In 2012, an environmental organization, Wahana Lingkungan Hidup, filed a lawsuit against the Governor of Bali for issuing a permit to establish tourist accommodation facilities in a mangrove ecosystem area, which is included in a forest park area (Taman Hutan Raya) which is supposed to be excluded from possible commercial use. The plaintiff argued that the issuance of the permit was against the 2009 EPMA and Government Regulation No. 36 of 2010 on Nature Tourism Business in Wildlife Sanctuaries, National Parks, Grand Forest Parks and Nature Tourism Parks because it did not involve the community in the permit application process and had the potential to cause damage to the mangrove ecosystem. The plaintiff argued that the logging of mangrove trees in the permit area can hinder the mangroves’ function in mitigating climate change since mangrove forests have a much greater ability to absorb CO2 than other tropical land forests. In response, the defendant argued that the permit was granted to provide an opportunity for a third party to pursue natural tourism within the forest park area to protect and preserve the forest area from potential damage due to garbage and mud. The granting of permits has received technical recommendations from the Natural Resource Conservation Center (Balai Konservasi Sumber Daya Alam). On August 1, 2013, the Administrative Court of Denpasar ruled in favor of the plaintiff and ordered the cancellation of the permit by the Governor of Bali. On November 28, 2013, the decision was annulled by the Court of Appeal. On May, 2014 the Supreme Court confirmed the annulment of the decision, because the activities in the mangrove area were only at the planning stage, and there had been no actual damage. The courts did not consider climate change in their decisions.

Key environmental legal questions:

Whether climate change should be considered as part of actual damage.