Countries all over the world are using this humble resource as a tool to combat climate change. But in India, bamboo is usage has not evolved, despite strong cultivation. The Government must rescue this valuable resource
Whether it is to restore degraded land or to regain dwindling forest cover, bamboo is fast emerging as a preferred choice. Bamboo has a fast growth rate as compared to other tree species. It also has the ability to deliver major reduction in carbon emissions. According to studies by the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan, bamboo roots reduce soil erosion by up to 75 per cent and have immense potential to fight global warming. Countries are increasingly including bamboo in their climate change mitigation strategies. This will help create sustainable development policies and investment plans.
China is the first country to use bamboo as a climate change mitigation tool. With more than 50,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent certificates issued in voluntary markets, more is expected with the application of the Chinese regulatory carbon market that will come into effect in 2016. In addition, China has also initiated crucial afforestation projects which involve bamboo and it is expected that due to these initiatives, bamboo forests will store more than a million tonnes of carbon by 2050.
Bamboo is also helping China recover its lost forest cover. According to data from the Global Forest Watch, China’s Yunnan Province lost about 5,00,000 hectares of tree cover from 2001 through 2012. Geneva-based Gold Standard Foundation has included bamboo in its afforestation and reforestation methodology, including issuance of the equivalent of 46,000 tonnes of carbon credits for bamboo reforestation in Yunnan. This is bound to help China to set an example for other countries to take concrete measures to tackle climate change.
The immense capability of bamboo has spurred the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to explicitly recognise it as a strategic resource in combating climate change. Bamboo has humble origins and it is a member of the grass family. Poaceae, with about 1,250 native species is growing across the globe in the America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia. Bamboo has a plethora of benefits — it rapidly restorates compromised forest areas, large-scale carbon sequestration, supplies a sustainable source of energy, and provides raw material for construction and textiles. All of these have redefined the importance of bamboo as a multi-faceted resource.
India has a strong heritage of bamboo use, but this has predominantly been restricted to handicrafts, paper and building purposes. Inspite of strong cultivation and output, bamboo usage has not evolved. As the world takes a lead to transform this unassuming resource into an effective tool to manage climate change, India too must transform bamboo into an effective ally to combat climate change. To begin with, energy potential must be introduced to the mainstream energy resource options.
As India grapples with growing need for energy resources, the need for fossil fuels is increasing to unhealthy levels. To counter this, solar and wind energy has received enormous attention from the Government. But these forms of renewable energy suffer from the drawback of intermittent availability and challenge in storage for later use.
Off late, nuclear energy for civilian use has become a part of the alternative option to fossil fuels, but this form of energy has expensive investment as a precondition. India cannot, therefore, rely on any one type of renewable energy to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels and must create a smart energy mix that is able to include all forms of energy sources including bamboo to meet the overall energy demand of the country without compromising on the climate and environment.
For instance, bamboo can effectively serve as a suitable biomass energy source for the people who currently rely on harvesting forest cover for their energy needs. This will help preserve our forests and contribute towards lessening the global warming. But before bamboo is viewed and used as a strategic tool in the mitigation of climate change, bamboo cultivation and production needs to be supported and assisted against the problems such as changing and erratic rainfall patterns leading to losses of jobs and businesses.
The North East is often termed as the hub of bamboo in the country with almost 56 per cent of India’s bamboo production coming from the eight hilly States of the region. But the climate there has been changing fast, and so has been the rainfall — the average annual rainfall of 2,450mm a year is now decreasing at a rate of 11mm per decade. This is affecting the production and the quality of bamboo.
The Government must intervene and rescue this valuable resource before it disappears into obscurity. Incentivised and subsidised commercial bamboo plantations, coupled with technological inputs, sourced from across the world, will help recover lost ground. This will enable bamboo to be in the reckoning as a competent energy resource, besides being a capable instrument in challenging climate change.