Tag Archives: bamboo
DTI Taps Export Potential Of ‘Engineered’ Bamboo
Philippine Daily Inquirer 9:08 pm | Friday, August 9th, 2013 The Department of Trade and Industry wants to tap the export potential of “engineered” bamboo as it is expected to provide Philippine furniture manufacturers a competitive edge in the Asean region. This will be critical after 2015 when the economies of the 10-member countries of the Asean would have been integrated under the Asean Economic Community, allowing the free flow of goods and manpower across the region. Senen M. Perlada, director at the DTI’s Bureau of Export Trade Promotion (BETP), said engineered bamboo had huge export potential since bamboo is endemic in the country; bamboo plantations can thrive nationwide; and new technologies are readily available for adoption. “The innate creativity of the Filipino and the plant’s flexibility as a raw material for a variety of products and uses can be showcased in international trade exhibitions and missions, as well as in local trade fairs and exhibits,” Perlada added. Engineered bamboo refers to the low-cost product manufactured from bamboo and designed to replace wood. Citing World Bamboo Resources, the DTI said that the Philippines had about 172,000 hectares of bamboo forest in 2005, or about 2.4 percent of the country’s total forest area of 7,162-million hectares. Over the past five years, the country’s export sales of bamboo furniture and furnishings had been on a seesaw trend, reaching a high of $1.21 million in 2008 and then dropping to $928,132 in 2009, government data showed. In 2010, export sales stood at $689,786, before it regained momentum in 2011 with sales reaching $1.1 million. In 2012, sales of bamboo furniture dropped by 56.9 percent to $481,195 from the previous year. The Philippines’ main markets for bamboo furniture in 2012 were the United States, which accounted for $261,020; France, $64,806; and the Netherlands, $35,116. Exports of bamboo furnishings, though more modest compared to bamboo furniture, brought in $365,398 in 2008 and $464,343 in 2011, but dropped to $100,521 in 2012. The main market was France, which bought 90 percent or $90,329 worth of bamboo furnishings from the Philippines in 2012. Amy R. Remo Continue reading
EcoPlanet Bamboo’s Expansion Plans Target 1 Million Acres of Degraded Land
PRWeb Published 7:05 pm, Thursday, August 8, 2013 EcoPlanet Bamboo’s plantations have received independent accreditation from a range of institutions, from the World Bank to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Such accreditation demonstrates that a for-profit company can earn strong financial returns in a sustainable and transparent way, while positively impacting the lives of the poor, improving the environment, and protecting the planet. Barrington, IL (PRWEB) August 08, 2013 Increasing demand for timber and fiber continues to put pressure on forests globally, and although sustainability issues are a hot topic, market economics ultimately win and the forest loses. Over the past three years EcoPlanet Bamboo has driven the development of commercial plantations of non invasive tropical clumping bamboo around one core pillar – to set in stone the benchmarks and framework for the industrialization of bamboo as an alternative fiber in a way that addresses issues of social and environmental concern. EcoPlanet Bamboo’s recently concluded first phase of growth, the strategically located reforestation of approximately 10,000 acres of highly degraded land, in some of the poorest and least developed regions of Central America and Southern Africa, was focused on being demonstrative. Proving that bamboo could be successfully produced at a commercial scale across different species and climates from both seed and tissue culture plantlets; proving that climate change benefits (accredited by the Verified Carbon Standard), as well as biodiversity and social co-benefits (accredited by the Climate, Community, Biodiversity Alliance) could be achieved; and ultimately proving that bamboo could be produced in a truly sustainable manner through the early acquisition of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Forest Management certification for the Rio Siquia and Rio Kama plantations. In addition to these certifications, EcoPlanet Bamboo’s plantations have received independent accreditation from a range of institutions, from the World Bank to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Such accreditation demonstrates that a for-profit company can earn strong financial returns in a sustainable and transparent way, while positively impacting the lives of the poor, improving the environment, and protecting the planet. EcoPlanet Bamboo is hopeful that this success will set a new global benchmark for the industrialization of bamboo. With this framework strongly in place to guide the development of each new plantation, EcoPlanet Bamboo has set its sights on a second phase of growth – achieving the reforestation of 1 million acres of highly degraded land into fully functioning commercial bamboo forests, with a focus on Southeast Asia, Brazil and Africa. Split into manageable operations of 25,000 – 100,000 acres, these are to be dedicated plantations; each one co-developed alongside timber dependent manufacturing companies within strategic locations globally, providing them the ability to create a long-term competitive price advantage, secure supply and a meeting of each entity’s sustainability goals. “While our achievements to date are still a long way from our 1,000,000 acre goal, they have proved not only that we can, but that we are committed to industrializing bamboo in a way that benefits the local community, is environmentally positive, and enables the feedstock security that multinational corporations require to ultimately move away from unsustainable logging practices, and make the switch to an alternative fiber,” says Troy Wiseman, CEO of EcoPlanet Bamboo Group. For the original version on PRWeb visit:[url=”http://www.prweb.com…web11010766.htm”] http://www.prweb.com…web11010766.htm Continue reading
Bamboo Charcoal Technologies Introduced In Ghana
The International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR), is promoting bamboo charcoal technologies in Ghana, which have the potential to jump-start the country’s bio-energy sector and generate and sustain the charcoal business. It will also slow down deforestation and fight climate change. Mr Michael Kwaku, Country Director of INBAR Ghana, said in a statement issued in Accra on Wednesday and copied to Ghana News Agency that China-Africa collaboration focuses on bamboo to provide cleaner, safer, green energy source. It will also create and sustain jobs in the wood-fuel sector. The statement said the Forestry Research Institute is partnering Bamboo and Rattan Development Programme at the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources Africa and communities in the Western Region and INBAR to implement the project. The European Union and China are working to substitute bamboo charcoal and firewood for forest wood on, which 65 per cent of the rural population depends for its fuel needs. Initial successes with bamboo charcoal briquette in Ghana and Ethiopia, which have put bamboo biomass at the centre of renewable energy policies, are spurring interest in countries across the continent. This is prompting calls for greater investment in bamboo-based charcoal production as a green biofuel that can fight deforestation and mitigate climate change. “Bamboo, the perfect biomass grass, grows naturally across Africa and presents a viable, cleaner and sustainable alternative to wood fuel. “Without such an alternative, wood charcoal will remain the primary household energy source for decades to come—with disastrous consequences,” the statement said. It said In Ghana, the reason behind the cutting down of trees is usually for charcoal, pasture for livestock, farms, urban or industrial purposes. The number of trees illegally cut down yearly is way beyond the number of culprits arrested, which indicates that most of them culprits go scot free. This in the long run, causes depletion of land and harms green plants and animals. The statement said burning wood has a significant impact on the climate. Scientists predict that the burning of wood fuel by African households, will release the equivalent of 6.7 billion tonnes of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere by 2050. Ten tonnes of raw wood produces one tonne of wood charcoal, making wood fuel collection an important driver of deforestation in Ghana. About 15 billion people have few alternative fuel sources. The INBAR project is the first to transfer bamboo charcoal and briquette technologies from China to Ghana to produce sustainable ‘green biofuels’ using locally available bamboo resources. “Ensuring food security in a changing climate is one of the major challenges of our era. It is well known that the destruction of Ghana’s forests has negative repercussions on livelihoods and sustainable agriculture as it feeds into a cycle of climate change, drought and poverty,” Ms Gloria Asare Adu, Executive Director Global Bamboo Product Limited. “Feeding people in decades to come will require ingenuity and innovation to produce more food on less land in more sustainable ways,” the statement said. Scientists believe that deforestation across the northern regions within the forest transitional zones, has contributed to changes in the weather forecast. Years of tree-clearing for charcoal in some part of the north, particularly in the Upper East and Upper East Regions, have eliminated fragile forests that stood as the last line of defence against the conversion of sparsely forested dry lands and pastures into useless desert, according to researchers from the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research. The International Energy Agency predicts that if business continues as usual, by 2030 biomass energy in sub-Saharan Africa including Ghana will still account for about three-quarters of total residential energy, underscoring the urgency of coming up with a sustainable alternative biomass to replace wood. Sub-Saharan Africa has more than 2.75 million hectares of bamboo forest, equivalent to roughly four per cent of the continent’s total forest cover. “Rural communities need access to sustainable approaches that will keep trees in the ground and the environment safe,” Professor Karanja M. Njoroge, Executive Director, Green Belt Movement has said. He said: “Bamboo grows naturally across Africa’s diverse landscapes, but unlike trees, it regrows after harvest and lends itself very well for energy plantations on degraded lands. We should put it to good use to provide clean energy for Ghana.” China is a global leader in the production and use of bamboo charcoal. The sector is worth an estimated $1 billion a year and employs more than 60,000 people in more than 1,000 businesses. Chinese partners, including the Nanjing Forestry University and WENZHAO Bamboo Charcoal Co., are helping to adapt equipment like brick kilns, grinders and briquette machines, and hand tools, for bamboo charcoal and briquette production using local materials. Building on this momentum, the INBAR initiative is now transferring China’s advanced bamboo charcoal technologies to sub-Saharan Africa. In addition to charcoal, bamboo offers many new opportunities for income generation. It can be processed into a vast range of wood products, from floorboards to furniture and from charcoal to edible shoots. The world bamboo export was estimated at $1.6 billion in 2009, a decline of about $ 659 million from $ 2.2 billion in 2008. INBAR is an inter-governmental organisation dedicated to reducing poverty, conserving the environment and creating fairer trade using bamboo and rattan. INBAR was established in 1997 and represents a growing number of member countries all over the world. The headquarters is in China with regional offices in Ghana, Ethiopia, India and Ecuador. The organisation connects a global network of governmental, non-governmental, corporate and community partners in more than 50 countries. For more information one could go to www.inbar.int; http://bioenergy.inbar.int G NA Continue reading
