Pekanbaru, 30 April 2026 — More than 60 academics from the Riau University Postgraduate Program (UNRI) filled the Postgraduate Building Hall on Thursday (30/4) afternoon for the "GREEN Goes to Campus" activity, a collaborative forum that emphasizes the campus' strategic role in supporting climate change mitigation based on sustainable forest management. This activity is a meeting space between academics, practitioners and stakeholders to strengthen understanding while encouraging real action in the Jurisdictional Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) approach, a landscape approach that targets overall emission reduction at the district and provincial levels.
The event was opened by the Deputy Director for Postgraduate Academic and Student Affairs at UNRI, Prof. Dr. Yusmarini, who emphasized the importance of academic contributions in responding to the challenge of the climate crisis. In the main session, Mr Danang KS, UNEP Coordinator for Riau Province, explained the GREEN for Riau initiative, a strategic program designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through just and jurisdiction-based forest management. "GREEN for Riau is a concrete effort to respond to the climate crisis. Through the Jurisdictional REDD+ approach, the program no longer talks about partial interventions in one village, but how all districts and provinces move simultaneously to reduce emissions from deforestation," he said.
More than just a dissemination forum, this activity explicitly encourages the active involvement of lecturers and students in filling strategic spaces, starting from research, strengthening policies, to technical assistance at the site level. The activity coordinator, Budijono, S.Pj., M.Sc., highlighted the gap that has occurred between the results of academic research and policy making. "Campuses have a strong research capacity and can be critical partners for local governments in designing low-carbon development policies. However, academic data and recommendations often do not reach the policy table. This forum is expected to become a permanent bridge between academics and decision makers," he said.
The interactive discussion which was the highlight of the event opened up opportunities for concrete collaboration between academic institutions and stakeholders. A number of strategic ideas emerged, including developing a thesis topic based on Jurisdictional REDD+, strengthening the role of campuses in the monitoring and evaluation (MRV) system, as well as initiating a "Low Emission Campus" campaign within UNRI.
The activity closed with a joint commitment to follow up on the results of the discussion through follow-up forums and the preparation of a collaborative action plan. This initiative is expected to be the starting point for the formation of a knowledge ecosystem that is more connected to policy practice and implementation in the field.
With the implementation of "GREEN Goes to Campus", the synergy between the academic world and policy makers is expected to become stronger in supporting the climate change mitigation agenda based on forest management in Riau Province.
