The Ecological Footprint of Elections in Indonesia: Environmental Justice Critism of Political Campaigning

Abstract

Simultaneous elections in Indonesia since 2019 have led to a surge in political campaigns, resulting in increased production of campaign materials (APK). Although democracy is promoted as a participatory mechanism, political campaign practices have created a new form of ecological inequality. This study aims to examine the ecological impacts of political campaigns in Indonesia and the environmental injustices they cause, particularly for poor communities whose living spaces are often targeted for the installation of campaign materials. Using a qualitative method through desk review method, the analysis was conducted using Robert R. Kuehn's (2000) Environmental Justice approach, which encompasses four dimensions of justice taxonomy: Distributive Justice, Procedural Justice, Corrective Justice, and Social Justice. The results of the study show that political campaign practices in Indonesia still disregard the principles of ecological justice, with unequal distribution of environmental burdens, absence of community involvement in decisionmaking, lack of adequate regulations, no accountability scheme for campaign waste, and structural impacts that exacerbate the marginalisation of the lower classes, primarily through the unauthorised use of poor people's space, which increases the ecological burden and perpetuates the cycle of social inequality. In conclusion, political campaign practices in Indonesian elections do not yet reflect the principles of inclusive ecological justice.