Advancing Climate and Peatland Protection Through Environmental Law
Laely Nurhidayah is a researcher at Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), (formerly the Indonesian Institute of Sciences or LIPI), specialising in environmental law, climate change governance, transboundary haze pollution, peatland management, and climate adaptation. Her interest in studying overseas grew from a desire to strengthen her understanding of environmental governance including to address Indonesia’s forest and land-fire challenges. In 2002, she received scholarship to undertake a Master of Laws (Advanced) at The University of Queensland, focusing her thesis on transboundary haze pollution.
After completing her master’s degree, Laely returned to Indonesia and joined LIPI, where she recognised that doctoral study would be important for her professional development and advancement as a researcher. Although not successful in obtaining a second Australia Awards Scholarship, the academic foundation and networks developed through her master’s study helped her secure a place at Macquarie University under the International Macquarie University Research Excellence Scholarship.
Laely commenced her PhD in 2009 under supervision of Professor Shawkat Alam. Her time at Macquarie University expanded her professional network, including relationships with supervisors, researchers, and fellow Australia Awards alumni such as Dr Riyanti Djalante. These connections have continued through research partnerships, fellowships, grants, and joint publications.
Strengthening regulations for climate and environmental protection
Since her return to Indonesia, Laely’s professional work has focused on strengthening the legal and policy foundations for climate and environmental protection in Indonesia and Southeast Asia. Her PhD, focused on Indonesian policies addressing land and forest fires and transboundary haze pollution was published in the “Asia Pacific Journal of Environmental Law” in 2013. In 2014, her collaborative work with Professor Shawkat Alam and Professor Zada Lipman on ASEAN’s legal framework for transboundary haze pollution was published in the “Australian Journal of Asian Law”. She has also contributed to research published in “Contemporary Southeast Asia”, examining the influence of international law on ASEAN approaches to haze pollution.
Laely’s research has built significantly on partnerships with colleagues from her time in Australia. In 2016, Laely participated in the Australia APEC Women in Research Fellowship at the University of Wollongong, where she focused on marine and coastal governance and strengthened partnerships between Indonesian and Australian institutions. In 2018, she and Professor Shawkat Alam received the ANU Indonesia Project–SMERU Research Institute Collaborative Research Grant for a project on sustainable peatland management in Indonesia.
“It was a very good interdisciplinary collaboration because everyone contributed different expertise,” Laely explained.
Her work has also expanded to the wider social and economic dimensions of climate change. Through the KONEKSI-funded research project conducted between 2023 and 2025, Laely connected BRIN with Griffith University, and Diponegoro University on climate change and the environment. The collaboration resulted in “Climate Change, Labour and Migration in Indonesia”, published by Springer in 2026, for which Laely served as editor and contributing author. The publications demonstrate how her work connects environmental law and peatland protection with broader questions of climate adaptation, migration, labour, and community resilience.
Through BRIN and ongoing partnerships with Australian institutions, Laely continues to strengthen the evidence base for environmental governance and advocate for approaches that combine legal reform, scientific research, and local knowledge to protect Indonesia’s climate-sensitive ecosystems.
