Biodegradable Wet Wipes dari Sabut Kelapa Sawit (Palm Fiber) dengan Ekstrak Flavonoid Daun Kelapa Sawit Sebagai Bahan Antibakteri

The wet tissue currently circulating in the market is made of synthetic fibers consisting of 30% viscose fibers and 70% polyester fibers, and 90% of the wet tissue contains plastic. Indonesia's palm oil industry grows annually, however. Palm fiber waste has high cellulose, useful as wet tissue raw material substitute. This study used flavonoids from palm leaves as an antibacterial material to create biodegradable wet wipes from palm fiber and evaluate their antibacterial and antiseptic effectiveness. The best characteristics of biodegradable wet wipes are obtained with a composition of 91.5% (w/w) palm coconut fiber cellulose, and a ratio (w/w) of PVA:tapioca:chitosan at every 10 mL of used VCO of 2:3:6 (1.5%:2.25%:4.5%) with variations in pulp bleaching and the method of applying the binder solution by being spread onto semi-dry tissue paper. The evaluation of wet tissue includes tests for tensile strength, color, biodegradability, phytochemical analysis, antibacterial testing, antiseptic testing, irritation testing, and pH testing. The test results showed that biodegradable wet wipes made of palm coconut fiber and flavonoid extract from palm coconut leaf at concentrations of 10%, 15%, and 20%, which have been adjusted to SNI 8526:2018 standard, have bacterial reduction effectiveness of 68.09%, 79.06%, and 89.94%, respectively

A Chronicle of Indonesia’s Forest Management: A Long Step towards Environmental Sustainability and Community Welfare

Indonesia is the largest archipelagic country in the world, with 17,000 islands of varying sizes and elevations, from lowlands to very high mountains, stretching more than 5000 km eastward from Sabang in Aceh to Merauke in Papua. Although occupying only 1.3% of the world’s land area, Indonesia possesses the third-largest rainforest and the second-highest level of biodiversity, with very high species diversity and endemism. However, during the last two decades, Indonesia has been known as a country with a high level of deforestation, a producer of smoke from burning forests and land, and a producer of carbon emissions. The aim of this paper is to review the environmental history and the long process of Indonesian forest management towards achieving environmental sustainability and community welfare. To do this, we analyze the milestones of Indonesian forest management history, present and future challenges, and provide strategic recommendations toward a viable Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) system. Our review showed that the history of forestry management in Indonesia has evolved through a long process, especially related to contestation over the control of natural resources and supporting policies and regulations. During the process, many efforts have been applied to reduce the deforestation rate, such as a moratorium on permitting primary natural forest and peat land, land rehabilitation and soil conservation, environmental protection, and other significant regulations. Therefore, these efforts should be maintained and improved continuously in the future due to their significant positive impacts on a variety of forest areas toward the achievement of viable SFM. Finally, we conclude that the Indonesian government has struggled to formulate sustainable forest management policies that balance economic, ecological, and social needs, among others, through developing and implementing social forestry instruments, developing and implementing human resource capacity, increasing community literacy, strengthening forest governance by eliminating ambiguity and overlapping regulations, simplification of bureaucracy, revitalization of traditional wisdom, and fair law enforcement