In one of National TV station program, The Burning Season movie was played. It was shown that orangutan in Kalimantan (Borneo) island is being endangered due to the expansion of Palm Oil industry Area.
In the movie, it was very clearly shown that one of the major contributor for the deforestation is made by Palm Oil Industry. For the business purposes, the palm oil tree needs the area in proper condition so it will be suitable to cultivate the tree. For this purpose the corporation who will cultivate the tree needs to do a land clearing. This kind of requirement means deforestation.
So following that logic, it means that we must stop the development or new opening area for palm oil industry, the sooner the better.
However, what we are facing now is that Palm Oil industry can give direct income to the indigenous people and also thousand of good economic reasons for each region or province in Indonesia to support that industry.
So we have to find the alternative plantation that can be cultivated in industry (large) scale, has better characteristic compare that palm oil and can be use as land conservation plantation purposes. This kind of tree must contribute reasonable economic value added both to indigenous people and local authorities.
After several year intensive research, we found that ALEURITES TRISPERMA (KEMIRI SUNAN - SUNAN CANDLENUT) can be planted as this kind of tree.
The optimum climate to grow this tree is at temperature 18,7–26,2oC, pH 5,4–7,1. and it can grow at low to medium level. In West Java is found growing at an elevation of more than 1000 meter (Hyne, 1987).
Kemiri Sunan grows as a pole, height can reach 15 meter or more, live until more than 75 years and have a tight and wide canopy. The tight and wide canopy enables the tree to hold rain drops falling directly to the soil surface, so that prevent erosion and increasing absorption of water into the soil. Single Rooted anchorage enables to prevent land slide. Its tick leaves (reaches thousands leaves/tree) are able to tie carbon dioxide and produces plenty of oxygen.
Planting Kemiri Sunan will create a tremendous multiplier effects. Besides being the precise solution to the critical land area rehabilitation, it also produces the alternative sustainable fuel. There will be more opportunities for the development of technology to produce the alternative fuel to replace the fossil fuel. One of the technologies is the use of green fuel as biodiesel. The sustainable green fuel can be obtained from this Aleurites Trisperma seeds.
This tree can be planted in large scale and cultivated in industry (large) scale. By having, this alternative tree, the indigenous still can earn their income, we can provide the renewable Energy Sources, preserve Orangutan and combating the Deforestation. Besides, we still can have land conservation benefit, global warming issue can be resolved and more over the crisis for fossil oil can be overcome as well.