March, 5 2008, Ministry of environment (Rachmat Witoelar) launched a program specially to encourage Islamic boarding schools (pesantren) to involve in the environmental movement.
The frame called ‘eco-pesantren’. 600 Islamic boarding school member attended at the gathering and they are from all the schools of East Java, Sulawesi and Nusa Tenggara. I was surprised that now Pesantren become one of the leads to the movement in regards of their potential influence in the grass roots level.
To note now there about 17thousand numbers of Pesantren in Indonesia and they mostly existed in the rural areas and villages. It serves more than 2 million students. A little contribution the small world, I am proudly also involve to contribute as a member of the ‘guideline team’ for the eco-pesantren’ and Ministry office has produce ‘Buku Panduan Eco Pesantren’. Hopefully, this step could be a significant contribution in the future.
