Sulawesi Beyond Limits: Why D3TLH Status Has Not Slowed Mining Permits

The Jakarta-based Center of Economic and Law Studies (CELIOS) has published a report concluding that Sulawesi has exceeded its environmental carrying and assimilative capacity. The report, Melampaui Batas: Kegagalan Daya Dukung dan Daya Tampung Lingkungan Hidup (D3TLH) Mengendalikan Ekspansi Industri Ekstraktif di Sulawesi (Beyond Limits: The Failure of Environmental Carrying and Assimilative Capacity to Control the Expansion of Extractive Industries in Sulawesi), is dated August 2026 and was released on 15 September 2026.

Its central finding is not only that the island is under ecological stress. It is that the legal instrument designed to register that stress, the D3TLH, has not changed how permits are issued.

The full report (PDF) is in Indonesian. CELIOS has published an English summary of the findings, and the separate methodology document can be downloaded from the same page. The research was carried out with Kaoem Telapak and the Environmental Investigation Agency (UK), under the Forest Governance, Markets and Climate programme funded by UK International Development.

What the report found

CELIOS built a multi-criteria assessment across air, water, land, social and policy-control dimensions and gave Sulawesi an aggregate score of 4.5 out of 5, which it labels "beyond limits". This is CELIOS's own scoring method, set out in its methodology document. It is not an official D3TLH determination by the government.

The permitting figures are the core of the argument:

• Over 2014-2024 the government issued 574 new mining business permits (IUP), with concessions totalling 819,452 hectares. About 60 percent of them were issued in the last two years of that period, and 2024 alone saw 194 new permits, the highest in the decade.
• 277 new permits, covering 440,998 hectares, were issued in areas the report classifies as ecologically critical.
• By CELIOS's calculation, one hectare of Sulawesi passed to mining concession holders roughly every six minutes.

The environmental and social figures follow:

• Mining and palm oil accounted for about 82.2 percent of Sulawesi's deforestation over 2014-2023, around 18 times the loss attributed to shifting cultivation.
• Nickel operations in Central and Southeast Sulawesi are estimated to generate 32.8 million tonnes of hazardous waste and tailings a year. The two provinces host about 78 percent of the island's nickel smelters and 93.9 percent of its 9,825 MW of captive coal power.
• Provinces that are industrial centres average 5,353 cases of acute respiratory infection and pneumonia a year, against 2,634 in non-industrial provinces, while having fewer hospitals and community health centres.
• Drawing on data from the Konsorsium Pembaruan Agraria and Tanahkita.id, CELIOS counts 95 agrarian conflicts affecting 90,582 people in 59 communities. 51 are unresolved. Repression was recorded in 46 of them, with 93 arrests, four injuries and one death.
• Cumulative ecological losses are put at more than IDR 100 trillion.

What the regulation says a D3TLH status does

The D3TLH is governed by Peraturan Pemerintah Nomor 26 Tahun 2025 tentang Perencanaan Perlindungan dan Pengelolaan Lingkungan Hidup (Government Regulation 26/2025 on Environmental Protection and Management Planning, BPK). Its preamble states that it implements, among others, Pasal 12 ayat (4) of Undang-Undang Nomor 32 Tahun 2009 tentang Perlindungan dan Pengelolaan Lingkungan Hidup (Law 32/2009 on Environmental Protection and Management, BPK).

Two provisions matter for the report's argument.

Pasal 22 ayat (1) PP 26/2025 provides that a completed D3TLH is set out in a document containing the environmental status, which is either terlampaui (exceeded) or belum terlampaui (not yet exceeded). Pasal 22 ayat (2) provides that the D3TLH is determined by decree: of the Minister for the national level and for islands or archipelagos, of the governor for a province and for ecoregions spanning several districts, and of the regent or mayor for a district or city.

Pasal 40 ayat (2) provides that where an environmental protection and management plan (RPPLH) has not yet been prepared, natural resources are used on the basis of the D3TLH, taking into account the continuity of environmental processes and functions, the continuity of environmental productivity, and the safety, quality of life and welfare of the community.

The word terlampaui appears once in the body of PP 26/2025, in Pasal 22. No provision in the body of the regulation states what follows from a finding that capacity has been exceeded: nothing requires a permit to be refused, an existing permit to be reviewed, or new activity to stop. That is the gap CELIOS identifies, and on the body text it is accurate. CELIOS also points to the technical appendix, Lampiran II, which describes the consequences of an exceeded status, from resource scarcity to forced displacement, but as scientific explanation rather than as legal obligation.

Where the D3TLH does reach the permitting regime, it can work as an accelerator rather than a brake. Pasal 84 ayat (1) of Peraturan Pemerintah Nomor 28 Tahun 2025 tentang Penyelenggaraan Perizinan Berusaha Berbasis Risiko (Government Regulation 28/2025 on Risk-Based Business Licensing, BPK) lets a business apply for a technical approval at the same time as its environmental approval (persetujuan lingkungan) where, among other conditions, a D3TLH calculation shows that the planned location can still support the business. A "not yet exceeded" finding therefore shortens the procedure. Pasal 84 attaches no corresponding effect to an "exceeded" finding.

What CELIOS proposes

CELIOS calls for a reform of the D3TLH rules so that a "beyond limits" status carries binding legal consequences: a moratorium on new permits, a mandatory review of existing concessions, restoration obligations, and full public access to environmental and licensing data. The report also notes that PP 26/2025 does not require D3TLH data to be published or require public consultation in preparing it.

Assessment

The report's legal claim is narrow, and it holds. PP 26/2025 creates a status, assigns it to a decree, and in Pasal 40 makes the D3TLH the basis for resource use where no RPPLH exists. What it does not do is attach a consequence to the status that a permitting officer must act on. The instrument can record that an island has exceeded its limits without that finding stopping a single permit.

Two cautions are worth keeping in view. First, the 4.5 score is CELIOS's composite index, not a Pasal 22 decree. Whether the Minister has determined an official D3TLH status for Sulawesi, and what it says, is the next question to ask; a formal "terlampaui" decree for the island would put the regulatory gap on the record rather than in a civil-society report. Second, the D3TLH is not meant to work alone. Under the planning chain it feeds the RPPLH, spatial plans and environmental impact assessment, and a limit could in principle bite at any of those points. The report's permit data suggest that in Sulawesi it has not bitten at any of them.

CRPG has previously explained the structure of PP 26/2025 in How does PP 26/2025 redefine environmental protection planning in Indonesia? This piece looks instead at one case study of what the D3TLH does, and does not do, once a region is found to be over its limits.

Disclaimer

This article was AI-generated under an experimental legal-AI application. It may contain errors, inaccuracies, or hallucinations. The content is provided for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as legal advice or authoritative interpretation of regulations.

We accept no liability whatsoever for any decisions made based on this article. Readers are strongly advised to:

• Consult the official regulation text from government sources
• Seek professional legal counsel for specific matters
• Verify all information independently

This experimental AI application is designed to improve access to regulatory information, but accuracy cannot be guaranteed.