Indonesia Has Potential for Herbal Medicine Development in IKN, Expert Says
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30 November 2023 09:40 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A professor at the Faculty of Medicine, Public Health, and Nursing at Gadjah Mada University (UGM) Mustofa stated that the existence of Nusantara State Capital or IKN in East Kalimantan has the potential to boost the development of herbal medicine in Indonesia.
Mustofa explained that North Penajam Paser Regency, East Kalimantan has a rich biodiversity. "If we truly move the capital city to IKN, [herbal medicine development] is highly potential," he said in a press release on Wednesday, Nov. 29.
Furthermore, 80 percent of the world's medicinal herbs are planted in Kalimantan. "Medicinal plants registered in BPOM (The Indonesian Food and Drug Authority) are around 25,000 to 30,000 species," he said.
Those plants, Mustofa informed, have been used by more than 55 sub-ethnic groups of the Dayak tribe in Kalimantan, namely longjack plant, ant-hive plant or myrmecodia, allamanda plant, and bajakah plant.
Various studies have proven that medicinal plants in Kalimantan could be used to treat diseases such as cancer and used for cosmetic materials, according to Mustofa. However, there have been no attempts to explore these potentials further.
Inter-disciplinary research on medicinal herbs is often organized, Mustofa said, but the industry, government, and public sectors have not agreed to develop the biodiversity potential in IKN.
However, the potential of IKN has been talked about since its initial conception, using three main concepts. These concepts are IKN as a forest city, sponge city, and smart city, which was mentioned in Presidential Regulation No. 63 of 2022.
UGM Biology Faculty professor Ratna Susandarini added that one of the main challenges to developing medicinal plants in IKN is the availability of biodiversity data in the region. "If we want to utilize the plants, we must know how available it is in the wild," she concluded.
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