{"id":68212,"date":"2020-10-29T16:24:30","date_gmt":"2020-10-29T16:24:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chinadialogue.net\/?p=68212"},"modified":"2021-02-15T10:04:18","modified_gmt":"2021-02-15T10:04:18","slug":"fighting-climate-change-with-bamboo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/fighting-climate-change-with-bamboo\/","title":{"rendered":"Fighting climate change with bamboo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

They are synonymous with the giant panda, and a ubiquitous part of life and culture across much of the south. China\u2019s bamboo forests \u2013 all 6.8 million hectares of them \u2013 could also play an outsized role in the country\u2019s plans to check climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fast-growing, versatile and able to thrive on sloping, degraded soils, giant bamboos have long been considered a valuable source of income \u2013 sometimes called \u201cpoor man\u2019s timber\u201d \u2013 as well as an important tool for stabilising slopes and preventing soil erosion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More recently, bamboo has gained attention alongside tree-planting for its potential role in removing large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which would contribute to keeping global warming below 1.5C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A fast-growing super grass<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Bamboo can help China curb greenhouse gas emissions in two ways: through its forests, which act as giant carbon sinks, and its durable products, which store carbon and can serve as a replacement for timber, concrete and steel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The secret to bamboo\u2019s success is that it\u2019s a grass not a tree. It grows fast and accumulates carbon quickly, with an extensive root system that survives annual harvesting. This makes bamboo a fast-regenerating resource, which can supply more biomass than both natural and planted forests. Once mature, bamboo poles can be selectively harvested every year, and used to make a wide range of durable products, which lock in carbon for the duration of a product\u2019s lifespan. This high yield makes bamboo a surprisingly effective carbon sink and important nature-based approach to mitigating global warming. One study<\/a> estimates that a one-hectare plantation of bamboo and its products could store 306 tonnes of carbon over a 60-year period compared with 178 tonnes for Chinese fir trees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Carbon accumulation: managed moso bamboo versus Chinese fir<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Modelled carbon accumulation of newly established, regularly harvested moso bamboo and Chinese fir plantations within 60 years. Source: Kuehl et. al. (2013)<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Because of its usefulness as a source of rural income and significant ability to restore degraded land<\/a>, China\u2019s southern provinces have been planting bamboo for decades: forest cover has increased from around three and a half million hectares in 1986, to almost seven million today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, these bamboo afforestation initiatives can be recognised in voluntary carbon offset programmes in China. As far back as 2009, internet retail giant Alibaba bought offsets for some 50 hectares of bamboo planted in Lin\u2019an county of Zhejiang province. Since then, researchers at Zhejiang A&F University (ZAFU) and the International Bamboo and Rattan Organisation (INBAR) have developed a methodology to make it easier for farmers and enterprises to receive carbon credits for planting bamboo. This has been recognised by China\u2019s macroeconomic planning body, the National Development and Reform Commission, as a \u201ckey energy-saving and low-carbon technology\u201d, and is widely applied. In Zhejiang alone, some 27,000 hectares of recently planted bamboo forests have produced 5.4 million certified carbon credits so far, and new afforestation projects are getting off the ground in Hubei and Fujian provinces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Green steel\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As well as storing carbon, bamboo products can \u201cavoid\u201d the carbon produced by more emissions-intensive materials. Research conducted on European industrial bamboo products, such as cladding, flooring and beams, has shown that they have a low or even negative eco-cost<\/a>, over the course of their lifecycle, outperforming even hardwoods certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, and can be used as replacements for steel and cement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China has already built a booming industry out of bamboo. Since a nationwide logging ban of certain forests came into effect in 1998, companies have been using the plant as a substitute for timber<\/a>. Today, engineered bamboo, which has been processed to create a uniform, straight-edged material, is used to make everything from flooring to railway sleepers and manhole covers. At a 2017 forum on the Belt and Road Initiative, a private company from Zhejiang province displayed a bamboo material strong enough to build storm-drainage pipes and shock-resistant exteriors for bullet-train carriages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These durable products are \u201ccritical\u201d to realising bamboo\u2019s carbon storage potential, according to researcher Pablo van der Lugt: \u201cAs the interest in a biobased, low-carbon economy grows, we are seeing new opportunities open up for engineered bamboo products to substitute high-carbon, abiotic alternatives \u2013 and not just for architectural solutions indoors and outdoors, but also new heavy-duty applications.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n