Active work against the
destruction of rain forests
The winning of dammar resin enables the peo-
ple of South East Asia to use the rain forest sus-
tainably, without overexploitation, and therefore
is active work against the destruction of the rain
forest. The vital force of the trees is not impaired
by notching the stocks which means that the
resin can be exuded over a long period of time.
This renders resin winning an economical and
ecological alternative to logging the trees for
wood production. Before the sacks with the val-
uable resin pieces arrive in our ports, a lot of
handwork is necessary: the workers in Asia
gather the resin, sort it by size, remove splinters
of wood and other dirt particles and package it
in sacks before it is shipped by container to cus-
tomers all over the world.
be a second one as backup to help in case you got stuck in
the mud.
What was the purpose of your journey?
We wanted to hold talks with the people in charge locally
and get an overview of the situation. Moreover, we wanted
to have a look at the Meranti trees that were particularly
suited for harvesting resin.
Was your search successful?
Unfortunately, the brown dammar is not suited for use
in paint manufacturing. This made the search relatively
difficult. With the help of the natives, we eventually found
very young Meranti trees that release the fresh white dam-
mar resin that is perfectly suited for our purposes because
of its brightness.
Bright yellow Light brown
Dark brown White
Different sorts of dammar
47
