Why is bamboo important to address important global problems?
Abstract of the paper: Shaping the Policy Framework;
Why is bamboo important to address important global problems?
Bamboo is a species that, when utilized to its full potential, can transform our lives so much that every nation must have its own “National Bamboo Policy” aiming to fight a number of global problems.
The Indian National Policy on Bamboo is non–existent despite the National Bamboo Mission (NBM 2006) or the Restructured National Bamboo Mission (RNBM 2018) though India is the second largest producer of bamboo. Their failure to make a National Bamboo Policy led to very sparse and misdirected efforts in creating a successful bamboo regime. With all the actors acting separately without any integrated or holistic approach, there is virtually no bootstrap mechanism to resurrect the bamboo economy.
As a result, “The Bonn Challenge 2030” and the “4P1000 Initiative” recognizing bamboo as an effective tool through “bamboo charcoal” or “bamboo char” creating “terra preta” (fertile soils) has not really been practised in India. Bamboo is one species that, when cut, adds to carbon sequestration as new shoots come from the rhizomes and grow back to full in a few years’ time. The Indian target of “The Bonn Challenge” by the Indian IUCN Chapter and Ministry of Environment & Forests of improving 21 million hectares of wastelands by 2030 cannot be achieved merely by tree plantations and neglecting bamboo altogether.
Indian efforts on Bamboo through NBM & RNBM are not aiming at the larger global agenda but focusing on correcting the bamboo trade deficit without addressing the basic problems of 100 % utilization need of bamboo. 88% of bamboo waste is generated in the production of round bamboo sticks {the major raw material for the Indian Agarbatti (incense stick) Industry} as garbage makes the finished product costly and unviable. This has led to the closure of the once-flourishing bamboo round stick industry in India. India became a net importer from a net exporter, affecting the lives of millions.
Forestry in India is plantation-oriented and not trade-oriented. So, when so-called trained forestry personnel were given the reins of correcting the bamboo trade deficit, they could not think of anything else except planting suitable species. This lop-sided excessive emphasis on plantations is basically “silvicultural syndrome” that fundamentally comes from the one-dimensional approach of the forestry cadre and all the forestry research institutes in India. In the absence of a functional National Policy on Bamboo, there is no clear direction for trade-oriented action.
The bamboo was declared “grass” in 2017 by amending the Indian Forest Act 1927 to avoid forest department levies, transportation restrictions, etc., for making bamboo products cheaper. But millions of tons of bamboo inside the forests are still defined as “timber” and subject to all taxes and restrictions. In this way, bamboo is still not a lucrative option for livelihood generation, tackling global problems and meeting SDG targets in the Indian context.
The European countries’ national policy framework should focus on bamboo housing and the Bonn Challenge besides climate change mitigation in light of the Lima- Paris Action Plan (LPAP) and 4P1000.
Bamboo businesses can solve the food insecurity problem to a large extent. Bamboo silk, bamboo cotton, Bamboo charcoal and bamboo plastic composite have a great future in Europe. This paper examines the details in the first-world context, implying the leanings from the third-world policy frameworks and their inherent contradictions. The paper paves the way for achieving SDG through proper planning based on a conducive policy and explains the way the bamboo trade and marketing should be developed and how to look at the bamboo regime in its entirety in a policy framework.
