Community based land restoration with bamboo: Experiences and Lessons

LearntJayaraman Durai

Background• Degradation of forests, croplands and rangelands

threatens the livelihoods, wellbeing, food, water, and energy security plus the resilience of millions of people around the world.

• Over two billion hectares of land affected by land degradation: loss of fertile soils, biodiversity and carbon stock.

• More than 1 billion people live in degraded land.

Landscape Restoration: International and National Commitments

Bonn Challenge: Total of 350 Mn hectares by 2030

• AFR 100: African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative:• Initiative 20 X 20: Latin America• Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN): UNCCD• Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) • Aichi Biodiversity Targets.

• Bamboo: 6 Mn hectares commitment from INBAR member states (180, 000 hectares established)

Bamboo – a General Overview1642

KNOWN SPECIES OF BAMBOO

10, 000 USES OF BAMBOO

30 MILLIONHECTARES OF

BAMBOO AROUND WORLD

~USD 60 BnINTERNAL

PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION

USD 2 BnINTERNATIONAL

TRADE

2 BILLION PEOPLE DEPEND

ON BAMBOO

Why bamboo for landscape restoration?

Restoration

Food Security

Biodiversity

Energy Security

Soil and Water

Improved resilience

Livelihoods and Poverty

Gender equalityCommunity and Culture

Bamboo is a miracle cropPanda=Biodiversity; Bamboo=Sustainability

• The most versatile plant of them all• It is 50% tree and 50% grass, has both characteristics• It is a perennial plant that is annual in behaviour, putting out

new poles from the underground rhizome each year. For a farmer it is an annual crop, for the forester it is the perennial tree.

• Bamboo, as a pioneer species, can grow on the poorest soils and ameliorate them. It can also grow on the richest soils.

• On poor soils, it subsists and survives with low production; if fertilized and irrigated as an agricultural crop, bamboo provides the highest biomass yields of all woody plants.

• Bamboo is drought, flood, fire tolerant• Bamboo grows 1.2m a day – the Ferrari of all woody plants

Cutting bamboo does NOT contribute to deforestation(unlike trees)

• Underground rhizome system active.

• Produces new shoots every year without replanting and selective annual

harvesting.

• Harvesting does not result in deforestation or degradation.

Key areas of intervention

• Nurseries for scaling up planting material production

• Plantation for re-greening• Sustainable management and harvesting for

enhancing ecosystem services• Value addition to increase uptake

Nursery

Large Scale Government Nurseries

Women run nurseries Private Nurseries

Individual Farmer NurseriesNGO / Association Nurseries University / Research agency

Bottlenecks and Solutions

Bottlenecks Solutions

Lack of interest Awareness and sensitization; exposure visits; field days

Low scale of production: Lack of quality planting material of required species in required quantity

Vegetative propagation; macro-proliferation

Lack of technical knowledge and capacity Demonstration nursery; training and capacity building

Lack of demand and high cost of production

Demand creation; linking with restoration projects; minimum guarantee for small scale nursery

Restoration or Plantation

Large Scale Forest Restoration

Communal Woodlot Planting Smallholder agro-forestry

Farm Boundary / Shelter belt

Household Bamboo Planting Block Planting: Farm Land

Smallholder bamboo farming clusters

Bottlenecks and SolutionsBottlenecks Solutions

Competing land uses – Shortage of land Homestead; shelter belt planting;Land allocation

Lack of interest among farmer Promote bamboo for sustenance uses and gradually move to commercial uses;Cluster development: Focus on areas where bamboo culture is prevalent

Myths and belief systems Awareness and sensitization events; Demonstration models

Land Tenure, ownership and harvesting: Unclear in forest land and weak implementation.

Focus on farm land with clear land tenure

High expectations on returns Awareness and sensitization; develop value-chain to create demand

Sustainable Management of bamboo

Category Species ManagementState Bamboo Forest Oxytenanthera abyssinica

(major) and Yushania alpina(minor)

Open access in some cases: notmanaged: Over harvested or innatural state (degraded). Poorenforcement

Communal BambooForest

Oxytenanthera abyssinica andYushania alpina

Open access: poorly managed: Overharvested- highly degraded. Poorregulation and/or enforcement

Institutional Bamboo Yushania alpina Managed (Instances of overharvesting)

Private Bamboo Predominantly Yushania alpina Managed (Instances of overharvesting)

• Management of bamboo stands is an integral part of most bamboo forests• Most bamboo resources are located within natural forests without

management

Bottlenecks and SolutionsBottlenecks Solutions

Lack of knowledge on growing habits: Over harvesting and lack of harvesting

Awareness and sensitization; exposure visits

Lack of technical capacity Large scale and smallholder demonstration models; training and capacity building

Frequent fires and diseases poles

Lack of quality poles for industries and enterprises

Age-graded size graded poles by demonstration; Supply-chain development

Land Tenure for management Community Forest Management Groups; Participatory Forest Management; Land Lease agreement; Strategy development

Demand and market development Market places, use for large scale consumption

Wide-Scale Restoration opportunitiesfor increased productivity and

provision of ecosystem services

Source: UNCCD

Case Studies: China

• Over 3 million hectares are planted with bamboo in past four decades

• Majority of bamboo are found in natural forests. However, majority of bamboo forests are managed by communities and private sector

• Majority of bamboo planted belong to one species.

• Incentives in form of land tenure (harvesting right, incentives for planting, loans, infrastructure, extension support, etc are provided.

• USD 36 billion economy; jobs to 10 million people

India• 1466 nurseries and 3 tissue culture units• Plantation (forest area): 264714 hectares; Plantation

(non-forest area): 145, 465 hectares; Improvement of existing stock: 106, 405 hectares: Total: 516, 584 hectare

• Productivity is low: average of about 1 ton per hectare. • Over 80 percent of bamboo in forest control and are

not managed• Shortlisted 10 Important commercial species• Incentives in form of subsidy is provided.• Bamboo sector in pre-industrial stage; not robust

supply chain and industry.

Key Approach

Focus on Mass Consumption products for Masses:

Plan as per stage of development• Bamboo for Pulp and Paper• Bamboo Timber substitute products• Bamboo energy products: Solid and liquid fueld• Bamboo Shoot • Incense sticks• Match sticks• Agriculture and Horticulture Packaging Materials

(Fruits, Vegetables, Spices, Tea, Coffee, Fishery) • Bamboo Furniture• Bamboo Energy Products: solid and liquid fuels

No Silver Bullet:• Demand Creation: Initial market pull• Policies, strategies and plans (Investment and

incentives): Converge resources across value chain• Create mechanisms for additional incomes (PES, carbon

credits, REDD+)• Cluster based Species Specific resource development +

Sustainable management + on-farm processing• Coherent Planning – Resource to End User• Demonstration model- Successful enterprises in

focused clusters• Optmise product structures – increase utilization rates • Innovation as per market preferences• Create overall enabling environment

Engineer bamboo planting for ecosystem services and livelihood development

Thank you