ITB Community Service Contributes to the UNESCO Ijen Global Geopark Assessment
BANDUNG, itb.ac.id — The Undergraduate Program in Geological Engineering, Faculty of Earth Sciences and Technology (FEST), Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB), collaborated with Ijen National Geopark to execute the Collaborative Community Service Activity (CCSA), underscoring the theme of community-based geotourism development.
The activity, which ran from 6-14 June 2022, coincided with UNESCO’s assessor team evaluation agenda of making Ijen National Geopark into a UNESCO Global Geopark. A total of 10 students from the Undergraduate Program in Geological Engineering had the opportunity to learn and interact with the local community in developing a geotourism route for the Ijen region.
“The manifested product, in form of a geotrack, spreads through the Paltuding Post, the Kalipait Geosite, the Wurung Crater Geosite, ending in Gentongan Waterfall Geosite. Moreover, students also assisted the Ijen Geopark Youth Forum team in the creation of Stone Park of the Ijen Geopark Information Centre Complex,” stated Dr. Eng. Mirzam Abdurrachman in a report received by ITB Public Relations, Monday (20/6/2022).
The Chair of ITB’s Geological Engineering Study Program, Dr. Eng. Mirzam Abdurrachman, S.T., M.T., with a fellow mentoring lecturer for the CCSA program, Dr. Idham Andri Kurniawan, S.T., M.T., also participated in the mini field trip activity at the Lave Bantal Watudodol Geosite, Batuan Terobosan Pulau Merah Geosite, and lastly the Intrakaldera Ijen Geotrail Region.
The Stone Park contains a collection of many mineral samples from various geosites in the Ijen Geopark Region. Every sample is accompanied by their geological explanation using easy day-to-day diction, accessible digitally through QR Code.
After field visitations, the lecturers had the fortuity to meet two UNESCO assessors, Martina Paskova (Czech Republic) and Jakob W. Hansen (Denmark) to discuss about a partnership initiative plan and ITB’s contribution to the Ijen Geopark in terms of research and community service.
According to the Geopark Ijen General Manager (GM), Abdilah Baraas, S.T., (TA’10), who is also an alumni of ITB, the participation of higher education is deemed significant to cultivate innovation and improve local community capacity through research. Therefore, the activity will be carried out routinely through multi-years research scheme, in hope of creating a sustainable collaboration between ITB and Ijen Geopark.
The output of CCSA is a geotourism guidebook given to the geosite managers, tour guides, and a few schools in the Ijen Geopark Region.
*Pictures: Dr. Eng. Mirzam Abdurrachman, S.T., M.T.
Reporter: Adi Permana
Translator: Firzana Aisya
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