NewsTask Force for Sustainable Bamboo Management to be Established
23 April 2020 – The International Bamboo and Rattan Organisation (INBAR) will establish a new Task Force on Sustainable Bamboo Management.
INBAR’s specialised Task Forces, including the Construction Task Force and the Rattan Task Force, consist of groups of key experts from all over the world who work together on specific objectives such as standards development or events.
The primary objective of the new Task Force for Sustainable Bamboo Management will be to support INBAR’s Member States to meet Sustainable Development Goal 13: Climate Action and SDG 15: Life on Land. Bamboo, the fast-growing giant grass, can be an important nature-based solution to a number of pressing global challenges, for poverty alleviation, green trade, climate change mitigation, resilient construction and environmental protection.
The Task Force will consist of a group of experts, coordinated by INBAR dedicated to research into best practice on sustainable bamboo management. Although experts are sought from all over the world, the preliminary primary focus of the Task Force will be Africa, particularly Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana and Madagascar; and will include other INBAR member countries, specifically Benin, Burundi, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Togo and Uganda.
Site species matching training in Cameroon as part of the Inter-Africa Bamboo Smallholder Livelihood Development Programme
INBAR is currently in the process of selecting experts for the Task Force, and hopes that it will become a key mechanism for the development of technical guidelines and methods for for sustainable management of bamboo to enhance its climate change, livelihood, economic and environmental benefits. A major output of the Task Force is expected to be the production of a set of voluntary guideline standards, a multi-stakeholder, consensus developed, cost effective document that will boost sustainable bamboo management of bamboo forests, farms and trade.
For more information about the Task Force for Sustainable Bamboo Management, e-mail Rene Kaam at rkaam@inbar.int.
The Task Force is supported by the International Fund for Agricutural Development under the Inter-Africa Bamboo Smallholder Livelihood Development Programme. To find out more about the Programme, click here or watch the short documentary below.
