Reconstructing the Indonesian Environmental Law Paradigm: From Anthropocentric-Instrumental to Ecocentric-Teleological Based on Maqasid Shariah

(A Theoretical Analysis of Legal Philosophy and the Methodology of Environmental Law Development)

Abstract

The dynamics of environmental governance in the perspective of theoretical contemporization indicate the need to reconstruct the paradigm of Indonesian environmental law from an anthropocentric-instrumental approach to an ecocentric-teleological one, integrated within the framework of maqashid sharia. The anthropocentric paradigm that dominates Indonesia's environmental regulations has proven incapable of preventing ecological degradation because it treats nature merely as an instrumental object for human interests. Through normative research methods with a juridical-normative and philosophical approach, this paper offers a paradigmatic reconstruction through three pathways: (1) the adoption of ecocentrism as the ethical-philosophical basis of environmental law; (2) the integration of hifz al-bi'ah (environmental preservation) as a component of dharuriyyat within the maqashid sharia framework; and (3) the development of a progressive environmental law discovery (rechtsvinding) methodology based on the principle of in dubio pro natura. This article concludes that the convergence between ecocentrism and the maqashid of Sharia can provide a solid ethical-teleological foundation for reconstructing Indonesian environmental law with ecological justice.