<![CDATA[Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) activities in rural areas contribute to the local economy, yet they are frequently conducted with rudimentary technology and inadequate supervision, thereby triggering environmental pollution, particularly affecting soil and river bodies that serve as community water sources. This study aims to analyse the forms of criminal liability borne by perpetrators of environmental pollution arising from people’s mining activities in rural areas, the legal bases applied, and the obstacles encountered in their enforcement. The primary normative framework refers to Law Number 32 of 2009 on Environmental Protection and Management (UU PPLH) and Law Number 3 of 2020 on the Amendment to Law Number 4 of 2009 on Mineral and Coal Mining (UU Minerba), both of which impose obligations on mining business actors to prevent pollution and environmental damage and threaten criminal sanctions for unlicensed mining activities and violations of environmental standards. The method employed is normative-empirical legal research, examining statutory provisions and relevant court decisions, supplemented by field data drawn from cases of people’s mining that have caused river pollution in several rural regions. The findings indicate that perpetrators of environmental pollution resulting from people’s mining can be held criminally liable either as individual offenders or as business operators; however, implementation in the field remains weak owing to the socio-economic circumstances of the miners, limited supervisory capacity, and overlapping authority among institutions. This study recommends the strengthening of environmental criminal law enforcement, balanced with the structuring of people’s mining areas, enhanced supervisory capacity, and a restorative justice approach that continues to place the “polluter pays” principle as its foremost guiding tenet.]]>
