heavily on mitigation, while adaptation efforts for vulnerable communities, coastal areas, and dryland agriculture have not received comparable attention or funding.
Third, social justice and biodiversity. Groups that produce relatively small amounts of emissions are bearing the brunt of climate change impacts. Simultaneously, biodiversity, which plays a vital role in climate mitigation and adaptation, has not received adequate attention.
Fourth, the sub-optimal synchronisation of climate policy with development policy. KEHATI highlighted development policies that potentially increase environmental pressure and greenhouse gas emissions, including projects related to forest clearing.
To address these issues, the KEHATl Foundation has proposed seven recommendations as input for the drafting of climate change management regulations. These seven recommendations include the full and consistent application of a sustainable development paradigm, the integration of climate change management with biodiversity conservation, and the implementation of a more ambitious and equitable energy transition.
KEHATI also encourages the development of green economic incentives for both producers and consumers, the strengthening of local food systems to face food crisis threats caused by climate change, the construction of climate-resilient public health systems, and the strengthening of governance in handling climate change.
These inputs emerge amidst the ongoing discussion of climate change regulations in the House of Representatives (DPR). In September 2026, Commission XII of the DPR stated they were deepening their study of the academic manuscript and the draft Climate Change Bill alongside the government.
Previously, the harmonisation process of the Climate Change Management Bill was delayed in February 2026 to avoid overlap with the revision of the Environmental Protection and Management Act.
“So far, our adaptation strategy has focused on reducing climate change risks. However, there are other strategies that need to be mainstreamed in adaptation efforts, namely utilising the opportunities arising from climate change (climate opportunities),” said Rony.