Eco-Enzyme Festival: Universities Commitment to Realizing a Quality Net Zero Environment
Unesa.ac.id, SURABAYA—World Environment Day is celebrated every June 5th. In relation to this and to raise environmental awareness, several universities involved in UI Greenmetric held the Eco-Enzyme Festival on Monday, June 6, 2023.
This event, hosted by UNESA, was attended online by several other universities. UNESA Rector Prof. Dr. Nurhasan, M.Kes., stated that this event is a joint program 'from us for all of us.'
For Cak Hasan, environmental aspects must be a priority for all universities, as various environmental issues and disasters continue to emerge. The environment has even become a central issue in the global world.
"The environment is the most fundamental and priority issue because it is directly related to our quality of life as humans. Therefore, we must truly commit to creating a quality environment. This must start from the campus," said Cak Hasan.
He added that as a manifestation of this commitment, UNESA has an Eco-Campus as a platform for movement and concrete actions to create a clean and green campus environment. Additionally, the campus with the tagline 'Home of Champions' has participated in UI Greenmetric since 2015 and has improved its position year by year.
They also run environmental awareness programs driven by lecturers and students through various sustainable programs.
"We also continue to ensure the quality of water in the campus environment by pouring eco-enzymes into the campus lakes in both Lidah Wetan and Ketintang. We also have a campus forest as a place for conservation, education, and recreation," explained Cak Hasan.
Dr. Tasdiyanto Rohadi from the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK) considers this momentum very important, not only as a commemoration of World Environment Day but also to raise public awareness that the environment faces increasing challenges in the future.
The spreading of eco-enzymes in various water bodies in the campus environment is a concrete action to improve environmental quality. "This indeed needs to be promoted, because as environmental challenges increase in the future, the efforts provided must also be greater, and of course, we must work together to take concrete actions to improve our surrounding environment from small things," he explained.
He mentioned that the role of academics from universities is very much needed because it makes the quality of actions strong with a theoretical foundation. Innovations must have development, and they will also evaluate so that innovations can develop and address existing challenges.
The Chair of UI Greenmetric, Prof. Dr. Ir. Riri Fitri Sari MM. MSc., mentioned that this activity has been carried out routinely every year. With collaborative activities with several universities, including UNESA, UI Greenmetric itself also sets an example in prestigious world rankings such as the Times Higher Education (THE) Ranking, which this year focuses on sustainable development.
"With the pouring of eco-enzymes, this is the beginning for us to pay attention to water in the surrounding environment and the existence of eco-enzyme teams in accordance with the implementation of the third thematic priority of UI Greenmetric, namely partnering on solutions to sustainability challenges," she said.
The Chair of UI Greenmetric Eco-Enzyme, Dr. Ir. Nurzainah Ginting, M.Sc., expressed her gratitude for the participation of UNESA and 21 other universities. In this festival, the pouring of eco-enzymes was witnessed simultaneously in all partner universities. She hopes that in the future, many universities will participate in continuing sustainable environmental conservation.
The Coordinator of UI Green World University Ranking Indonesia, Prof. Dr. Ir. Ambariyanto, M.Sc., added that besides concrete actions, academics must plan innovation development with other experts.
He mentioned that there is a separate forum through social media that discusses the sustainability of environmental welfare, one of which is eco-enzymes. Cooperation between universities will be one of the focuses of ranking, both in terms of media, technology development, and so on.[]
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Author: Mohammad Dian Purnama
Editor: @zam Alasiah
Photo: UNESA Public Relations Team
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