Integrating religious and environmental education in Indonesian eco-pesantren: does student religiosity enhance environmental awareness?

This study explores the implementation of environmental education in two award-winning Indonesian Eco-Pesantren, assessing students’ ecological awareness using the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) and analysing its correlation with religiosity. A mixed-methods exploratory sequential design was employed. Qualitative findings show that Pesantren Hajar Aswad integrates environmental education into fiqh learning, while Al-Fitrah emphasizes community-based practices. The average ecological awareness score of students was 72.07 (high category). Student’s religiosity was very high (90.29), and the correlation between religiosity and ecological awareness, although statistically significant, was weak (r = 0.178, p < 0.05). These findings affirm that pesantren hold distinctive potential for integrating Islamic values with environmental education, demonstrating culturally grounded pathways for fostering ecological awareness. While religiosity provides a strong ethical foundation, strengthening critical ecological literacy remains essential to enhance pro-environmental behaviour among students.