Currently, tourism continues to grow and has become a mainstay for local communities. One of the significant potentials that is easy to develop is the utilization of natural landscapes with tourism potential. Gunungkidul Regency is an area dominated by karst landscapes with various tourism potentials such as beaches, caves, hills, waterfalls, mountains, historical sites, and cultural tourism. One of the potential natural tourism areas with a promising landscape topography is in Kathongan Village, Nglipar, particularly Punthuk Kepuh Area.
Punthuk Kepuh offers the best sunrise view surrounded by karst hills. Additionally, there are facilities like playgrounds, camping sites, glamping, joglos, prayer rooms, and parks. However, the soil conditions and characteristics at Punthuk Kepuh make it challenging to arrange shading plants and develop gardens. Therefore, the development and arrangement of gardens is necessary, which is the objective of the Community Service (PkM) activity based on the Merdeka Belajar Kampus Merdeka (MBKM) program.
To arrange the garden in the Punthuk Kepuh area, PkM-MBKM activity was conducted on Saturday and Sunday, June 1-2, 2024. The landscape architecture discussion and garden arrangement were led by Anggi Nada, Tsaabita Roona, and Purwi Anis under the guidance of Dr. Wiko Arif Wibowo S.Si., in collaboration with the Garden Management program from the Kelompok Studi Arsitektur Taman (KSAT). The target of this service program is the Kelompok Sadar Wisata Punthuk Kepuh (POKDARWIS) which was catalyzed together with the KSAT team.
The garden-making process took two days. On the first day, a land survey and design adjustments were carried out on three garden sites, followed by the land clearing and execution process. The garden design process was then presented to community and POKDARWIS to get feedback and suggestions from the community’s perspective. On the second day, the finalization of the garden construction and the closing of the activity were conducted.
The first phase of the garden arrangement activity went smoothly and was very well received by the community, especially POKDARWIS. Mujiyono, the chairman of POKDARWIS, welcomed the PkM-MBKM collaboration to enhance the aesthetic value and support efforts to advance tourism in Punthuk Kepuh. Furthermore, this activity is expected to provide hands-on practical experience while enhancing the social spirit of the students involved, contributing to community benefits. As the supervising lecturer and proposer of PkM-MBKM, Dr. Wiko Arif Wibowo S.Si. stated that this program is UGM’s effort to contribute to SDG 15 regarding sustainable land ecosystem management and benefit the community.