Assessing Indonesia's Commitment to Biodiversity Protection Beyond Formal Formal Protected Areas: Case study in Sukabumi, West Java, Indonesia

Biodiversity loss, climate change, and pollution collectively constitute the triple planetary crisis, interconnected global threats that severely challenge sustainability. Indonesia, with the world’s third-largest area of tropical forest, plays a strategic role in achieving the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). One increasingly important strategy in this context is the expansion of conservation efforts beyond formal protected areas designated under Indonesian regulations. These areas are intended to protect biodiversity and vulnerable ecosystems situated within a landscape dominated by land-based economic development. However, the effective implementation of this concept requires adequate enabling conditions embedded in the regulatory framework across multiple governance levels.

This study conducts a qualitative research design, supported by NVivo, to systematically analyse regulatory documents. The analysis covers regulations at the national, provincial, and district levels governing biodiversity protection, natural resources management, and spatial planning. In total, 30 national, 6 provincial, and 7 district regulations were examined to assess their relevance, scope, and coherence in supporting conservation beyond formal protected areas. The empirical focus is on Sukabumi District in West Java Province, Indonesia, an area characterized by high ecological value and increasing development pressures

The findings demonstrate that the existing regulatory framework has not yet produced an effective set of enabling conditions for implementing biodiversity protection beyond formal conservation areas. Although national-level regulations conceptually acknowledge the importance of expanding conservation into broader landscapes, they lack operational clarity and depend on derivative regulations that have yet to be developed. Furthermore, the significant gaps were identified in that biodiversity protection within the production landscape is not explicitly addressed. These misalignments create institutional fragmentation and limit the practical realization of preservation areas. The study concludes that strengthened policy harmonization and regulatory integration across governance levels are essential to ensure coherent, actionable, and effective implementation of biodiversity protection in non-protected landscapes.