The Master of Environmental Science Program of the Graduate School of Gadjah Mada University held an environmental care action with beach clean-up, planting pandan plants, and releasing turtle hatchlings which was carried out on May 31st 2025 at Pelangi Beach, Bantul Regency, Special Region of Yogyakarta. This activity was attended by 150 participants and a collaboration with Fourkey Yogyakarta (Yogyakarta Conservation Action Foundation).
The activity began with a beach clean-up involving all participants as a direct implementation of the commitment to reduce plastic pollution, in line with the global theme of World Environment Day 2025. This beach clean-up activity focused on cleaning up garbage and an effort to educate the public about the long-term impacts of plastic pollution on marine ecosystems
The environmental care action was continued with the implementation of a program to plant 400 sea pandan seedlings at Pelangi Beach which is a strategic initiative in coastal ecosystem restoration. This activity is an effort to restore land degradation and protect biodiversity in the coastal zone.
The culmination of the series of activities was the release of 90 hatchlings, reflecting a long-term commitment to the conservation of endangered species. The success of this activity demonstrated the effectiveness of a collaborative approach in implementing environmental conservation programs.
Students during the activity were very actively involved. They were able to directly observe and learn how the natural ecosystem works in balance with adequate conservation to maintain the sustainability of nature.
“Quite tiring, but I enjoyed it. This is very fun. This is the first time I have tried this activity (conservation) and if later there are other similar activities (conservation) I want to join again,” said Faouzi, a Master of Environmental Science student from UGM who comes from Algeria.
As conveyed by Senpei Wu, a Foreign Student from Guilin University of Electronic Technology China, “Today means a lot to me. The beach here is a beautiful beach, Indonesia is also a beautiful country. I am very happy with activities like this. We need to pay more attention to the environment as we did at today’s event,” he said.
Author : Siti Muyasaroh