MEDICINAL EFFECT REVIEW OF AGARWOOD LEAVES FROM AQUILARIA AND GYRINOPS GENERA

Aquilaria and Gyrinops are the most common genera of Agarwood in Indonesia. These two group have wide distribution in Indonesia. Therefore, Indonesia is one of the biggest agarwood commodity producer in the world. However, the resin on agarwood stem is still main utilization of agarwood commodity in this country. Diversification agarwood utilization other than resin is needed to maximilize the potency of this commodity. Agarwood leaves are one of by product from agarwood cultivation that rarely been utilized. Agarwood leaves contain secondary metabolites that have medical effect such as Phenol, Flavonoid, Terpenoid , Alkaloid and Tannin. Thus, agarwood leaves has a good potency as a source of food and beverage product that have a medicinal effects. Agarwood leaves form Aquilaria group and Gyrinops group both have medicinal effect including antioxidant, antibacterial, cytotoxic and anticancer. Aquilaria leaves also has additional medicinal effect including: anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic and laxative while Gyrinops leaves also has additional medicinal effect as antiradical source of sunscreen.

The Return Performance of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and Portfolio Diversification Benefits

This study describes the emergence and the structure of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and investigates whether European REITs provide higher risk-adjusted returns and portfolio diversification benefits relative to the market portfolio. The top public listed companies of five (5) established (Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands, UK), three (3) emerging (Italy, Spain, Ireland) and one (1) nascent (Greece) European REIT markets, are considered over period 2007 – 2018. The empirical findings denote poor performance of most European REITS over the Global Financial Crisis period but strong risk adjusted returns, overall, outperforming the equivalent European stock market indices and bonds over the first years of post - GFC period. In the recent period (2015 – 2018), most European REITs continued to deliver positive but modest risk adjusted returns relative to the previous period. The analysis provides evidence of poor portfolio diversification benefits and weak cross country diversification benefits among the European REITs.

Diversification Through Trade*

A widely held view is that openness to international trade leads to higher income volatility, as trade increases specialization and hence exposure to sector-specific shocks. Contrary to this common wisdom, we argue that when country-wide shocks are important, openness to international trade can lower income volatility by reducing exposure to domestic shocks and allowing countries to diversify the sources of demand and supply across countries. Using a quantitative model of trade, we assess the importance of the two mechanisms (sectoral specialization and cross-country diversification) and show that in recent decades international trade has reduced economic volatility for most countries.

Are Biofuels a Factor of Sustainable Development in a Food Insecurity Context in Africa?

Bearing in mind the strong link between energy and development, and given the country’s heavy reliance on imported fossil fuels, this chapter discusses the opportunity for substituting fossil fuels with biofuels in a Sahelian country, Burkina Faso. Biofuel opportunities are discussed taking into account technical, agronomic, and land potentials in this country. Diversification of energy resources with biofuels would reduce the growth of fuel imports in the short term, improve overall public finances, provide a chance to develop agriculture, and provide benefits for the locals. However, if they are to generate sustainable socio-economic development, biofuel projects need to be mindful of food security and economic incentives, and should be part of national agricultural strategies. The chapter shows that a number of conditions must be met to ensure the advantages of biofuels outweigh the disadvantages: prioritising domestic use over exports; supporting the emergence of decentralised systems; localising dedicated crops in order to avoid competition with food crops; regulating the edible oil market; removing technical obstacles to production and processing; and prioritising projects implying family-farming rather than agri-business.

Are Biofuels a Factor of Sustainable Development in a Food Insecurity Context in Africa?

Bearing in mind the strong link between energy and development, and given the country’s heavy reliance on imported fossil fuels, this chapter discusses the opportunity for substituting fossil fuels with biofuels in a Sahelian country, Burkina Faso. Biofuel opportunities are discussed taking into account technical, agronomic, and land potentials in this country. Diversification of energy resources with biofuels would reduce the growth of fuel imports in the short term, improve overall public finances, provide a chance to develop agriculture, and provide benefits for the locals. However, if they are to generate sustainable socio-economic development, biofuel projects need to be mindful of food security and economic incentives, and should be part of national agricultural strategies. The chapter shows that a number of conditions must be met to ensure the advantages of biofuels outweigh the disadvantages: prioritising domestic use over exports; supporting the emergence of decentralised systems; localising dedicated crops in order to avoid competition with food crops; regulating the edible oil market; removing technical obstacles to production and processing; and prioritising projects implying family-farming rather than agri-business.