A Senior Professor from Japan United Nations University, Prof. Dr. Kazuhiko Takeuchi received Universitas Padjadjaran Otto Soemarwoto Award during an event that was held at Boscha Observatory, Lembang, on Saturday (7/10). Prof. Takeuchi is considered by Unpad as an academic figure with full commitment and dedication in the environmental field.
Otto Soemarwoto Award for Prof. Takeuchi was given directly by Unpad, Prof. Rector Tri Hanggono Achmad. The event was also attended by West Java Deputy Governor H. Deddy Mizwar, Director General of the Research Development and Innovation Agency Ministry of Environment and Forestry RI Henry Bastaman, Director of the Boscha Observatory Dr. Mahasena Putra, colleagues and family representatives of Prof. Otto Soemarwoto along with the leaderships and deans of Unpad.
The Head of the Unpad Otto Soemarwoto Award committee, Prof. Oekan S. Abdoellah, M. A., PhD, said that Prof. Takeuchi is one of eight elected candidates as the award receiver. The eight candidates consist of seven foreign candidates and one candidate from Indonesia. These candidates are recommendations from certain institutions and individuals.
The appointment of the candidates is based on criteria from team of judges of Otto Soemarwoto Award. The criteria includes, having international reputation in eco development field, the resulting work, the influence of scholarly and idea in scientific development, candidate’s achievements in international level, and international network.
Then the eight candidates are being discussed during plenary session which is participated by evaluators. Every candidate is presented one by one in front of the evaluators. Admitted by Prof. Oekan, the process of determining the receiver was not easy since every candidate has their own scholarly strength.
“We choose Prof. Takeuchi as the result of acclamation,” said Prof. Oekan who is also served as Unpad’s director of Institute of Ecology.
Head of Otto Soemarwoto Award evaluation team Budhi Gunawan, M.A., PhD, explained, the awardee criteria is the outcome of suggestions from the candidate’s proposing institute.
“This decisio was conducted through peer endorsement mechanism i.e. spreading invitations to various institutions both within and outside the country to nominate. Unpad on the final selection stage determined one of the eight nominees,” Budhi explained.
Other than based on criteria, Budhi continued, other assessment conducted is the candidate’s contribution in Indonesia’s improvement. “Certainly when we honored this award, we were thinking that this is dedicated to Indonesia, for the country’s environmental sustainability,” Budhi said.
From several criteria, Prof. Takeuchi has been valued as an individual that until today still has numerous activities in environmental movement. “He is also one of the initiator in world class sustainability development. His reputation in international level is undisputable,” Budhi added.
The concept of sustainable development is his conception with Prof. Otto Soemarwoto in 1995. When delivering his introduction, Prof. Takeuchi mentioned that this concept does not mean to deny a development but instead integrated it with environment. This concept then applied as the concept of sustainable development goals (SDGs) that was declared in several countries in 2015.
Prof. Takeuchi also brought the element of local wisdom to international level through initiation of Satoyama Initiative Program, an attempt to revitalize and harmonize the balance of socioecological element.
Prof. Takeuchi is actively working with Unpad’s academicians. He is often in a research collaboration with some of them. With Prof. Otto, in a period of 1997-2007, Prof. Takeuchi was at least contributing to graduate 100 graduates from Bachelor, Magister, and Doctorate within Unpad.
Reflecting from the famous name of Prof. Ottot Soemarwoto as one of Indonesia’s environmental figures, Unpad is expected to strengthen back its commitment about the environment. Prof. Otto explains, the Main Scientific Pattern resulted from Prof. Otto Soemarwoto, Prof. Mochtar Koesoemaatmadja, and Prof. Didi Atmadilaga’s ideas will still be the groundwork of Unpad’s development in the future.
“This award is being the good starting point for Unpad to recognize how important the environment is,” said Prof. Oekan.
Meanwhile, the Rector said, Prof. Otto in his era was one of the academicians who pushed Unpad to contribute in global level. The implementation of the Main Scientific Pattern, “Build and Respect Law and Living Environment in National Development” until now is the activity model for learning in Unpad.
In that awarding event, it was also being held an international seminar entitled “Eco-Development” at the Boscha Observatory area. This seminar presented some overseas speaker, such as Dr. Laura Franco-Garcia (Netherland), Prof. dr. Jon C. Lovett (United Kingdom), Prof. Dr. Maria Victoria Espaldon (Philippine), and Prof. Dr. Shahbaz Khan (UNESCO), also Chay Asdak, M. Sc., PhD (Unpad), and Arief Anshory Yusuf, PhD (Unpad).*
