Abstract
Indonesia has 14 million ha of degraded and marginal land, which provides very few benefits for human wellbeing or biodiversity. This degraded land may require restoration. The leguminous tree Pongamia pinnata syn. Milettia pinnata (pongamia) has potential for producing biofuel while simultaneously restoring degraded land. However, there is limited information on this potential for consideration. This paper aims to address the scientific knowledge gap on pongamia by exploring its potential as a biofuel and for restoring degraded land in Indonesia. We applied a literature review to collect relevant information of pongamia, which we analyzed through narrative qualitative and narrative comparative methods with careful compilation and scientific interpretation of retrieved information. The review revealed that pongamia occurs naturally across Indonesia, in Sumatra, Java, Bali, Nusa Tenggara and Maluku. It can grow to a height of 15–20 m and thrive in a range of harsh environmental conditions. Its seeds can generate up to 40% crude pongamia oil by weight. It is a nitrogen-fixing tree that can help restore degraded land and improve soil properties. Pongamia also provides wood, fodder, medicine, fertilizer and biogas. As a multipurpose species, pongamia holds great potential for combating Indonesia’s energy demand and restoring much of the degraded land. However, the potential competition for land and for raw material with other biomass uses must be carefully managed.
Highlights
An ever-growing demand for energy has increased the importance of new and renewable sources of energy [1,2]
We only considered published scientific papers available online
Further supporting data was gathered from the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MoEF) and is presented in Annex 1 of this paper
Summary
An ever-growing demand for energy has increased the importance of new and renewable sources of energy [1,2]. Indonesia has switched from being a petroleumexporting to a petroleum-importing country, and its own natural reserves are expected to be depleted by 2030 [2]. This realization has highlighted the need to seek and develop alternative energy sources. The Government of Indonesia’s national energy policy supports new and renewable energy, which could provide up to 23% of national energy needs by 2025 and 31% by 2050 [3]
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