On June 15th, HSF Indonesia took a part in a seminar conducted by Jakarta State University in cooperation with the Ministry of Environment entitled, “Green Economy and Environmental Education”. The seminar, which was held during the Indonesia Environment Week 2012, discussed the steps that need to be taken to achieve greener industry and economy in Indonesia. Ideas to implement environmental education in school’s community were also discussed during the forum. The seminar was attended by participants from various backgrounds, such as representatives from the Ministry of Environment, college students and teachers of junior and senior high school.

As a newly industrialized country, Indonesia has faced various problems in regards to its environment, mainly from industrial waste, greenhouse gases and land-use changes. As a result, Indonesia has gotten prone to potential environmental disasters. Also, the temperature in Indonesia has been increasing steadily in the last ten years. For these reasons, greener industry and economy is desperately needed in order to combat potential disasters.

In order to raise environmental awareness, the Ministry of Environment has conducted Adiwiyata Program (green school program) in order to enhance students’ knowledge and awareness to maintain the responsibility in taking care of the environment. However, even though Adiwiyata Program had been implemented since 2005, the result of Adiwiyata program is still below what was what expected from the program. According to the Ministry of Environment, there has only been 272 schools (out of the total of 260,000) awarded the Adiwiyata. The Ministry of Environment pleaded to increase the number of Adiwiyata Schools by at least 2000 schools. Hanns Seidel Foundation Indonesia, as a leading institute in Evironmental Education will help to support the Ministry of Environment’s mission to increase the environmental awareness in Indonesia.

The seminar discussed the solutions to improve the number of Adiwiyata School in Indonesia. There were five speakers involved in the seminar:

1. Susy Sadikin, Vice Deputy for the Ministry of Environment
2. Nana Firman, Eco-Fab Living representative
3. Nila Puspita, Program Coordinator for Hanns Seidel Foundation
4. Dr. Yusriani Saptadewi, Instructor from Jakarta State University
5. Moch. Ichwan, Representative from Environmental Care Organization

The discussion was opened by Dra, Siti Aini Hanum, MA, Assistant to Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Environment. Dra. Susy Sadikin, MSc., started the discussion by addressing the current state of green schools in Indonesia. The discussion was followed by Ms. Nana Firman who presented a material on sustainable development of green economy, while HSF’s own Ms. Nila Puspita discussed the necessity for climate change education in schools that apply low carbon, resource efficient and social inclusive approaches as the pillars to achieve green economy. A representative from Jakarta State University, Dr. Yusriani Saptadewi discussed the necessity to introduce the concept of reduce, reuse and recycle to the community. The seminar concluded with an interactive demonstration from Mr. Moch. Ichwan as he showed participants the methods to turn plastic waste into crafty work of arts. The presentation was well received by the participants. All participants acknowledged the need to implement environmental education within school’s curriculum is crucial for a better future.