A few times a month, Marhana leaves the village of Krui in southern Sumatra and journeys deep into the woods. Then she finds a tree, lined with triangular holes, each hole dripping with crystalized sap. Marhana (like many Indonesians, she uses only a first name) takes a woven rattan rope and lassos up the tree, climbing higher and higher, chipping away at the sap using a tiny pickaxe. "This is the damar," she says in Indonesian, as she looks at the golden droppings. Marhana may see damar as her way to make a living, but agriculture experts see this rare commodity as something bigger. They see damar as a sort of anti-palm oil — a model to combat deforestation and climate change. Damar isn’t a global household-name, but in Sumatra it goes way back. In the 1800s, Dutch colonists used the sap to bind their wood boats for sea journeys. Today damar is used in varnishes, paints, and cosmetics. According to the UN, Indonesia exports tens of thousands of tons of damar and other resins each year . But compared to Indonesia’s monthly exports of palm oil, that’s not so whopping. According to the Indonesian Palm Oil Organization, or […]
Latest Articles
Cabbage-Growing Experiment Shows Human Waste Can be Good to Use as Fertiliser
Takeaways: New research has shown that using fertilizers from human waste can be as productive as conventional organic ones.
Scientists studied a crop of...
Mercedes-Benz Becomes First Stadium in the World to Earn Platinum Certification for Zero Waste
Takeaways: The Mercedes-Benz Stadium has become the first professional sports stadium in the world to be awarded the Total Resource Use and Efficiency Platinum...
Float Anywhere; this Solar-Powered Houseboat is the Future of Tiny Living.
Float Anywhere; this Solar-Powered Houseboat is the Future of Tiny Living. Float Anywhere; this Solar-Powered Houseboat is...
Biodiversity: Fungi are ‘Underloved and Understudied’
Takeaways: The vast majority of fungi in the world are harmless to humans and animals and are often beneficial.
The Saprophytic fungi, for example,...
The Top 5 Happy Eco News Stories for February 6, 2023
The Top 5 Happy Eco News Stories for February 6, 2023 Thanks for reading the Top 5 Happy Eco News! This week, we have two guest...
Baby Seals Spotted in Record Numbers on Norfolk Coast
Takeaways: A record number of baby seals have been spotted on a five-mile stretch off the coast in Norfolk.
3796 seal pups have been...