Overview
Wahana Lingkungan Hidup Indonesia (WALHI), established in 1980, is Indonesia’s largest environmental advocacy organisation. It works to promote ecological justice and protect environmental rights, aiming to create a fair and democratic socio-economic system that ensures sustainable access to natural resources and a healthy environment.
Mission and focus areas
WALHI focuses on environmental protection, human rights and equitable resource governance. Its work spans deforestation, climate change, agrarian conflict and indigenous rights, alongside broader critiques of extractive economic models.
The organisation advocates for policies that safeguard ecosystems and community livelihoods, highlighting the risks of unsustainable development and capital-driven resource exploitation. This provides finance professionals with insight into environmental and social risks, particularly in sectors linked to land use, energy and natural resources.
Structure and governance
WALHI operates as a nationwide network comprising hundreds of member organisations and individual members across most Indonesian provinces. It is structured with a national executive leadership, supported by regional offices that coordinate local advocacy and programmes.
This decentralised structure enables WALHI to combine national policy engagement with grassroots mobilisation, ensuring that local environmental issues inform broader governance and advocacy strategies.
Programs and offerings
WALHI produces research, policy analysis and environmental outlook reports that assess ecological conditions and policy impacts. It also undertakes advocacy campaigns, legal support for affected communities, and public awareness initiatives on issues such as pollution, deforestation and climate policy.
Through these activities, WALHI provides valuable insights into environmental governance, regulatory gaps and sustainability risks. These outputs are particularly relevant for practitioners assessing ESG factors, stakeholder impacts and long-term sustainability considerations in investment and decision-making.
Mission
Developing the potential of people’s strength and resilience
Restore the national mandate to uphold and protect the sovereignty of the people
Deconstructing the oppressive and exploitative global capitalistic economic order towards a populist economy
Building an alternative to the new world economy
Urging policies for the management of people’s resources in a just and sustainable manner
