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Role of Indigenous Plant

by | 25-09-2013 10:19


Global warming is a critical issue in the 21st century. It brings negative effects on livelihood quality, devastating storm, severe drought, etc. These phenomena are caused by the increase in CO2 concentration and the decrease in vegetation population on the other side.  These two factors could alter the steady state of this planet and may bring some harmful effects. Increasing carbon absorption through growing plants is one of the thousand ways to reduce global warming effect.

Edible native plants can be used as an effective carbon sequester. Carbon will be absorbed in some parts of the plants such as stem, leaf, flower, and fruit. Some researchers in Brawijaya University, Indonesia have found that indigenous corms, suweg (Amorphophallus companulatus Roxb), can absorb the carbon up to 506.0 g/m2 and some vegetables in home gardening practices can absorb the carbon up to 1.477kg/m2. These native plants are only recognized by villagers and not familiar to urban people. In fact, these edible native plants could be used as a food source to solve the food shortage issue.

Nowadays, invasion by exotic species has dramatic effect on natural resources. These species are the major cause in the continuing loss of biological diversity (extinction of some native species). They exert toxic substances that can suppress the growth of native plants or compete with the same natural resources which results in an explosion of exotic species population. This problem is faced by a number of countries in the world, including Indonesia.

Often times, we forget about how our ancestors could survive before this modern era. We do not understand and realize the richness of our natural resources to fulfill our daily diet and to support our life. By planting native plants, we attempt to conserve the native plants and to reduce the carbon gas emission.