Eco-pesantren design on the framework of sustainable development

Abstract

Developing environmental awareness among Muslims in Indonesia is an important effort and should continue to get attention. There was no resistance in the Islamic scholars in Indonesia when talking about environmental issues, because they had seen very severe environmental damage and disasters in Indonesia. This dissertation tries to formulate a design for the environmentally friendly Islamic Boarding School Program (Ecopesantren) on the framework of sustainable development. The research conducted in purposive sampling to the three Pesantren in West Java and Banten Province, was done at the leading pesantren (Pesantren Induk) in both provinces: Daar El Qolaam, Banten, Al Musaddadiyah, Garut and Pesantren Buntet, Cirebon. The research was conducted using complex pairs of research series such as Participatory Action Research (PAR), Institutional Development Framework (IDF), Non-Parametric Spearman Correlation, Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP), Interpretative Structural Modelling (ISM) and Focus Group Discussion (FGD). In general, the findings show that according to the IDF index (I) for institutional and resource management, human resources, external resources, and financial resources, all the three institutions scale ranges at the IDF(I) 3- 4, which shows that the institution was mature and sustainable. But for the activities related to environmental programs the index IDF (I) points on a scale of 1-2 which refers to the early stages. On the other hand the status of environmental awareness in all the students indicated that they have moderate level of sustainable development awareness (mean=3.86; sd=0.86). They also believe Islam teaches about environment -- Islamic environmentalism – guiding to good practice towards the environment (90.38%). The expert survey suggests that the purpose of the ecopesantren program should mainstream the social and cultural aspect (AHP=0.443), it also recommends that the government (Ministry of Environment – MoE) has an important role (AHP=0.301) in supporting the ecopesantren program. The MoE can initiate the formation of a "National Ecopesantren Team (TNE)" in cooperation with local governments and institutions , in order to initiate a national program of ecopesantren. On the other hand, it is necessary for the pesantren internally to form an “environmental task force” that is responsible for creating programs tailored to local environment-related issues and priorities. Besides the capacitybuilding necessary to transform the ecopesantren program, it is necessary to perform monitoring and evaluation of a tailored action plan that can achieve the targets set.