Greener giant grass

Will COP 28 finally recognize the importance of bamboo for climate change?

In November this year, government representatives will gather in the United Arab Emirates to discuss ways to make progress with action to halt global warming. This 28th Conference of Parties to the Climate Change Convention (COP 28) will take stock of the progress, and look for ways that governments can effectively deal with climate change.

It would be a fitting occasion for bamboo to finally be recognized as an important catalyst for climate action.

Natural bamboo forests are, contrary to general perceptions, rich in biodiversity. The International Bamboo and Rattan Organization (INBAR) and the International Centre for Bamboo and Rattan (ICBR) in China, together with the Kew Royal Botanical Gardens in England, determined in 2016 that there are more than 1,600 varieties of bamboo. In a natural forest, bamboo will typically only comprise a certain percentage of the actual "tree" cover, and therefore a natural bamboo forest is a rich mixture of vegetation. Natural bamboo forests are also home to key species such as the giant panda in southern China, the red panda in the wider Himalayan Mountain Region and the mountain gorillas in Central Africa. Many other animals depend on bamboo and, especially in South America, bamboo forests host a wide selection of birds.

Like all living plants, bamboo survives through photosynthesis, which means absorbing carbon dioxide from the air, binding it with water that is absorbed from the soil to create O2 as the basis for growth. Healthy bamboo forests therefore contribute to absorbing CO2 as natural carbon sinks, but maybe what is more important is the role that natural bamboo forests play for local communities to respond to the effects of climate change. Climate change may cause extended periods of drought or floods, and bamboo plants are so resilient that they will survive when other crops may die. Bamboo forests in southern China provide a certain security for local households in uncertain times, with food from the harvesting of bamboo shoots, fodder for livestock from the leaves of young poles, raw material to manufacture a variety of household items and a reliable source of income.

As a means to reduce carbon dioxide in the air, planted bamboo could be very effective and there is no country in the world that has planted more bamboo than China, with estimates that there is at least 4 million hectares of planted bamboo in the country. In these forests the bamboo culms are cut at regular intervals to provide the raw material for a wide range of products. The China Bamboo Industry Association says that the total output value of the bamboo industry in China has reached 300 billion yuan ($41.85 billion), and this is expected to grow to 1 trillion yuan by 2035.

Bamboo plantations are very important in the fight against climate change, because bamboo can be planted on degraded, unproductive land. The added absorption capacity of new bamboo forests is an important environmental carbon sink. China has been in the forefront to calculate the carbon sequestration ability and the storage capacity of carbon related to bamboo, and Chinese scientists have determined annual figures of 170 tonnes of carbon per hectare (tC/ha) for a well-managed Moso bamboo plantation, which compares well with other planted vegetation. While there is criticism in some quarters about the promotion of mono-crop plantations, and natural forests should not be cleared to provide land to plant bamboo, the giant grass has environmental advantages over more traditional species, such as eucalyptus, used for plantation.

The carbon offsets created by planting bamboo can be sold as carbon credits, and these can be used to provide finance for the plantation before the first harvest can take place, and as such provide bridge funding for local farmers.

Bamboo culms reach maturity after five to seven years, depending on the species, and at that time they can be harvested. When bamboo culms are used to make dwellings, or to manufacture furniture or interior design panels and building materials, the carbon is locked up in a product that will have a long life span. Vernacular houses of various ethnic communities in southern China have survived many years, and modern engineered bamboo flooring is guaranteed for decades. When calculating the efficiency of bamboo fields with regards to the absorption of CO2 and storage of carbon, this locked-up carbon is an additional contribution.

Modern architects and designers are getting more and more excited by bamboo as a material that is low carbon and renewable, and that can be used to produce beautiful interior construction solutions, so this aspect of locked-in carbon is becoming more relevant by the day. China has been leading the way in producing bamboo products for interior design, but architects in other parts of the world are following the trend, with some amazing bamboo constructions produced in other Asian countries and even in Europe and the Americas.

At the end of the life cycle, the bamboo will most likely be burned, and although this will create greenhouse gases, it is considered to be green energy, as the fuel source is renewable. Burning bamboo is much better than burning fossil fuels.

In conclusion, bamboo forests, whether they are natural woodlots or planted stands have an important role in climate change mitigation and adaptation, and the manufacturing of products from bamboo makes bamboo even more relevant to sustainable development. Let's hope that the delegations at COP 28 will recognize the benefits of bamboo!

The author is global ambassador of the World Bamboo Organization and former director-general of the International Bamboo and Rattan Organization. The author contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

Contact the editor at editor@chinawatch.cn.