Developing Local Government's Socioenvironmental Accountability: Insights from Indonesian Socioenvironmental NGOs' Annual Reports

Abstract

This chapter develops a new reference for local government accountability in socioenvironmental issues based on the views of leading socioenvironmental nongovernmental Organisations (NGOs) in Indonesia. This study introduces an alternative view related to the government accountability model by focussing more on the socioenvironmental issues, which tend to be marginalised due to the dominance of [neo]liberal economic development and New Public Management paradigm in the praxis of government. A Fairclough's critical discourse analysis method has been applied to annual reports from three main socioenvironmental NGOs in Indonesia ranging from 2015 to 2018. This study found that there are three important notes for the local government's regulation, practice and accountability's activities to be in a line with the sustainable paradigm and the views of these NGOs. First and the foremost, the government's policy should give attention to public needs and ecological standards. Secondly, the rights and obligations related to the environmental issues should be transparent and accountable. Lastly, the government should release the accountability reports in full disclosure document and make the reports publicly available for various stakeholders. In particular, the accountability reports play a role as a tool for people to monitor the government's activities in socioenvironmental issues. This research implies an alternative view in the context of socioenvironmental accounting literature enrichment. It also provides valuable input to other governments, especially in developing countries and countries with economic growth that are highly reliant on the natural resources sector, in order to manage and account for their natural wealth in a more responsible and sustainable manner. Likewise, this research offers an alternative discourse of socioenvironmental accountability from the view of socioenvironmental NGOs in Indonesia.

Citation

Shahib, H.M., Sukoharsono, E.G., Achsin, M. and Prihatiningtias, Y.W. (2020), "Developing Local Government's Socioenvironmental Accountability: Insights from Indonesian Socioenvironmental NGOs' Annual Reports", Yekini, K.C., Yekini, L.S. and Ohalehi, P. (Ed.) Environmentalism and NGO Accountability (Advances in Environmental Accounting & Management, Vol. 9), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 27-54. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-359820200000009003