Bamboonomics to Combat Land Degradation
The Bonn Challenge, a global initiative launched by Germany and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 2011, initially decided to have 150 million hectares of deforested and degraded land under restoration by 2020. This target was endorsed by the UN Climate Summit 2014 and extended to 350 million hectares for restoration by 2030. The Bonn Challenge is not a new global commitment but rather a practical means of realizing many existing international commitments, including the CBD (Convention on Biological Diversity) Aichi Target 15, the UNFCCC REDD+ goal, and the Rio+20 land degradation neutral goals.
Experts say that achieving the 350-million-hectare goal could generate US $170 billion per year in net benefits from watershed protection, improved crop yields and forest products, and could sequester up to 1.7 gigatons of CO2 equivalent annually. Prior to COP 21, 13 countries and a regional alliance had pledged almost 60 million hectares to the Bonn Challenge.
“Paris COP 21 and Global Landscapes Forum 2015 are not just about political commitments. They are about actions and implementation,” says Franzjosef Schafhausen, Director-general at Climate Policy, Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety, Government of Germany. “Bringing back degraded and deforested lands can help stabilize the climate while sustainably supporting global and local economies.”
The Indian Targets and the Daunting Tasks
India is a signatory of “The Bonn Challenge” and one of the important actors in the “4P1000 Initiative” for Climate Change Mitigation. At the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of Parties (COP) 2015 in Paris, the Government of India made a Bonn Challenge pledge to restore 13 million hectares of degraded land by 2020 and an additional 8 million hectares by 2030.
In India, land degradation and food security have always been the pressing problem. What has not been achieved in the past 70 years will be difficult to achieve by 2030 if new thinking and new solutions are not offered and adhered to. There is a need for a multi-prong strategy and a direct approach to tackle the problem of soil degradation.
This task becomes more difficult if we notice that one of our global commitments, for which forest is very important, is our commitment to add 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent by 2030. Presently, the carbon stock in the country is about 7 billion tonnes, equivalent to 25 plus billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent. We are growing at about 35 million tonnes every year. If this growth continues until 2030, we can add about 1.9 billion tonnes of CO2. However, the Country will still be short of our global commitment by about 1.1 billion tonnes of carbon stock, which is a cause for worry.
According to the IUCN-MOEF & CC (Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change) Report, known as “The Bonn Challenge and India: Progress on Restoration Efforts Across States and Landscapes Report”, India has brought an area of 9.8 million hectares under restoration since 2011, meaning that work to restore these landscapes is already underway. Of the 9.8 million hectares, 94.4% was contributed by government agencies, while the surveyed NGOs and private companies contributed 3.6% and 2%, respectively.
This means there are still around 11 million hectares of degraded land to restore.
Further, PM Modi, during UNCCD COP 14 in September 2019, promised another 5 million hectares to be restored.
Now, there is a catch in the Indian statement. They are talking of the funds released for plantations of that many hectares, not the percentage of the plants that survived. The forests department always states that the survival rate is more than 95%, but if it is done independently, it comes somewhere between 45 and 70 per cent. No independent evaluation is done for all this. The independent evaluators for such jobs are also hired by the government, and therefore, such “independent” evaluators’ inspection reports cannot be relied upon.
So this fact is frightening, and it reduces our achievements to a very large extent, and then we perpetually fall short of our international commitments, yet we keep lying before the world.
The Forest Secretary had stated before the Parliamentary Committee that India will fall short of 1.1 billion tonnes of carbon stock. This was stated well before our PM added 5 million ha. to India’s Bonn Targets in UNCCD (United Nations Conference to Combat Desertification) in 2019.
This made it clear that it is a daunting task for the Government, and it would not be easy to achieve without the active involvement of rural and tribal communities and without involving bamboo utilization in a manner suggested by Bamboonomics.
How Bamboonomics can lead the way
Bamboonomics establishes a way to achieve carbon sequestration to combat desertification and climate change wherein the tree plantations would not be needed to improve the soil quality and carbon sequestration. This can be done via bamboo and its derivatives management through Bamboonomics, a simple but far-reaching economic theory.
As we know, the world over, the average carbon content in the soil is around 4%, while in India, it is less than 1% in the plains and less than 2% in the hills. Because of this low carbon content, the productivity of the Indian soil is low compared to the soils with high carbon content. On this, there is an international movement known as the “4P100 Initiative”.
So, we need to improve the soil carbon content by literally mixing wood charcoal in it. Now the question arises: what kind of wood charcoal is possible in the Indian scenario?
Wood charcoal, known as “biochar”, is neither available in India in the desired quantity nor is it possible to convert the trees into charcoal as that would lead to large-scale denudation and consequently lead to environmental problems. The answer to this problem is “bamboo charcoal”. There are species of bamboo that can grow in degraded soil. The short rotation period of bamboo is very handy in this endeavour. Given an average harvesting period of 4-7 years and fast-growing clumps, bamboo can sequester a very large amount of carbon (depending on the cultivation techniques). The more you harvest bamboo, the more carbon sequestration is done for two reasons. One, bamboo grows automatically from its rhizomes, and second, if the harvested bamboo is not burnt and converted into charcoal, etc., the carbon does not go back to the environment. So, the carbon sequestration cycle is complete, and the necessary income is also generated in the process. The money spent on the plantation is also saved. I am not against tree plantation per se, but I am just emphasizing the point here that harvesting bamboo helps the environment.
It is also a fact that the various species of Indian bamboo are, by and large, invasive. So bamboo covers the area once it is planted. That saves time, energy, and money compared to tree plantations. Then bamboo plantations are virtually maintenance-free.
Bamboo is one of the best sources to add carbon back to the soil, thereby not only improving soil health but also sequestering carbon, such as biochar or charcoal, made through the pyrolysis process. The production and application of biochar into soil need to be encouraged in India. Waste resources like agriculture residue, garden waste and waste from the bamboo plantation could be recycled and reused as biochar. The unique ability of bamboo to grow faster, compared to other tree species, provides a good resource for biochar.
The superiority of bamboo charcoal needs to be emphasized as wood charcoal, or biochar is not available in appreciable quantities, and who will convert tree wood into charcoal? There is not much wood waste in India. Secondly, the tribals can go for bamboo char as they live in such bamboo growing areas and can produce bamboo charcoal easily. Making bamboo charcoal and activated bamboo charcoal from bamboo is not rocket science, for that matter.
Economic benefits to the locals
The bamboo- charcoal would not only help in soil resilience, but its sale would generate extra income for the community. This bamboo charcoal (BC) and activated bamboo charcoal (ABC) can be manufactured from the so-called unimportant commercially unviable bamboo growing in India, and bamboo char from these would make them viable species.
Bamboo charcoal-making machines are not very costly, and the cluster of SHGs can be trained in manufacturing and also about storage and packaging. Bamboo charcoal is a shade better than biochar in its ammonia and moisture absorption and adsorption. This was attributed to acidic functional groups formed due to the thermolysis of cellulose and lignin at temperatures of 400°C and 500°C. Therefore, there is heavy demand for air purifiers, air conditioners, kitchen chimneys, and direct sales of bamboo charcoal. There is also a good demand for bamboo charcoal in the cosmetic industry. Its face mask is considered to be excellent. Colgate has also included charcoal in its toothpaste. Charcoal shots have become very famous for cleaning the stomach system. Activated charcoal bags remove bad odour and moisture and are very durable and cost-effective compared to chemical-filled bathroom fresheners. In fact, the entire FMCG industry is going natural through bamboo charcoal or biochar.
Currently, one well-grown bamboo pole, which is worth Rs. 30-80 only, can fetch around Rs. 2000 to 2500 as it will give around 600-1200 grams of activated bamboo charcoal and at least 2-3 kgs. of bamboo charcoal. As we know, 200 grams of activated charcoal costs Rs. 503 on Amazon, and one kg of good quality charcoal goes for Rs.50 -100. Naturally, the great income potential is there with a readymade market. For tribal SHGs, marketing could be done by TRIFED, Ministry of Tribal Affairs. For rural communities, there are many avenues. Further, advanced tie-ups with the FMCG industries and pharmaceutical companies can be done beforehand if we know the quality and quantity of the production of bamboo charcoal & activated bamboo charcoal.
Thus, Bamboonomics provides a great alternative to achieve India’s “Bonn Targets” as well as generate employment for the rural and tribal community on a large scale, especially in a post-corona period. It can be a game-changer in the Indian context.
