Sago forest conservation for food security and tackling climate change

One of the causes of climate change is due to deforestation and forest degradation, including damage to sago forests. In terms of the existence of this sago forest, it plays an important role in food security and handling climate change in a country. The aims of this research are (1) to find out the production of sago flour and the yield of processed sago products and (2) to calculate the amount of carbon absorption by sago forests. Measurement of sago biomass was carried out by destructive sampling in which sago at the sapling level up to the trees was felled and the wet weight and dry weight per segment were measured, i.e. stems, leaves and roots. Production of sago starch ranges between 513 kg and 577 kg with yield of 41.9% and 50.4% per tree. Sago's top-root ratio at the sapling level to trees ranges from 48% to 562% and the water content ranges from 72.9% to 99.9% per tree. Biomass content ranges from 48.1 kg to 761.6 kg or CO₂ absorption ranges from 83 kg to 1.314 kg per tree. This research is still very simple because there are only a few samples of sago trees studied and to get the results of calculating sago biomass for a wider area, it is necessary to multiply the samples studied.

Keywords: sago forest, biomass, CO₂ absorption, climate change