Ecolinguistic Framing of Raja Ampat’s Environmental Degradation

Abstract

Environmental degradation in ecologically significant regions often becomes not only an environmental crisis but also a discursive struggle over meaning, responsibility and legitimacy. This study investigated how environmental degradation in Raja Ampat, Indonesia, one of the world’s most biodiverse marine ecosystems, was linguistically framed in Indonesian online news media. Drawing on an integrated framework of ecolinguistics and critical discourse analysis, the study examined 36 news articles published between year 2024 and 2025 from major Indonesian media outlets. The analysis identified three dominant discourse frames that structured media representations of the mining controversy: the environmental catastrophe frame, the economic justification frame and the conflict of authority frame. Each frame employed distinct linguistic strategies, including evaluative metaphors, technocratic nominalisations and modal constructions, which reflected competing ideological positions among environmental groups, government institutions, corporations and local communities. The findings revealed that media discourse functioned as a discursive arena where ecological values, economic development narratives and institutional authority were negotiated and contested. By uncovering the linguistic mechanisms through which environmental realities are constructed, this study contributes to the growing field of ecolinguistics and extends research on environmental communication in the Global South. The study highlights the importance of more transparent, inclusive and ecologically responsible media discourse in shaping public understanding and environmental governance in biodiversity-rich regions such as Raja Ampat.