From a grove of towering bamboo stems, Ugandan businessman Koojo Charles Amooti points across the valley to an urgent environmental problem that this fast-growing plant is helping to address.
"Look over there, the land is degraded. But look over here the land where we planted bamboo is rejuvenated, he said. But also, the land below where we have the bamboo is green and lush, and there is no evidence of soil erosion."
Bamboo is emerging as a useful species in the growing push to protect and restore ecosystems around the world, while also helping to soak up carbon to combat climate change and create jobs that advance sustainable development.
Restoration works best when both people and nature profit tangibly from the careful management of our precious natural resources, said Natalia Alekseeva of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). As a valuable crop and a powerful tool for managing the land, indigenous bamboo ticks all the boxes.
More than 1,600 species of bamboo technically a grass, not a tree grow naturally across tropical and warm temperate areas of Africa, the Americas and Asia. Bamboos mechanical strength and light weight have made it a traditional material for construction, handicrafts and an alternative to plastic, while protein-rich bamboo shoots are food for both people and wildlife.
For centuries, bamboo has also been used for erosion control, particularly in Asia. With extensive root systems, the species help stabilize soil, especially in sloping or flood-prone areas. Now, more eyes are turning toward bamboos benefits as a promising tool not only for preventing but also for reversing land degradation all while supporting business ingenuity and economic growth.
Bamboos virtues
Amooti is the energetic founder and chief executive of Kontiki Bamboo Works Ltd, a bamboo-processing company in Hoima, Western Uganda. The company has worked closely with the International Bamboo and Rattan Organization (INBAR) to develop its pro-poor business models and promote bamboo at home and abroad.
UNEP and the UNs Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recently recognized the wider INBAR-led initiative as a UN World Restoration Flagship under the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.
The initiative, "Bamboo-Based Restoration in the Global South", promotes South-South exchange, including by transferring know-how from Asian countries with more bamboo experience to countries in Africa and Latin America where the sector is still growing.
Among other activities, INBAR and its partners have held workshops bringing together groups including government officials, local chiefs, companies, farmers, researchers, and community members, and developed knowledge products such as case studies and factsheets. The aim is to build skills in areas including bamboo cultivation and sustainable land management and spread awareness of bamboos dual commercial and environmental promise.
According to INBAR, 200,000 hectares worldwide have already been brought under restoration with bamboo in countries including Cameroon, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Peru, Sri Lanka, Uganda and Viet Nam. It aims to raise that total to 500,000 hectares by 2030.
Building a pro-poor value chain
Uganda is one place where bamboo is increasingly seen as an answer to deforestation.
According to Stuart Maniraguha from Ugandas Ministry of Water and Environment (MWE), the countrys forest cover shrank from 24 percent in 1990 to 12.7 percent in 2023, driven by demand for farmland and wood fuel from a rising population.
Under a wider restoration drive, the government is implementing a bamboo action plan that includes growing millions of bamboo seedlings in nurseries and training farmers including women and youth to manage them. So far, 2,800 hectares of bamboo have been planted by some 2,500 smallholders, Maniraguha said.
Bamboo has been introduced into forestry school curricula, where students learn of how its rapid growth and dense root systems quickly soak up climate-warming carbon while stabilizing and enriching degraded soils.
Farmers can integrate bamboo into agroforestry systems where it can be harvested in just a few years, providing a quicker return than many tree species.
The world is very much blessed that we have this resource, Maniraguha said, forecasting that a thriving bamboo sector can also create thousands of jobs in Uganda. It is up to us to realize its importance and harness it.
Green fuel
Bamboo is sometimes stigmatized in Africa for being worthless compared to the continents precious hardwoods, but because of its quick growth, strength and versatility, its now gaining momentum as a business-driver.
Divine Bamboo Group Ltd ., a company based in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, is incorporating sustainably produced bamboo into briquettes marketed as a cooking fuel cleaner and cheaper than deforestation-driving charcoal.
The company has trialled more than 20 types of bamboo species before focusing on a few local species plus an exotic but non-invasive variety of giant bamboo from China, chief executive Divine Nabaweesi said.
Customers see that the new fuel, which also includes agricultural waste, lasts longer, saving them money, and are pleased to contribute to protecting Ugandas forests, said Nabaweesi, whose company also sells bamboo seedlings to farmers and urban households.
To develop the bamboo value chain further, INBAR has supported exchanges among governments and companies on topics such as technology to process bamboo, product standards and how to use bamboo in product design.
The lessons learned have helped Kontiki Bamboo Works fill its showroom in Hoima with 75 different products from toothpicks, flooring tiles and biochar soil enhancer to a range of chunky round-pole furniture. The showroom is important in persuading farmers that there is a market for bamboo and helping the company meet rising demand.
Nabaweesi said awareness of bamboos value has grown to the point that some seedlings are stolen from the nurseries under cover of darkness.
"It's nice to know you are contributing to the planet, you're helping to fight climate change, you're contributing to the development of the country, you're helping youth, you're helping women, she said. That gives me purpose."
About the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration
The UN General Assembly has declared 20212030 a UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. Led by the UN Environment Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, together with the support of partners, it is designed to prevent, halt, and reverse the loss and degradation of ecosystems worldwide. It aims at reviving billions of hectares, covering terrestrial as well as aquatic ecosystems. A global call to action, the UN Decade draws together political support, scientific research, and financial muscle to massively scale up restoration.
About the UN World Restoration Flagships
Countries have already promised to restore1 billion hectares an area larger than China as part of their commitments to theParis climate agreement, the targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, theLand Degradation Neutrality targets and theBonn Challenge. However, little is known about the progress or quality of this restoration. With the World Restoration Flagships, the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration is honouring the best examples of large-scale and long-term ecosystem restoration in any country or region, embodying the 10 Restoration Principles of the UN Decade.Progress of all World Restoration Flagships will be transparently monitored through the Framework for Ecosystem Restoration Monitoring, the UN Decades platform for keeping track of global restoration efforts.
Written by Stephen Graham
Reviewed by Ann-Kathrin Neureuther, Borja de la Pena Escardo (INBAR)
