JAKARTA — “Going to Dubai was an act of desperation,” says Muninggar, a 48-year-old former fish farmer from northern Java. “There were no jobs left in the village. If I wasn’t forced to, I wouldn’t have gone — my kids were still small.” Like many Indonesians on the frontlines of climate change, Muninggar has seen erratic weather and rising temperatures destroy her livelihood, forcing her to migrate in search of a living. Her story echoes those of Indigenous farmers in Borneo and disabled fishers in eastern Indonesia, all facing the same reality: the climate crisis is deepening inequality and displacing those least responsible for it. Now, these communities are uniting to demand that climate justice be recognized as a constitutional right — part of a growing movement behind Indonesia’s first proposed Climate Justice Bill. Indonesia’s marginalized communities march to demand stronger climate action from the government in Jakarta in August 2025. Image courtesy of People’s Alliance for Climate Justice (ARUKI). Migrant workers Over the course of a few years, increasingly erratic weather devastated Muninggar’s fish ponds. “During the dry season, the seawater didn’t rise high enough, turning the pond water yellow. When that happened, the fish, shrimp and crabs died — I suffered total harvest failure,” she says. She took out a bank loan to stay afloat, but after five years of unpredictable weather and mounting losses, she was forced to close her pond, as were many of her neighbors. In September 2021, she chose to seek work abroad as…This article was originally published on Mongabay
Indonesia’s most vulnerable push for nation’s first Climate Justice Bill
