ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines an international collaboration project regarding the sustainable production and utilization of grass biomass in deteriorated grasslands in Indonesia. Tropical forest resources have been excessively exploited since the Second World War. Large parts of deforested areas of Southeast Asia are dominated by grasses, including Imperata cylindrica, known as alang-alang in Indonesia and chigaya in Japan. In Asia, the area of deteriorated grasslands mainly composed of I. cylindrica is about 35 million ha. Given that about half of the global production of tree biomass is still being exploited mainly for wood fuels, and that fuel biomass is largely derived from logging, conversion of deteriorated grasslands biomass crop farmland such as sorghum would be valuable for renewable resource production in a global context. Moreover, the conversion may restore biodiversity. In addition, breeding biomass plants for augmenting heating values should be beneficial to reduce the land areas, required for fuel biomass production. Importantly, these activities would contribute to the welfare of Indonesian local communities and may provide long-term sustainable economic benefits to the nation, which are in accord with sustainable development goals.
