WASTE MANAGEMENT IN DECENTRALIZED INDONESIA: POLICY COHERENCE AND MULTI-LEVEL GOVERNANCE IN YOGYAKARTA

Abstract

In many developing nations, regulatory fragmentation across multiple government levels creates challenges, urban waste management in decentralized systems creates a difficult governance issue. This paper examines the consistency of waste management regulations in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, utilizing a policy coherence framework nested inside a multi-level governance (MLG) viewpoint. It analyses four main regulatory tools—Law No. 18/2008, Governor Regulation of Yogyakarta No. 16/2021, Yogyakarta City Regulation no. 9/2024, and Yogyakarta Mayor Regulation No. 57/2023—to evaluate vertical, horizontal, and internal policy alignment. Using qualitative content analysis, this paper shows that although the laws have no official legal conflict, operational goals, language, and institutional function definitions nonetheless differ. Lack of national mandates and subnational implementation plans causes vertical coherence to be compromised. City-level actors' horizontal cooperation among planning agency and environmental services agency is uneven, hence creating overlaps and inefficiencies. Moreover, internal consistency remains a problem; certain regulations have no obvious implementation or monitoring tools. Though acknowledged in normative frameworks, the study also emphasizes the underused function of community involvement and informal actors. This disparity reduces the impact of bottom-up integration inside the government structure. Based on the results, there is a need for regulatory harmonization, sectoral cooperation, and participatory procedures in improving policy consistency. This study provides recommendations for improving institutional alignment in urban waste management systems and adds to the larger conversation on environmental governance in decentralized settings.