The sustainability of forests as part of the natural environment must continue to be maintained. Parties such as the government, society, communities, students, and so on must be involved in protecting forests. In fact, efforts to protect forests are not as easy as imagined given the dynamics of various factors. This condition occurs because of inconsistencies by parties who claim to protect the environment, especially forests. This inconsistency can be seen from various regulations or policies that are detrimental to environmental sustainability. Where the problem of protecting the forest environment has now re-emerged and has become a widespread discourse for the community. Now several regions in Indonesia have experienced very serious damage, due to the loss of forest functions.

An area that is currently being hotly discussed is forest destruction in Papua due to land conversion. Large companies engaged in extraction are starting to clear forests just for corporate interests. Forest destruction in Papua cannot be separated from the government's role in playing with regulations to bridge the legality of forest logging under the guise of investment and economic development in the Papua region. In other words, forest and environmental damage occurs due to human behavior. One study state that environmental damage occurs due to irresponsible human behavior such as burning fossil fuels, deforestation and changes in land use (Hosen et al., 2020). This causes forest damage in the Papua region to get worse every year.

The poor condition of the forest environment will hamper efforts to achieve the 2030 sustainable development goals. This can be illustrated in goal 15 regarding terrestrial ecosystems. Goal 15 aims to protect, restore and increase sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, stop desertification, reverse land degradation and stop biodiversity loss. If this goal can be achieved well and optimally, it will help achieve goal 13, namely handling climate change. This goal is related to efforts to take rapid action to overcome climate change and its impacts (sdgs.bappenas.go.id). Apart from that, in the future climate change will be increasingly felt by humans because the "forest" fortress will not be able to withstand the heat of the earth.

Efforts to mitigate environmental damage to forests continue to be promoted to this day. In general, there are many ways to implement sustainable development goals. Where in the modern digital era there has been a change in behavior to protect the environment. People who care about sustainability are starting to carry out their own campaign patterns by utilizing social media. Internet-based media is now increasingly popular and widely used. How could it not be, social media offers connectivity for users who want to build friendships, discussions and campaigns to provide environmental education. In contrast to mass media, social media offers alternatives such as low-cost photo, video, writing and sharing facilities that enable people to build discussions about caring for the environment. Lewoń & Pirożnikow (2019) said that social media is increasingly important in communication between communities, especially discussing the issue of preserving forest sustainability. Social media is now widely used to provide environmental education based on interests, the desire to develop oneself, and contribute to forest sustainability. Dissemination of information on forest environmental damage can utilize various media channels so that the message conveyed is effective.

Activities in the name of forest education are needed to increase environmental awareness among the community regarding nature conservation while forming collective responsibility (Młynarski 2009). Forest environmental education on social media that is fast in conveying and managing the dissemination of messages motivates users to adopt caring behavior for forests. The use of social media to disseminate information about the environment and forests is considered part of effective environmental education. Social media has become an important tool in promoting knowledge about forests to community groups. Society is not only limited to using and receiving information, but also providing environmental information. Lewoń & Pirożnikow (2019) explain that social media involving environmental experts must be increased and open to meet the changing needs of society.

What needs to be underlined is that every forest environmental education must involve environmental figures or experts. This can help to cultivate in society the importance of protecting forests. People also have preferences in interpreting the various information they receive. Another role needed is to support environmental communities involved in protecting forests. Social media becomes a mediator in accommodating these various aspects in forest environmental education. Collaboration between environmental experts and the environmental community in developing environmental education will make it easier to build public awareness and gain knowledge in managing forests. In fact, people tend to trust when they get information from trusted sources such as experts and the environmental community. Where people consider social media as information, especially environmental issues. In fact, environmental information obtained from social media directs people to conduct further searches by opening environmental websites (Chung et al., 2022). In other words, people are starting to have awareness and interest in understanding and analyzing environmental issues. When people show this behavior, there will be a huge opportunity for social media to become a medium for environmental education.

-Rosmalia Ahmad & Diana Anggraeni

References

Chung, C., Chiu, D.K.W., Ho, K.K.W., & Au, C.H. (2022). Applying social media to environmental education: is it more impactful than traditional media? Information Discovery and Delivery. DOI 10.1108/IDD-04-2020-0047.

Hosen, H., Nakamura, H., & Hamzah, A. (2020). Adaptation to Climate Change: Does Traditional Ecological Knowledge Hold the Key?. Sustainability. doi:10.3390/su12020676

Lewoń, A., & Pirożnikow, E. (2019). Getting to know the potential of social media in forest education. Leśne Prace Badawcze / Forest Research Papers. DOI: 10.2478/frp-2019-0014.

Badan Pembangunan Nasional. SDGs Knowledge Hub: Agenda 2030 untuk Pembangunan Berkelanjutan. https://sdgs.bappenas.go.id/.