2007 Finalist Projects

STEAMING AHEAD

INDONESIA

The Masarang Palm Sugar Factory

Extracting the sugar from sugar palm requires a good deal of heat. For the farmers of Tomohon, a mountainous region of Indonesia, timber was the obvious source. Seeing the damage being done to his beloved rainforest, conservation expert Dr Willie Smits hooked the palm farmers up with a local geothermal power project.

He established a factory that uses waste steam from the power plant to heat the sugar palm sap. The resulting high-quality product is now being successfully exported - with all profits going direct to the farmer's cooperative.

Some 6285 poor farmers and their families are now benefiting from the project, and around 200,000 square metres of forest have been preserved. Dr Smits believes his business model could serve throughout Indonesia as a sustainable alternative to the destructive Palm Oil trade.

For further information click here: http://www.masarang.or.id/