Intersectionality, coloniality, and environmental law: A case study of Mount Ungaran landscape protection

Indonesia’s legal framework, particularly Law Number 32 of 2009 on Environmental Protection and Management, guarantees the right to a good and healthy environment and provides legal avenues for public participation in environmental protection. However, the implementation of formal legal mechanisms often fails to adequately address socio-ecological realities at the local level. This article explores the interconnections between intersectionality, coloniality, and environmental law in the context of protecting the Mount Ungaran landscape in Indonesia. This study employs an intersectional environmental justice approach as its theoretical framework to examine how environmental governance extends beyond formal regulations to encompass power structures and colonial legacies that shape the unequal distribution of environmental benefits and burdens. Intersectionality is used to map how social identities—such as economic status, gender positioning, and relationships with Indigenous and local communities—interact with power relations in landscape management, resulting in environmental protection practices that are neither equitable nor inclusive. This study concludes that integrating an intersectional perspective and acknowledging colonial legacies in the formulation and implementation of environmental law are essential to strengthening the fair and sustainable protection of the Mount Ungaran landscape.