*DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA*
Bamboo, a plant not often associated with Africa, may be the key to
combating soil degradation and massive deforestation on the continent as an
alternative source of energy.
A partnership among African nations and communities, the International
Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) and China are working to substitute
bamboo charcoal and firewood for forest wood on which 80 percent of the
rural population in sub-Saharan Africa depends for its fuel needs.
Initial successes with bamboo charcoal in Ethiopia and Ghana, which have
put bamboo biomass at the center of renewable energy policies, are spurring
interest in countries across the continent and prompting calls for greater
investment in bamboo-based charcoal production as a ‘green biofuel’ that
can fight deforestation and mitigate climate change.
“Bamboo, the perfect biomass grass, grows naturally across Africa and
presents a viable, cleaner and sustainable alternative to wood fuel,” said
Dr. J. Coosje Hoogendoorn, Director General of INBAR at a side event at
UNFCCC COP17 in Durban today. “Without such an alternative, wood charcoal
will remain the primary household energy source for decades to come—with
disastrous consequences.”
Burning wood also has a significant impact on the climate. Scientists
predict that the burning of wood fuel by African households will release
the equivalent of 6.7 billion tonnes of greenhouse gasses into the
atmosphere by 2050, resulting in further climate change through clearing of
tropical forests.
In terms of health, the burning of fuel wood claims the lives of an
estimated 2 million people every year—mostly women and children—who inhale
the smoke. Continued widespread indoor use of forest wood charcoal as a
household fuel could cause 10 million premature deaths by 2030.
INBAR’s *Bamboo as Sustainable Biomass Energy* initiative is the first to
transfer bamboo charcoal technologies from China to sub-Saharan Africa to
produce sustainable ‘green biofuels’ using locally available bamboo
resources. Driven by growing concerns about energy, health and food
security, and climate change, the initiative is funded by the European
Union (EU) and the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC).
*Saving Forests, Mitigating Climate Change
*
It takes seven to ten tons of raw wood to produce one ton of wood charcoal,
making wood fuel collection an important driver of deforestation on a
continent of nearly one billion people who have few alternative fuel
sources.
“Ensuring food security in a changing climate is one of the major
challenges of our era. It is well known that the destruction of forests has
negative repercussions on livelihoods and sustainable agriculture as it
feeds into a cycle of climate change, drought and poverty,” said Dr.
Patrick Verkooijen, Head Agriculture and Climate Change of the World Bank.
“Feeding people in decades to come will require ingenuity and innovation to
produce more food on less land in more sustainable ways”.
Indeed, scientists believe that deforestation across the Horn of Africa has
contributed to pervasive drought in the region. Years of tree-clearing,
particularly in hard-hit Somalia, have eliminated fragile forests that
stood as the last line of defense against the conversion of sparsely
forested dry lands and pastures into useless desert, according to
researchers from the Consultative Group on International Agricultural
Research (CGIAR).
The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that if business continues
as usual, by 2030 biomass energy in sub-Saharan Africa will still account
for about three-quarters of total residential energy, underscoring the
urgency of coming up with a sustainable alternative biomass to replace
wood.
Sub-Saharan Africa has over 2.75 million hectares of bamboo forest,
equivalent to roughly 4 percent of the continent’s total forest cover.
“Rural communities need access to sustainable approaches that will keep
trees in the ground and the environment safe,” said Professor Karanja M.
Njoroge, Executive Director, Green Belt Movement. “Bamboo grows naturally
across Africa’s diverse landscapes, but unlike trees, it regrows after
harvest and lends itself very well for energy plantations on degraded
lands. We should put it to good use to provide clean energy for the
continent.”
“With further investment and policy reform, community kiln technologies
could be up-scaled to reach thousands of communities in Ethiopia,” said
Melaku Tadesse, National Coordinator for Climate Change Unit at Ethiopia’s
Ministry of Agriculture. A number of African countries are pressing for
development of their own bamboo charcoal industries to provide sustainable,
affordable energy for growing populations.
*Harnessing the Perfect Biomass Grass
*Bamboo is one of the fastest-growing plants on the planet and produces
large amounts of biomass, making it an ideal energy source. Tropical
bamboos can be harvested after just three years, rather than the two to six
decades needed to generate a timber forest.
The entire bamboo plant, including the stem, branch and its rhizome, can be
used to produce charcoal, making it highly resource-efficient, with limited
wastage. Its high heating value also makes it an efficient fuel.
Charcoal is made through the controlled burning of bamboo in kilns, whether
traditional, metal, or brick. The technology is being adapted to produce
larger quantities of charcoal to serve a larger number of rural and urban
communities as well as to produce bamboo charcoal briquettes that are ideal
for cooking because they burn longer and produce less smoke and air
pollution than ‘natural’ charcoal.
China is a global leader in the production and use of bamboo charcoal. The
sector is worth an estimated 1 USD billion a year and employs over 60,000
people in more than 1,000 businesses. Chinese partners, including the
Nanjing Forestry University and WENZHAO Bamboo Charcoal Co., are helping to
adapt equipment like brick kilns, grinders and briquette machines, and hand
tools, for bamboo charcoal and briquette production using local materials.
Building on this momentum, the INBAR initiative is now transferring China’s
advanced bamboo charcoal technologies to sub-Saharan Africa.
In addition to charcoal, bamboo offers many new opportunities for income
generation. It can be processed into a vast range of wood products, from
floorboards to furniture and from charcoal to edible shoots. The world
bamboo export was estimated at 1.6 USD billion in 2009, a decline of about
659 USD million from 2.2 USD billion 2008.
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*About the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR)*
INBAR is an intergovernmental organization dedicated to reducing poverty,
conserving the environment and creating fairer trade using bamboo and
rattan. INBAR was established in 1997 and represents a growing number of
member countries all over the world. Headquarters are in China with
regional offices in Ghana, Ethiopia, India and Ecuador. INBAR connects a
global network of governmental, non-governmental, corporate and community
partners in over 50 countries. For more information, go to www.inbar.int