The University of Indonesia's Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (FMIPA UI) community service team, led by Astari Dwiranti, encouraged residents of Sukajaya Village to protect the environment by planting 1,000 trees. The trees were planted on the grounds of SMPN 1 Sukaresmi, located in Cinta Damai Village, and in residential areas in Sukajaya Village, Garut Regency.
This series of activities, held on July 20, 2019, aimed to educate the younger generation about environmental stewardship. These two villages were chosen because they are located along the Cimanuk River, meaning that if the environment there is not properly maintained, it could potentially cause disasters in other areas.
In implementing this program, Astari and her team collaborated with the Creative Institute, Star Energy, and the Holistika Institute, motivated by the flash floods in Garut City caused by the overflowing Cimanuk River in 2016. Rainwater flowed rapidly from upstream to downstream due to the lack of tree roots upstream that play a role in holding back the flow of rainwater.
Afiatry Putrika and Dimas Haryo Pradana, Lecturers at the Department of Biology, FMIPA UI, educated students of SMPN 1 Sukaresmi regarding the importance of trees around them as a source of food, oxygen, and flood barriers.
In addition to receiving educational support, the junior high school students also planted tree seedlings on their school grounds, accompanied by students from the University of Indonesia (UI). The seedlings included coffee, camphor, and suren. These seedlings were chosen because they not only help absorb water but also have economic value, benefiting the surrounding community.
During the community service, Cinta Damai and Sukajaya villages were extremely dry due to the three-month dry season. The dry season is predicted to continue for the next three months. Therefore, this program not only provided students and residents with seedlings for planting but also provided them with education on planting using bamboo as a water reservoir.
In addition to planting the seedlings, the students are also responsible for caring for them and monitoring their growth. After one month of planting, the students will report the seedlings' condition to the Community Service team via a letter sent to the UI Depok campus.
"This effort is being made to instill a sense of responsibility in the students who receive the seedlings and also to train their literacy skills by telling us about the development of the seedlings in writing over the next few months," said Astari.
Astari hopes this activity will help raise awareness among local residents, especially junior high school students, about the importance of environmental protection. Planting seedlings, complete with bamboo water reservoirs, is also an effort to ensure the sustainable growth of the planted plants.
Cecep Ernanto, Director of the Holistika Institute, echoed this sentiment. For him, reforestation is a concrete effort to realize the Sundanese proverb.leuweung hejo, rahayat ngejo’ (green forests, people can eat). However, efforts to achieve this cannot stop at the planting stage. It requires continuous hard work in caring for and nurturing the plants so they grow large and ultimately become economically valuable.
Therefore, this Community Service activity must become the basis for public awareness and concern for making the environment green.
"Once awareness and concern arise, the active role of the community can ensure that this reforestation program has a positive impact on people's lives," said Cecep.
The enthusiasm of SMPN 1 Sukaresmi students in this Community Service program is very high. One of the SMPN 1 Sukaresmi teachers expressed his admiration for the enthusiasm of his students and admitted that the presence of the UI Community Service team to the school brought motivation and new enthusiasm for students in protecting their environment. Creative Institute Director Heri M. Tohari stated that the flash flood tragedy in Garut in 2016 was the biggest humanitarian tragedy in Garut. UI Community Service is present to provide environmental contributions to advocate for the community that nature needs to be protected together.
Beyond addressing environmental issues, the UI Community Service Team and its partners also included a mission to improve literacy in the Sukajaya Village community. In the village, some residents are still illiterate. Therefore, the team taught the residents to read and write after the planting program was completed. The UI students enthusiastically taught the illiterate residents at one of the residents' homes.
Nadhifa Tazkia, a student at the Department of Biology, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Indonesia, expressed her happiness at being able to share knowledge with the residents of Sukajaya Village.
"Teaching the illiterate women in Sukajaya Village wasn't difficult at all. They were enthusiastic and didn't want to stop learning all kinds of words. It’s never too late to learn something, "As long as you have the spirit, you can definitely do it."
