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