Facts about Bamboo

There are around 30 million hectares of bamboo in tropical and subtropical areas of the world. It is one of the fastest growing plants on earth. Certain species can grow up to 1-meter a day. Even though some Bamboo species grow very tall like trees, Bamboo belongs to the grass family.

Bamboo and Rattan can contribute to livelihoods in many ways; providing food, fiber, and fuel which provide the basis for thousands of different products. The Bamboo sector is estimated to be worth 60 billion USD a year.

Topics covered

In this episode, Brian discusses the potential for further development of the Bamboo and Rattan production as a means to forest landscape restoration and local income generation.

We learn about Brian’s inspiring work and how he has adopted a multidisciplinary skill set which is critical to his role at INBAR and useful when considering the further development of the Bamboo and Rattan sector.

Brian will give us an overview of the variety of products which can be made from Bamboo and Rattan and put a focus on recent innovations and high-tech products.

Besides the unquestionable positive contributions of Bamboo, we will also discuss the downsides, e.g. the growing of Bamboo in large monocultures and the role certification can play in improving sustainable production and post-production.

Finally, we will learn more about exemplary and successful sustainable Bamboo-based landscape restoration initiatives which present useful models of how to scale sustainable Bamboo production whilst having a positive impact on forest landscapes and livelihoods.

More information about the guest

Guest: Brian Cohen, cbrian@inbar.int

Organization: INBAR

About Forest Landscape Stories

We believe, that positive examples of successful restoration projects can inspire and catalyze positive action.

In this podcast series, you will learn about outstanding people, organizations and projects and how they have contributed in their unique way to the restoration of healthy landscapes.

Learn more about our work: OpenForests

Tell your project story through your project: explorer.land

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