Minister of National Development Planning of the Republic of Indonesia/National Development Planning Agency (PPN/Bappenas) Dr. Ir. H. Suharso Monoarfa, M.A. delivered his appreciation to Universitas Indonesia (UI) at the SDGs Annual Conference 2022 with the theme “Encouraging Real Actions of Green Economy Transformation to Achieve SDGs” at Hotel Sultan, Jakarta, Thursday (1/12). “Praise be to God. We received these top three awards which at the same time proved the hard work of all UI academics. This hard work must certainly have an impact on society,” said Prof. Dr. Ir. Riri Fitri Sari, M.M., M.Sc., the Head of the UI GreenMetric World University Rankings.
She added, from the data collected, UI synergy can be seen, especially from the SDGs Hub which continues to remind UI to remain among SDGs stakeholders in Indonesia. “Today, of all sectors recognized by the government, UI is already a leader in the SDGs field,” said Prof. Riri.
Anugerah Indonesia’s SDGs Action Awards 2022 has eleven categories, which are ministry/agency, provincial government, district/city government, university, research institution, large business actor, small and medium business actor, civil community organization, philanthropy, organization, and media. In this case, UI was included in the university category and outperformed dozens of universities that participated in this event.
According to Dr. Monoarfa, based on The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and Asia and the Pacific SDG Progress Report 2022, the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the Asia-Pacific region is expected to pass by 2030. This means the target in 2030 will shift. In addition, the world will also be faced with a triple planetary crisis, in the form of climate change, pollution, and loss of biodiversity which threaten food sources.
However, Dr. Monoarfa hopes that Indonesia can achieve the SDGs faster through the programs that are currently being implemented, such as the green economy strategy, low-carbon and climate-resilient development, and the implementation of the blue economy. “I give appreciation to all of you great people who have participated in these SDGs. Most importantly, we must always carry out these actions even though the achievement of SDGs in Asia will be exceeded in 2030. Hopefully, Indonesia’s achievements can be done quickly, “said Dr. Monoarfa.
Deputy for Maritime Affairs and Natural Resources, Ministry of National Development Planning of the Republic of Indonesia/National Development Planning Agency, as the Chair of the SDGs Implementation Team, Dr. Vivi Yulaswati, M.Sc., appreciated UI for being a role model not only for universities but also for the community and regional government. According to Dr. Vivi, everyone has to move because we need acceleration to realize the SDGs.
In the SDGs platform, all stakeholders are involved, starting from the business world and philanthropy, universities, NGOs, media, and so on. “We are certainly looking for someone who can really be a role model, inspire, and definitely encourage people. I usually apply the principle of “know, want, and can”. If you already know what you have to do, then you have to be able to realize it,” said Dr. Vivi.
According to Prof. Riri, UI has tremendous potential in leadership in the field of sustainability, which is now becoming a worldwide trend. This can be seen from the results of the evaluation which was carried out very strictly by the jury who chose the five best universities from dozens of universities that registered. The five universities made presentations in front of a panel of judges who are experts in the field of action sustainability.
UI has three main pillars in achieving the SDGs. The first pillar is UI Greenmetric. The second one is UI Lestari, which ensures that UI continues to be a role model of a “city” that implements the SDGs. The last one is the SDGs Hub, which is where UI experts join forces to synergize in responding to the challenges and problems faced by society. The work of each unit is then linked to the SDGs and collected on the www.scholar.ui.ac.id page.
The award received by UI is an appreciation to parties who show their best performance in the form of concrete actions to achieve inclusive and sustainable development. President of Indonesia Global Compact Network (IGCN) Y.W Junardy, as the Representative of Philanthropy and Business Actors at Indonesia’s SDGs Action Awards 2022, considers that UI is one of the pioneers or motors, especially in introducing, providing education, and being a role model in implementing SDGs.
“What I see is not only practical matters but also matters related to direction and strategy, which in my view are beneficial not only for UI but also for the business world, the private sector, etc. I always believe that the driving force behind the SDGs is no less important than the academic world, which should start in elementary and junior high schools. We have to instill SDGs as DNA in the younger generation,” said Junardy.
Coordinator of SDGs Hub UI Dr. Triarko Nurlambang, M.A. mentioned several criteria that must be met by institutions to become SDGs leaders. First, the commitment from the leadership. In an organization, leaders have an important role to be the driving force that gives the initiative. Second, best practices that can be conveyed to the public, including what are the strengths of the institution, who is involved in the SDGs, and what programs are being developed. Among these programs, it can be seen later which programs can serve as examples to be emulated. Furthermore, it is also considered how much benefit is generated and who gets it.
“For example, UI with its Greenmetric, which is not only active within UI but also active within national and even world universities. Apart from that, we also see how UI benefits Indonesian people. In the SDGs, problems must be seen from an interdisciplinary lens, not just from a monodisciplinary or multidisciplinary lens. This must be our common grip because in the future sustainability will become the mainstream for movement, whether by the government, entrepreneurs, or universities. If we have achieved interdisciplinary, hopefully, we can apply transdisciplinary,” said Dr. Triarko.
In organizing Indonesia’s SDGs Action Awards 2022 for the first time, Head of Transformation, Risk Management, and Evaluation Monitoring Bureau UI Vishnu Juwono, S.E., M.I.A, Ph.D. expressed his pride because this award is an honor for UI’s various achievements in conducting the activities related to the Three Pillars of Higher Education which gain recognition at the national level.
“This definitely complements UI’s achievements at the global level for the Time Higher Education (THE) Impact Ranking, where we have reached number 18 in the world. Thus, this shows that the achievements or contributions of the UI academic community are truly in line or consistent with the goals of the SDGs. This achievement should be appreciated, and we hope that UI can maintain this achievement at the national level and certainly at the global level in THE Impact Ranking,” said Vishnu.
