Water Resources Governance in Indonesia Towards Environmental Sustainability Along with Social and Economic Development

Indonesia’s water resources governance aims at delivering the basic needs of a growing population whilst being constrained by ecosystems’ carrying capacity. The main causes of regulatory overlaps and prevalent “silo mentality” in water governance are sought by analysing laws, regulations, and policies. Over time, water resources governance has aimed to address food, water, and energy needs through infrastructural approaches, forest and land rehabilitation, and community participation. It is anchored in the river basin territory and watershed concepts. Public decision-making, however, puts anthropogenic considerations at its core rather than hydrological aspects, leading to misfits between institutions and ecosystem functioning. Ineffective legal instruments and policies are essentially due to institutional constraints. A synthesis of the three major water regulations—Government Regulation 37/2012 concerning Watershed Management, Law 17/2019 concerning Water Resources, and Government Regulation 26/2008 concerning National Spatial Plan—reveals little ownership of watershed management with regional/local governments since responsibilities are delegated by the central government to a technical agency; limited focus on green water (social and ecological) governance approaches compared with blue water (hard infrastructural) ones; and weak law enforcement and formulation of strategies for maintaining ecosystem functioning. Our recommendations include an ecoregional water governance with a thoroughly designed performance and target indicators; continuation of development plans built on previous plans and outcomes; continuity in water resources monitoring and evaluation; society-wide participation; and synchronisation of regulatory processes of all administrative levels led by the President in collaboration with Parliament using “carrot and stick” modes.