Hasanuddin University (UNHAS) helps local communities manage land for tourism sustainably. Throughout 2025, through the Thematic Student Community Service Programme (Kuliah Kerja Nyata Tematik, KKN-T) and lecturers’ community service, UNHAS delivered educational outreach in villages across Sulawesi for residents, local tourism operators, village youth, and government officials, focusing on community institutions, spatial planning, and environmentally responsible destination management.

The series included a training session on 8 August 2025 to establish a Tourism Awareness Group (Kelompok Sadar Wisata) at the Limboro Rambu-Rambu village hall, Sendana District, Majene Regency. Dozens of residents, local business operators, village youth, and community leaders took part. The session covered the environmental challenges of tourism, including waste management, and the group’s role in protecting the village’s environment and traditions for future generations.

UNHAS extended this outreach to spatial planning in agro- and ecotourism areas. In August 2025, a KKN-T team produced a digital and printed land-use map for the tourism village of Lembang Basokan, Nanggala District, North Toraja, together with a guidebook on making maps with ArcGIS so that village officials can produce maps themselves. The outputs help village officials set tourism zones, agricultural zones, and local forest preservation areas, so that tourism development does not damage ecosystem buffer zones.

The UNHAS team applied a similar approach in Lainungan Village, where in August 2025 it prepared and handed over a sustainable tourism master plan and a village spatial map to limit land degradation caused by infrastructure development. Students also designed and presented a mangrove ecotourism master plan to the Lainungan village government so that destination development does not destroy the habitats of native flora and fauna. UNHAS also reached young people: on 6 October 2025, the Tourism Destination Study Programme of the Faculty of Vocational Studies held a “Smart Tourism” community service session for 40 tourism-services students at SMK Negeri 1 Selayar, a state vocational high school in the Selayar Islands Regency, on using technology to improve visitor experiences and support sustainable tourism.

At the centre of these initiatives is the UNHAS Educational Forest at Bengo-Bengo, Maros, a Special Purpose Forest Area (Kawasan Hutan dengan Tujuan Khusus, KHDTK), which is open to the public for nature recreation based on environmental education and as a place to learn about ecotourism management. On 2 July 2025, UNHAS opened the 13th National Student Community Service Programme (Kuliah Kerja Nyata Kebangsaan) in the Educational Forest, deploying 177 students from 99 universities to the Maros-Pangkep UNESCO Global Geopark to work with local communities on eco-friendly tourism and land management.

The cultural heritage of the communities around the Educational Forest is part of its educational ecotourism programme, set out in the Long-Term Management Plan of the UNHAS Educational Forest 2023–2042 (p. 37). Trekking routes combine the exploration of diverse flora and fauna with visits to traditional palm sugar production sites, where visitors can follow the whole process from sap tapping to the final product. The programme also aims to empower local people by revitalising and showcasing traditional performances such as mappadendang (a rice-pounding festival), pencak silat (a traditional martial art), and regional dances.

Through this chain of initiatives, from village-level mentoring to a national programme in a UNESCO Global Geopark, UNHAS provides continuing education on sustainable land management for tourism to local and national communities.