Environmental Ethics and Islamic Philanthropy Based on the Eco-Pesantren Model in Indonesian Islamic Boarding Schools

Abstract

The growing environmental crisis demands educational approaches that cultivate sustainability competencies, ethical values, and character development beyond technological and policy interventions. Although Indonesia has promoted eco-pesantren as a faith-based environmental initiative, its implementation remains fragmented and predominantly project-oriented, with limited integration into curriculum, pedagogy, assessment, and institutional learning. Moreover, previous studies have largely examined eco-pesantren from governance, environmental ethics, or Islamic philanthropy perspectives independently, leaving limited understanding of how these dimensions collectively shape sustainability learning. This study aims to develop a Sustainable Learning Model for eco-pesantren by integrating Islamic environmental ethics, Islamic philanthropy, and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) into a unified pedagogical framework. Employing a qualitative multiple-case study design, the research was conducted in three eco-pesantren in Indonesia using Soft Systems Methodology (SSM). Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, participant observation, document analysis, and field notes involving pesantren leaders, teachers, students, philanthropic institutions, and government agencies. The findings reveal that environmental initiatives are largely implemented as extracurricular or infrastructure-based programmes rather than as transformative learning processes that systematically develop sustainability competencies and ecological character. This study proposes a Sustainable Learning Model that integrates Islamic environmental ethics, experiential learning, institutional culture, curriculum, community engagement, and Islamic philanthropy to strengthen environmental literacy, green entrepreneurship, and character education. The study contributes theoretically by bridging Islamic environmental ethics, faith-based sustainability education, and ESD within a single learning framework, while empirically providing an adaptable model for strengthening sustainability learning and character development in Islamic educational institutions.