Bamboo ideal for removing carbon from atmosphere

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Copyright: Flickr/Wu Zhiyi/World Bank

 

China promises boost to African bamboo expertise

by Keya Archarya

“Bamboo should now become a South-South-North dynamic for climate change initiatives using China’s expertise in managing this sector.” – Hans Friederich, INBAR

Speed read

• Network aims to transfer knowledge about novel products
• Bamboo’s fast growth make it ideal for removing carbon from atmosphere
• Money will come from Chinese fund to fight climate change

China aims to increase Africa’s expertise in novel bamboo products through a new knowledge exchange network, it was announced at the COP 21 summit.

The country plans to team up with African states to start a partnership that would see knowledge about bamboo growth and products, such as bamboo-based biofuels and charcoal briquettes, transferred to other bamboo-growing nations.

The partnership, which was launched at an event on 9 December in Paris, France, will be overseen by INBAR, a China-based intergovernmental organisation that seeks to use bamboo and rattan to reduce poverty and environmental damage.
Part of a 20 billion renminbi (US$3.1 billion) fund that China launched in September to increase South-South cooperation on climate change will be spent on the initiative.

Bamboo’s quick growth and easy care make it ideal for removing carbon from the atmosphere, and being a raw material for biofuel and consumer products, the initiative’s supporters said.

“Bamboo should now become a South-South-North dynamic forclimate change initiatives using China’s expertise in managing this sector,” said Hans Friederich, INBAR’s director-general.

The partnership also plans to include bamboo-growing countries from Asia and Latin America at a later stage, the event heard.

Read the full article: SciDevNet