Depok, February 3, 2024. The University of Indonesia (UI) held an Open Session to Commemorate its 74th Anniversary yesterday at the Convention Hall, UI Campus, Depok. The theme of this year’s UI Anniversary is “Continuously Building a Sustainable Indonesia,” representing UI as an educational institution that pays great attention to environmental and sustainability issues in accordance with the important points contained in the SDGs. To that end, UI presented a figure considered an “environmental sage,” namely Prof. Dr. Jatna Supriatna, Msc., a lecturer and scientist from the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (FIMIPA) UI. He delivered a scientific oration speech related to his review from the perspective of conservation and sustainability science. This event opened a series of anniversary commemorations that will culminate on February 21.
Starting his speech, Prof. Jatna gave an overview of three species of Orangutan in Indonesia, namely Pongo abelli, Pongo tapanuliensis, and Pongo pygmaeus. These three are the main species of Indonesia because they only exist in Indonesia. In addition, Indonesia is also an archipelagic country and is located in a tropical region that has the third largest tropical forest area in the world. Indonesia also has the second longest coastline in the world with a sea area (70%) and a land area (30%), in the form of a very large number of islands (>17,000). Prof. Jatna said, this extraordinary biodiversity potential must be used as an asset to provide prosperity and welfare for the Indonesian nation.
The ever-growing human population and its activities have caused damage to the earth, such as global warming due to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, environmental pollution from hazardous and toxic materials, and loss of biodiversity. In his presentation, Prof. Jatna stated that 2023 was the hottest year in the world and the last five years were the hottest temperatures in history since 1850. This year, the earth’s temperature has reached an average of 2 ℃ compared to pre-industrial levels and is expected to increase further in the following years.
He explained that a temperature increase of 1 °C could melt the polar ice caps and endanger the existence of a number of animals. Furthermore, if the earth experiences a temperature increase of 2 °C, it could wipe out 40% of the rainforests, which would result in the depletion of animal food reserves. Furthermore, at a temperature increase of 3 °C, trees would no longer be able to retain carbon dioxide and large cities would be filled with pollution. “If there is a temperature increase of 5 °C, I think the earth will no longer be habitable. So, we must be able to slow down, so that the temperature does not continue to rise,” said Prof. Jatna.
The next global crisis is the serious loss of biodiversity, both in quantity and quality of its habitat. Biodiversity loss is caused by various human activities. Humans are at the center of all environmental crises and threats to the sustainability of biological resources. Therefore, the issue of biological resource conservation is not merely a technical biological issue but also a socio-cultural one.
Furthermore, Prof. Jatna explained that other earth crises are chemical, plastic, water, and air pollution. Environmental pollution occurs in every corner of the earth, pollutants accumulate in the environment and cause disturbances to habitats that continue to occur today. Pollutants not only impact the abiotic environment, but also impact the biotic environment. Therefore, besides simply adapting to various environmental crises, Prof. Jatna said that one of the mitigations of climate change is by developing carbon trading, both in the form of a green and blue economy as well as through a mix of New and Renewable Energy (EBT) and decarbonization programs and other latest technologies (hydrogen, nuclear and others) and to achieve Net Zero Emissions faster than promised.
“We at universities are obligated to scientifically examine the various trade-offs in land use, biodiversity utilization, the impacts of climate change, and forest and marine policy and management. Therefore, we at universities have a duty to empower and unite various development actors, and to connect community knowledge systems at the grassroots level with multi-disciplinary science at universities to improve natural resource governance for sustainable, inclusive development,” said Prof. Jatna.
Meanwhile, in his opening remarks, UI Rector Prof. Ari Kuncoro, S.E., M.A., Ph.D., also invited the UI academic community to preserve the earth, dedicate knowledge, and maintain the dignity of the University of Indonesia. At the age of 74 UI, Prof. Ari said, if compared to humans, this age is considered elderly, the productive age has long been left behind, and now only the time to enjoy the rest of life.
“However, for an educational institution like the University of Indonesia, growing maturity reflects how far we have traveled and how meaningful our achievements are for Indonesia,” said Prof. Ari.
