Marine plastic debris is a common issue faced by the entire international community, with some countries finding it exceptionally difficult to address and combat the issue, including Indonesia and Malaysia. The two neighboring countries are ranked as the largest contributors of plastic waste in the ocean. Unmanaged plastic waste that will ultimately end up in waters and seas has become a major issue that Indonesia and Malaysia must deal with, and a firm legal approach holds a key role for both countries in solving the issue. This paper is devoted to normatively analyzing the various legal approaches that are/can be used by Indonesia and Malaysia, and to identify the problems related to such approaches. This article applies normative legal research, in which various legal instruments and other secondary legal materials are descriptively analyzed to unravel the legal issues. The main findings reveal that laws and regulations, as well as public policies that serve as a legal basis and approaches to deal with plastic waste governance in Indonesia and Malaysia, still possess some weaknesses, including the absence of distinctive provisions specifically aimed at dealing with plastic waste, the lower legal binding power of some instruments due to their soft-law nature, and the application of rather ineffective approaches. One important initial step towards actually exerting the legal approaches in governing plastic waste in both countries is to strengthen the governing structure and legal culture surrounding the management of plastic waste. Finally, this paper encourages the establishment of a bilateral agreement between Indonesia and Malaysia that will allow both countries to formulate a more legally binding framework for tackling the issues of marine waste in general and marine plastic debris in particular.

In response to the food crisis threat due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Indonesian Government initiates a national food supply enhancement program recognized as food estate which was then established as a part of National Strategic Programs. To maintain its implementation, the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry through PermenLHK 24/2020 allows the legalization of forest land utilization, including the protected forest land for the food estate program. This study aims to analyze emerging conflict norms related to the utilization of the protected forest in Indonesia’s food estate program. The method used is normative legal research conducted by reviewing various forestry-related legal instruments and principles in Indonesia. The main findings reveal that the legalization of the utilization of protected forests for food estate projects by PermenLHK 24/2020 does not meet legal certainty and contradicts the norms incorporated in the hierarchical higher related regulations. In connection to climate change, the legalization of utilizing protected forests for the food estate program will open up opportunities for deforestation and encourage degradation of the protected function of these forests. The forestry sector has become one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Indonesia, with deforestation and land degradation as the root of the problem. The implication of food estate becomes a regressive action for the realization of Indonesia’s commitment to reduce GHG emissions from the forestry sector up to 17.2% with unconditional mitigation scenario (CM 1) and 23% with conditional mitigation scenario (CM 2) by 2030.