Oil palm plantations have expanded rapidly in Southeast Asia, particularly in Indonesia and Malaysia. A lot of products, including food and other edible products, oleo-chemicals, cosmetics, personal and household care, pharmaceutical products, and biodiesels are derived from palm oil, thus making them one of the most economically important plants. After 25–30 years of age, the palms are felled and replaced due to declining oil production. Oil palm trunks (OPT) are considered significant waste products. The trunks remain on the plantation site for nutrient recycling or burning. This increases insect and fungi populations causing environmental problems for the new palm generation or air pollution due to the fire. Up till now, OPT has received less attention in research studies. Therefore, this review summarizes the utilization of OPT into products made of oil palm fibers mainly derived from OPT and its application as the substitution of wood panel products. Some research works have been carried out on oil palm fibers that are derived from OPT for exploiting their potential as raw material of composite panel products, which is the objective of this review. Areas of development are processed into various conventional composite panel products such as plywood and laminated board which are usually predominantly made of wood and bonded by synthetic resins, particleboard with binder, or binderless and cement board which is arranged with wood as a minor component. All of the products have been presented and described technically according to best knowledge of the authors and literature review.

Rahmawaty, Rauf, A, Harahap MM, Kurniwan H. 2022. Land cover change impact analysis: an integration of remote sensing, GIS and DPSIR framework to deal with degraded land in Lepan Watershed, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 23: 3000-3011. The Lepan Watershed is located in North Sumatra Province, Indonesia. The types of land cover in the Lepan Watershed were examined to analyze the impact of changes in land cover over periods of five years and ten years (2009-2014-2019). This study used three analyses: analysis of land cover type, land cover change, causes and impacts of those changes, and government responses to those changes. Analysis of land cover types and changes was conducted using geographic information system (GIS). The land cover change impacts were analyzed using the driving forces, pressure, state, impact, and response (DPSIR) approach. Twelve land cover types were identified, i.e., water body, dryland forest, industry, mixed garden, open land, mangrove, rubber plantation, oil palm plantation, settlement, paddy field, shrub, and pond. For five years, changes in land cover occurred in the Lepan Watershed. During ten years (2009-2019), the mixed garden, oil palm plantation, and settlement increased, while dryland forest, mangrove, rubber plantation, paddy field, shrub, and pond decreased. The water body and industry land cover types did not undergo extensive changes over the past five and ten years. Changes in land cover resulted in the following impacts: decreasing biodiversity, increasing the risk of floods, increasing damage to mangroves, and decreasing rice production. The prevention of land-use change to maintain environmental sustainability is a shared responsibility of all stakeholders.

Rahmawaty, Samosir JB, Batubara R, Rauf A. 2019. Diversity and distribution of medicinal plants in the Universitas Sumatera Utara Arboretum of Deli Serdang, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 20: 1457-1465. The plants found in Universitas Sumatera Utara (USU) Arboretum has the potential to be utilized by the local community to meet their food and medicinal needs. The objectives of this study were to calculate the species diversity, to find out the various parts of plants utilized for medicinal purposes and to map the distribution of medicinal plants in the arboretum. Survey and interview methods were used to collect data. The species diversity was determined using Shannon-Wiener index. Geographic Information System (GIS) was used to map the distribution of medicinal plants. The results showed that there were 17 species of medicinal herbs, 21 species of trees and 12 species of poles in the arboretum. The diversity was classified as moderate based on the calculated value. The most predominant part of plants utilized for medicinal purposes were leaves. The distribution of medicinal plants was mostly clustered and uneven. The condition indicates still there is scope for additional planting of medicinal species to increase the diversity of species, especially in the western and the northern part of the arboretum.

Rahmawaty, Frastika S, Rauf A, Batubara R, Harahap FS. 2020. Land suitability assessment for Lansium domesticum cultivation on agroforestry land using matching method and geographic information system. Biodiversitas 21: 3683-3690. Lansium domesticum is one of the multipurpose tree species (MPTS) and is commonly found on agroforestry lands in Sumatra. This study aimed to evaluate the actual land suitability classes for L. domesticum and to map the potential land suitability for the species using matching method and geographic information system (GIS). The study was conducted in Sei Bingai Sub-district, Langkat District, North Sumatra, Indonesia. A survey was conducted to collect soil samples based on land units. Land unit information was obtained by overlaying soil map, land-use map, and slope map. Land suitability was evaluated based on the matching method and GIS was used to map the distribution of land suitability. The results showed that both the actual and potential land suitability classes based on matching approach for L. domesticum were moderately suitable (S2) which accounted for 88.95% of total land and marginally suitable (S3) which accounted for 11.05%. Availability of water (wa), erosion hazard (eh), root-zone medium (rc), oxygen availability (oa), and nutrient retention (nr) were the dominant limiting factors in this area. The most difficult constraints to manage were root-zone medium and water availability. The results of this study suggest that the development of L. domesticum in Sei Bingai is possible although it requires some land improvements to deal with the limiting factors.

The suitability land of oil palm in North Sumatra Province is important, especially in the lands that are often planted by the community. This study aimed to map the actual and potential suitability of the land for oil palm in Sei Bingai Subdistrict, Langkat, North Sumatra, Indonesia under the different land unit. This research was conducted from March to June 2018. The survey method was conducted to collect soil samples in the field. Land suitability classification (LSC) was evaluated based on the matching method. The Geographic Information System (SIG) was used to map the land suitability classes. The results showed that the land suitability classes for oil palm were marginally suitable (S3) on all land unit. There were no suitable (S1), moderately suitable (S2), and not suitable (N) classes were found in all land unit. There were several limiting factors in land suitability evaluation in the area, namely: the availability of water, erosion hazard, and root zone medium. The water availability (wa) was the dominant limiting factor in this area.