Foundation promotes use of bamboo

Foundation promotes use of bamboo

DENPASAR (JP): A brick structure is a shattered ruin, but the adjacent bamboo structure stand as a modest survivor of the 1992 earthquake in Flores. The juxtaposition has revealed the tremendous potential of bamboo to Linda Garland.

"As the world's population expands and resources diminish, nature has offered us some solutions in her miracle plants. It would be irresponsible to ignore them," reminds Linda, who established the Environmental Bamboo Foundation (EBF) in 1990. The foundation's mandate is to "incorporate a multidisciplinary approach to developing bamboo as an environmentally-responsible non-wood forest resource for the ecological, social and economic benefit of Indonesia and planet earth."

The foundation is involved in a variety of activities. It supports research and data collection to prioritize areas of investigation, including the identification of the most useful species of tropical bamboo. It also plans to survey traditional bamboo knowledge among the tribal communities of the world. Although the research is not done at the EBF, the foundation has a small but growing library cataloged with hundreds of books and monographs on many aspects of bamboo. It hopes to build global awareness of the advantages of bamboo over wood to shift market dependence on vanishing tree species.

The EBF also maintains a nursery on two hectares of Garland's vast private estate in Ubud, Bali. The nursery contains approximately 80 species of bamboo representing the gene pool of some of Indonesia's rarest bamboo germplasm. They were a gift from Dr. Elizabeth Widjaja, a researcher in bamboo taxonomy, to the EBF.

In addition, Garland has established a design center to allow other designers to develop prototypes of bamboo products to help encourage the use of bamboo as an aesthetic alternative to timber resources.

The EBF hopes to stimulate innovative research and dialogue among scientists and local manufacturers. In collaboration with the Indonesian Institute of Sciences and the Center for International Forestry Research, the EBF organized a scientific forum on bamboo last June. Seventy Indonesian scientists and bamboo practitioners gathered to discuss the future of bamboo in Indonesia.

Garland's foundation has also provided special training programs in nursery management, propagation, planting, harvesting, pest control, processing, fabrication and marketing. Indonesia's first bamboo training center is scheduled to be completed this year. It will be in Penglipuran, Central Bali and will included classrooms, treatment and production facilities, living areas and administrative offices. The center is jointly funded by the Earth Love Fund, the Bangli regency administration and the EBF.

At the center, 25 selected trainer-trainees from all over Indonesia will learn everything from forest management to production. The U.S. Agency for International Development will fund the year-long training program. Additional funds have also been received from the Australian International Development Assistance Program's Indonesia-Australia Small Activities Scheme. These funds will go to organizing bamboo training facilities to complement the larger program.

After two years of research, the EBF has successfully modified the Boucherie treatment against powder-post beetle. The research was funded by EBF president and founder, Linda Garland, with additional project support from Aid-to-Artisans, a private U.S. foundation. Leadership was provided by EBF trustee, Dr. Walter Liese from the University of Hamburg.

The beginning

The fact that bamboo dances instead of collapsing during earthquakes, has convinced the EBF to provide immediate technical assistance to the earthquake-stricken inhabitants of Flores. The modified Boucherie treatment process will allow the inhabitants to begin treating freshly cut bamboo as low-cost building material. This is the beginning of what will be a long term commitment from the EBF and Indonesian NGOs to undertake the reconstruction of the thousands of the homes destroyed during the earthquake. It has completed two bamboo treatment machines and trained Maumere locals how to use the technology. This field training was given by EBF staff in Maumere in a project funded by the YASPEM, a foundation in Flores.

The program, which makes use of local resources to redevelop as well as develop the island, has been keenly accepted by Nusa Tenggara Timur administrators. The possibility of including a pilot project, employing bamboo for earthquake resistant construction, in the Flores Earthquake Reconstruction Project is being discussed by officials at the World Bank.

In terms of conservation and agroforestry, the foundation is involved in watershed rehabilitation and protection projects. It has also organized programs to encourage and facilitate income- generating industries at the village level by intercropping bamboo with other plant species.

The EBF is currently preparing to host thousands of researchers, associates and friends at the Fourth International Bamboo Congress which is planned for June 19 to 22, 1995 in Ubud, Bali.

"Our first goal is to put people in touch with information concerning bamboo, a miracle plant indeed, and how at the very source of supply the bamboo industry and technology must show its responsibility in the way it conducts business at the village level," noted Linda.

Recognition

With trustees like Emil Salim, former minister of the environment, Trisura Suhardi, Director General of Small Industries, Dr. Elizabeth Widjaja, minister of Industry, Dr. Suryono Surjokusumo, a professor of wood technology at the Bogor Agricultural Institute, Dr. Walter Liese, a renown wood and bamboo preservation scientist from the University of Hamburg, Dr. Nono Anwar Makarim, a prominent attorney in Jakarta, Ms Gabriella Teggia, the visionary behind the acclaimed Amandari Resort Complex in Ubud, and many other influential people, the EBF is gaining national as well as worldwide recognition.

The EBF has two sister chapters: the International Bamboo Foundation, a nonprofit organization chartered in the United States, and the Environmental Bamboo Foundation of Holland, which seeks European funding for the EBF. A third chapter will be formed in Australia this year. The EBF also communicates with the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR), New Delhi, the International Bamboo Foundation of America, the European Bamboo Society, the International Tropical Timber Organization in Tokyo as well as hundreds of other bodies and thousands of correspondents. Its network includes bamboo scientists, government ministries and officials, development assistance providers, universities, designers, architects, artists and musicians.

Major scientists, bamboo authorities and other people interested in the future of bamboo have committed themselves to attend the conference. United Nations Environmental Program Executive Director, Noel Brown has offered to co-sponsor the event and be a keynote speaker. Paul Hawkins, businessman and author of Ecology of Commerce, will also be speak. Megatrends author, John Naisbitt, intends to include the potential role of bamboo in his forthcoming Megatrends Asia, and is also expected to speak at the conference. A bamboo trade show will exhibit recent developments in bamboo products. Musicians, including the Grateful Dead, Peter Gabriel and bamboo musicians from around Indonesia will enliven the events with a Bamboo Music Festival.

-- Amir Sidharta