A LANDMARK conference bringing more than 1,200 people from across the world together to promote and explain the importance of bamboo and rattan to global sustainable development and tackling climate change has ended with a raft of agreements and project launches.
The three-day Global Bamboo and Rattan Congress in Beijing last week, organised by multilateral development group the International Bamboo and Rattan Organisation (INBAR) and China’s National Forestry and Grassland Administration (NFGA), was the first international, policy-focused conference on the use of bamboo and rattan to help sustainable development.
At the close of the conference, it appeared that goal had been met with the announcement of a number of agreements, including a major project to develop bamboo sectors across Africa and an agreement between INBAR members to further develop bamboo and rattan sectors in other parts of the world.
Bamboo and rattan have long been championed by environmental organisations and groups promoting sustainable development, especially in the world’s poorest countries.
A grass, bamboo is a native plant on all continents except Antarctica and Europe, although the majority of its natural habitat is in the tropical belts. It is stronger than concrete or steel but is a renewable resource, providing refuge and food for wildlife as well as biomass.
Bamboo captures higher amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) than most other plants and can be harvested significantly faster than wood; over a period of 20 years it can produce almost 12 times as much material as wood.
It can be used for shelter as well as, in some cases, transport, and provides sustainable, ecologically-friendly economic and commercial opportunities to people, especially in poorer communities.
Groups like INBAR point out that bamboo use can play a significant part in helping countries meet many of the UN’s sustainable development goals.
But awareness of the potential of bamboo and rattan is generally low in many countries, especially in the more developed world and particularly at senior levels of government and industry.
INBAR director-general Dr Hans Friedrich said the conference had made some real steps forward for the development of bamboo and rattan. Their potential is immense. “It is understood by people in, for example, the forestry industry, and others, but not really by politicians.”
Bringing together ministers, industry leaders, scientists and entrepreneurs, the conference used examples of innovative bamboo use — from a 30-foot bamboo wind turbine blade to bamboo diapers — and real-life stories from individuals of bamboo and rattan helping create sustainable livelihoods to underline to decision-makers and senior industry figures the potential.
One of the key aims of the meeting, said organisers, was to try and push those decision-makers into setting up the institutional, regulatory, policy, and business frameworks necessary to kick-start a new sustainable development paradigm.
“In the last few years I have met a number of ministers and they always start off being sceptical about bamboo, but after they see everything they realise its potential. We want governments to think about bamboo when they think about their plans for climate change, sustainable development and green policies,” said Dr Friedrich.
The bamboo industry in China, which Dr Friedrich says has until now been the “only country taking bamboo really seriously”, employs some 10 million people and is valued at US$30 billion (RM121 billion) per year.
The conference also highlighted the impact bamboo and rattan could have on climate change. Speakers from various countries, including politicians, spoke about how bamboo and rattan were being used to help combat the effects of climate change and help protect the environment.
Experts outlined its potential and current use in areas like forest protection, restoration of degraded land, and carbon capture as well as a replacement for more carbon-intensive materials such as cement and steel in construction and industry.
An INBAR report released ahead of the conference gave an analysis of the carbon which is saved by substituting more emissions-intensive products with bamboo. It found the carbon emissions reduction potential of a managed giant bamboo species forest was significantly higher than for certain types of trees under the same conditions.
Combining bamboo’s potential displacement factor with bamboo’s carbon storage rate, bamboo can sequester enormous sums of CO2 — from 200 to almost 400 tonnes of carbon per hectare. In China alone, the plant is projected to store more than one million tons of carbon by 2050.
Bamboo can also be used in durable products, including furniture, flooring, housing and pipes, replacing emissions-intensive materials including timber, plastics, cement and metals. It can also be used as a substitute for fossil fuel-based energy sources. Research by INBAR has shown that substituting electricity from the Chinese grid with electricity from bamboo gasification would reduce CO2 emissions by almost seven tonnes of CO2 per year.
Bamboo can also help communities adapt to the effects of climate change, serving as a strong but flexible building material for shelter, as well as helping restore degraded land and combat desertification.
Patricia Espinosa, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, said bamboo and rattan could help reduce net emissions. And, this is exactly “what the world needs right now”.
Dr Friedrich said he hoped that policymakers would realise the potential of bamboo as part of solutions for dealing with climate change.
“Bamboo is not a climate change silver bullet, but it can help mitigate the effects of climate change,” he said.
INBAR officials admit that it would take time to raise awareness of the potentials of bamboo and rattan, but they are encouraged by the fact that more countries are starting to look at them seriously as an industry, including in Africa and South America. — IPS