Legal Balance and Environmental Sustainability in Indonesia’s Mineral and Coal Licensing Regime: A Normative Study Based on Pancasila

Indonesia's mineral and coal licensing regime is caught between the need for economic growth and the need to protect the environment. The purpose of this normative legal research is to examine the regulatory architecture in the mineral and coal mining industry from the perspective of Pancasila as the basis of state philosophy, with particular emphasis on the principles of environmental preservation and the precepts of social justice. This article evaluates the consistency, coherence, and adequacy of the licensing regime in ensuring ecological sustainability and resource distribution using a doctrinal approach based on normative juridical analysis of legislation, the constitution, and Pancasila-based legal theory. The results show that the prevailing legal framework is unbalanced. Current regulations focus more on administrative efficiency and investment attractiveness, but do not adequately internalize the intergenerational environmental responsibilities established by the 1945 Constitution and environmental regulations. This article proposes urgent legal reform towards an integrative paradigm that brings together legal certainty, distributive justice, and environmental sustainability based on the third and fifth precepts of Pancasila. To create a balanced legal design, sustainable development principles such as precaution, ecological integrity, and participatory governance are used as standards. The study found that the mining licensing regime should be adapted to a legal theory based on Pancasila and sustainability principles. This is an important step towards equitable and sustainable natural resource governance in Indonesia. The results provide an important reference for academics, environmental stakeholders and policy makers.