Green Campus: Welcoming UIN Jakarta into an Eco-friendly Campus
Global warming is one of the issues of international concern. The United Nations (2022) said that the earth has advanced to the catastrophic climate crisis. The climate crisis occurs due to the increasing temperature of the earth caused by increasingly uncontrolled human activities. John Robert McNeill (2016) said that the 20th century has seen drastic changes in the history of mankind.
The implications of excessive human activity in exploiting nature are increasingly threatening human life on this planet. Many signs are visible as excesses. Starting from the melting of ice in the Arctic which has implications for the loss of islands and habitats of living things to floods that cause hundreds of residential settlements to be submerged.
As one of the efforts to be able to invite the academic community in reducing the impact of global warming is by implementing a green campus. Green campus is defined as an environmentally sound campus, which integrates environmental science into the policies, management and activities of the tridharma of higher education.
Although not all, many campuses in Indonesia have or are implementing green campus. Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University (UIN) Jakarta is one of the campuses that is trying to move towards a green campus.
Rector of UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta Prof. Asep Saepudin Jahar M.A., Ph.D., is committed to bringing UIN Jakarta into a green campus. This can be seen from circular letter No. 09/2024, which he officially signed. The letter outlines comprehensive measures to reduce the use of plastic.
Six Green Campus Categories
Professor of General Biology Prof. Dr. Lily Surraya Eka Putri, M.Env.Stud. explained that the preparation of UIN Jakarta towards a green campus has started since 2019 and will continue. "But, individual research related to green campus has been started since 2012," she said in UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta Youtube channel, on Friday (2/8).
In addition, the Director of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Center UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta, also described there are six aspects of green campus category. First, infrastructure and facilities. To be categorized as a green campus, campus buildings must use a green building approach.
Green Building is a building that meets building requirements and has measurable performance from planning, implementation, construction, utilization, maintenance, to deconstruction so that it does not have a negative impact on the environment.
The second category is related to waste. An eco-friendly campus is one that pays more attention to waste. Not only categorizing waste in organic or inorganic form but also being able to process and recycle waste so that it can be reused.
For example, waste from the canteen or campus environment is converted and transformed into fertilizer or compost. The resulting fertilizer can be used to fertilize the gardens around campus.
The third category is water use and management. There is no living thing that does not need water. However, water is sometimes overused. The task of a green campus is to manage water so that it can be utilized as well as possible.
For example, the water used for ablution is not allowed to flow into the gutter but is collected and used for watering plants and other useful things.
Related to the third category UIN Jakarta has more or less done the movement. This can be seen from the making of biopores carried out by several Student Activity Units such as the Kembara Insani Ibnu Batutah Environmental Lovers Student Group, the Nature Lovers Group-Arti Keagungan and the Beauty of Nature and Praja Muda Karana (Scouts).
Fourth, the use of environmentally friendly energy. Reducing energy use can start with small steps such as turning off air conditioners that are not in use. Or you can switch to using alternative energy. Such as non-carbon vehicles, biofuels, fuses, solar panels and so on.
Research conducted by Prof. Dr. Lily in 2022 shows that only two faculties have implemented solar panels as a substitute for electricity, namely the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Science and Technology. However, she is optimistic that the current Rector of UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta, Prof. Asep Saepudin Jahar, will support the use of environmentally friendly energy on campus.
Fifth, transportation. The study conducted by Prof. Dr. Lily recorded more than 5,000 vehicles going in and out of the campus. The number of vehicles clearly contributes to pollution.
According to her, the requirement to be a green campus is to be able to guarantee clean air in the campus environment. The main step to realize this is to make policies that can limit the number of vehicles.
The last or sixth is education. According to her, each faculty should include courses with materials related to environmental issues in the curriculum.
The design of this curriculum can be discussed further at the campus leadership level. To then be executed in its concrete form in the field.
Although not yet fully realized, at least UIN Jakarta has done three of the six green campus categories. The three categories are waste management, water and strengthening education.
UIN Jakarta Ranking every Year
The hard work of Prof. Dr. Lily and a small team has paid off. In 2020 UIN Jakarta was ranked 52 out of 956 participating campuses in the University of Indonesia (UI) GreenMetric World University Rankings.
UI GreenMetric is one of the programs of the University of Indonesia. UI GreenMetric rates universities based on their commitment and actions towards greening and environmental sustainability.
Furthermore, in 2021 UIN Jakarta was ranked 40th and won The 2021 Most Sustainably Improved University in Indonesia. UIN Jakarta recorded a total score of 6225. This score is obtained from six UI GreenMetric assessment indicators.
In each indicator, UIN Jakarta recorded a score of 1150 on the Setting & Infrastructure indicator, a score of 1000 on Energy & Climate Change, and a score of 1050 on Waste.
Furthermore, score 650 on Water, score 1150 on Transportation, and score 1225 on Education & Research. Not stopping there, in 2022 UIN Jakarta's ranking continues to accelerate to rank 32.
One More Step Toward Green Campus
Looking at UIN Jakarta's actions in the last three years, the hope of realizing an environmentally friendly campus is not a mere figment of the imagination.
Although some categories have not been fulfilled entirely, UIN Jakarta will be committed to transforming into a green campus.
Prof. Dr. Lily revealed that she has designed several preparations to execute the idea. Some of the drafts she proposed included encouraging the rector to issue a policy that regulates the number of vehicles in and out. This is done with the aim of reducing carbon emissions and ensuring pedestrian safety.
It is hoped that in the future the campus can pay more attention to the environment through the provision of alternative parking lots, modern technology and various other efforts for energy savings and carbon reduction.
Listen to the full story on UIN Jakarta Podcast! In this segment of the #ApaKataAhli podcast which discusses how green campus should be implemented in Indonesia and how its concrete realization in the PTKIN environment?, with Prof. Dr. Lily Surraya Eka Putri, M.Env.Stud., Professor of General Biology and Director of SDGs Center UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta.
https://youtu.be/sWc0Izr4DvM?si=-IchiksPRssaOiC7
Author: Aji Pangestu