Mitigating sea-level rise in Indonesia: A policy approach through social protection and sustainable water governance

Sea-level rise constitutes a pressing challenge for Indonesia, a nation acutely vulnerable due to its archipelagic geography. This article employs a normative legal research method to critically examine Indonesia’s legal and policy framework for addressing these impacts, with a particular attention to the intersection of social protection and sustainable water governance. The study analyzes the coherence and implementation of key statutes, including Law No. 32 of 2009 on Environmental Protection and Management, Law No. 17 of 2019 on Water Resources, Law No. 24 of 2007 on Disaster Management, and Law No. 40 of 2004 on the National Social Security System, as well as relevant development plans and international commitments. By systematically interpreting these instruments in relation to constitutional mandates and empirical vulnerability data, the analysis reveals persistent fragmentation that undermines Indonesia’s adaptive capacity. Specifically, the findings demonstrate a disjunction between social protection and climate adaptation, alongside water governance frameworks that remain under-equipped to address slow-onset hazards such as salinity intrusion, groundwater depletion, and permanent inundation. This gap results in inadequate legal and institutional safeguards for vulnerable coastal populations, including displaced communities and informal workers. Based on these findings, the article argues for the codification of a unified Climate Resilience and Social Protection Law that integrates sustainable water governance. Such a law would embed climate justice and constitutional rights within a cohesive governance framework, ensuring a more equitable and resilient national response to the unprecedented challenges posed by sea-level rise.