Legal Protection Of The Environment In Military Operations: From An Anthropocentric Toward An Ecocentric Perspective Within The Framework Of Environmental Sovereignty
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Abstract
Military operations, whether in armed conflict or in operations other than war, often leave environmental damage that persists for decades, while the existing legal framework still views the environment primarily as a means of fulfilling human interests. This study aims to analyze the regulation of the legal protection of the environment in military operations, to examine environmental sovereignty as a basis for restricting the operational freedom of states, and to formulate the direction of a shift from an anthropocentric to an ecocentric perspective through the reactualization of the Martens Clause. This study uses a normative juridical method with statutory, conceptual, and case approaches, covering Agent Orange in Vietnam, the burning of Kuwait's oil wells in 1991, the collapse of the Kakhovka Dam in 2023, the Urutsewu dispute, and the ammunition depot explosion in Ciangsana. The results show that international humanitarian law sets a high and cumulative damage threshold, so that environmental protection tends to depend on its impact on humans, while national law does not yet contain specific provisions on the environmental responsibility of defense institutions. Environmental sovereignty, understood as both a right and a responsibility of the state, provides a normative basis for restricting military operations, with respect to the environment of a state's own territory as well as that of other states. The Martens Clause, which protects matters not yet regulated through the principles of humanity and the dictates of public conscience, can be interpreted evolutively as an entry point for environmental protection that does not depend on human harm. This study proposes moderate ecocentrism, namely the recognition of the intrinsic value of the environment that is still weighed together with military necessity. This reconstruction encompasses the strengthening of norms, institutions, accountability, and doctrine within the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI).
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