JAKARTA - In the midst of climate crisis uncertainty, increasing food prices, uncertain harvest season, and increasingly extreme heat waves, one basic element is often neglected.
In a public forum titled Save Soil Movement: Sahil Cycling Across Four Continuents at Gadjah Mada University (UGM), Friday, June 13, 2025, the land is no longer seen as just a planting medium, but as a foundation for survival and the last fort of food security.
The opening of the event was delivered by a UGM representative who also represented the Chancellor, Wirastuti Widyatmanti.
In his speech, he recalled his meeting with Save Soil representatives at COP29 Azerbaijan, which became the starting point for this collaboration.
When talking about land, we are actually talking about the source of life. Land is the foundation of forests, agriculture, and all food systems that supply clean air, oxygen, and food security," he said.
Wirastuti also emphasized that the campus cannot remain silent. Save Soil is an important movement. Through social security, we protect world land resources, which also means protecting the future of the earth," he continued.
A similar voice was conveyed by Praveena Sridhar, Chief Science & Technology Officer Save Soil. He explained that healthy soil functions like a natural sponge that absorbs water and stabilizes temperature, so as to withstand the effects of heat waves and extreme drought.
Land is the answer to many questions that we have today. Why do we fail to maintain food security, why the earth's temperature is getting more extreme, and why villages are losing their crops," Praveena said in his presentation.
Praveena further explained that healthy soil has a unique ability to absorb and store water, as well as maintain micro climate stability. However, widespread land degradation has destroyed this capacity. In Indonesia, where more than 30 percent of the land is used for agriculture by small farmers, the threat of land damage can lead to a systemic food crisis.
"If the soil is no longer able to bind water and nutrients, then fertilizer will not be useful. The superior seeds also fail to grow. This is where the real source of the food crisis," said Praveena.
The event also presented Sahil Jha, a young man from India who traveled cycling across four continents to echo the issue of land rescue.
Land is not just part of the earth. Land is part of every one of us. It is the foundation of every food we consume. The younger generation has an important role to play in voicing this before it's too late," said Sahil.
From Indonesia, actress and environmental activist Raline Shah appeared in a more personal voice. He emphasized that land issues are seen too often as a technical problem for agriculture, when in fact it concerns everyone's livelihoods.
Every plate of our food is the result of the soil. When the soil is damaged, food becomes scarce, nutrition is disturbed, public health is also threatened, economic and social stability are also threatened," said Raline.
Professor of the Faculty of Agriculture UGM Benito Heru Purwanto connected this message from a scientific perspective.
He said that land damage was not an instant disaster, but a silent destruction that was barely visible.
Damaged land does not recover within months or years. It takes hundreds of years. That's why prevention is much more important than restoration," he said.
The Save Soil movement not only campaigned for awareness, but also encouraged collaboration between universities, the government, and civil society to develop roadmaps for land rescue.
In Indonesia, this effort also intersects directly with the achievement of the G20 commitment to reduce degraded land by 50 percent by 2050, and of course national food security which is one of the main agendas of President Prabowo Subianto.
After the discussion, a number of UGM students expressed their intention to take this issue to the public realm through research and digital campaigns. For them, land rescue is not just an environmental issue, but a future struggle.
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On the same occasion, the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Gajah Mada University (UGM) represented by Wirastuti Widyatmanti with Save Soil Precious Planet represented by Melli Darsa, where both parties will collaborate in research, education, and community services, especially related to land saving issues.
"It is necessary to remember that what we planted in today's event is the seeds of awareness not only to save land but also to save life itself," Praveena concluded.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
