Enviro News Asia, Jakarta — The UN Partnership for Action on Green Economy (UN-PAGE) Indonesia, in collaboration with the Ministry of National Development Planning (Bappenas), Universitas Indonesia (UI), and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), convened a Dialogue Session on the Strategic Role of Academia in Supporting NDC Implementation and the Circular Economy Roadmap on Monday, February 9, 2026, at the UI Salemba Campus.
The dialogue served as a platform to reflect on and critically examine the extent to which Indonesia’s academic community has contributed to advancing the national green economic transition. Indonesia’s Circular Economy Roadmap 2025–2045 emphasizes that the circular economy goes beyond waste management, representing a systemic transformation aimed at minimizing resource use, extending product lifecycles, and reintegrating production and consumption residues into value chains. Within the national development framework, the approach is positioned as a key strategy for achieving a green economy and long-term sustainable development.
Environmental expert from Universitas Indonesia, Mahawan Karuniasa, highlighted that Indonesia’s primary challenge lies not in the absence of regulation, but in the gap between scientific knowledge and policy implementation. He stated that while Indonesia has established a clear transformation pathway, progress does not occur automatically and requires active engagement from knowledge institutions in policy decision-making processes.
The discussion was grounded in a mapping of university engagement within the frameworks of Indonesia’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) and circular economy agenda. The findings showed that universities across the country have undertaken numerous initiatives, including waste management research, recycled-based product design, urban living laboratories, zero-waste campus development, and policy advisory roles. However, these contributions remain fragmented and have yet to be fully integrated into NDC implementation.
To address this gap, the dialogue promoted the establishment of a University Collaboration Center, a cross-regional academic network designed to collectively support policy development, research, education, and on-the-ground action related to climate change and circular economy initiatives. Karuniasa emphasized that the Tri Dharma of Higher Education—education, research, and community service—should be viewed as instruments of public policy rather than purely academic activities. He stressed that climate commitments under the NDC are not solely a government agenda, but a societal one that requires strong university involvement to ensure broader public acceptance.
The urgency of the dialogue was also linked to Indonesia’s ecological realities. The prevailing linear economic model of take-make-dispose has contributed to climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss. Indonesia is projected to generate up to 82 million tons of waste annually by 2045, with several landfills expected to exceed capacity in the near future. Circular economy strategies are therefore considered essential not only for reducing environmental pressure but also for supporting emission reduction targets under the NDC, given the close relationship between material management and greenhouse gas emissions.
Concluding the session, Karuniasa underscored that the green transition is fundamentally a knowledge transition. He noted that without meaningful policy influence, academic research risks producing extensive publications with limited real-world impact. The dialogue session was positioned as a concrete effort to bridge the gap between science and policy, ensuring that academic knowledge translates into actionable change. (*)
