Why plant bamboo seedlings?

Here are four key ways that bamboo can help countries mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change:

1. Sequestering carbon

Bamboo’s renewable and fast-growing strands sequester carbon in their biomass – at rates superior to a number of tree species. The many durable products made from bamboo can also be potentially carbon-negative, because they act as locked-in carbon sinks in themselves and encourage the expansion and improved management of bamboo forests.

2. Replacing fossil fuels and reducing deforestation.

Bamboo offers an alternative, highly renewable source of biomass energy helping avoid fossil fuel use, and reduce deforestation. Bamboo can provide a sustainable source of bioenergy for the many people who rely on solid biomass for cooking, such as charcoal or briquettes. It can also be converted into gas or pellets, to provide a source of electricity and heating.Because it regrows quickly and matures faster than most types of trees, bamboo can take pressure off other forest resources, reducing deforestation.

3. Adaptation

Bamboo’s rapid establishment and growth allow for frequent harvesting. This allows farmers to flexibly adapt their management and harvesting practices to new growing conditions as they emerge under climate change. Bamboo provides a year-round source of income, and can be converted into an increasingly wide variety of value-added products for sale.

4. Restoration

Bamboo is integral to many natural and agricultural ecosystems in and near the tropics. It is useful for restoring degraded lands for several reasons: it thrives on problem soils and steep slopes that are unsuitable for other crops, it is an effective windbreak, and its sturdy rhizomes and roots regulate water flows and prevent erosion.

Bamboo alone will not solve the world’s climate change problems. But, if this strategic resource is properly harnessed, it offers practical solutions to climate change mitigation and adaptation – and a proven tool to fight rural poverty and restore the natural resource base that is the foundation for economic sustainability.