November 25, 2024
From WBO President Michel Abadie
Chiang Maï sketch
Being in Chiang Maï after so many years was a bit strange for me. Changmaï has become the second city of Thailand, a huge noisy place full of tourists. Like everywhere in Asia. The purpose of the event there was to celebrate the 15th anniversary of World Bamboo Day. Organized by the former WBO president, Kamesh Salam, the meeting was held (Sept 18-21, 2024) in the Chiang Mai University Faculty of Architecture, with at the same time a very active bamboo workshop for students. For me it was the opportunity to present the newly launched WBO website done with the strong development work of WBO Ambassador Memo Mortera and to talk about the future of bamboo. But for me, the most important moment of the meeting was the evening event organized by architect and World Bamboo Ambassador Markus Roselieb at his fantastic Panyaden school, an amazing bamboo-bundle cathedral build in the vicinity of the city. There we discovered the spirit and the building intention from an important architect of the bamboo world. A lesson for everyone who wanted to use bamboo for creating a building. A strange international resonance with the meeting on the same topic held in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, last June. From our Congress, meetings, symposiums to workshops…we see that building with bamboo is for the young generation a fundamental move to a natural resource. An escape? I would prefer a new conscience growing.
Sincerely, Michel Abadie
Inside Panyaden School on World Bamboo Day 2024. Pic by Michel Abadie
13th World Bamboo Congress in Brazil? We hope so!
In just a few days, Michel, Delphine and I will travel to several locations in Brazil to meet with World Bamboo Ambassadors Guilherme Korte, Anelizabete Teixeira and Eufran Amaral for meetings focused on planning the next WBC in Brazil in 2025 or 2026. Our first stop is in Serra Grande in southern Bahia state for the workshop, the IV Jornado do Bambu hosted by Avalon Sol.
From there, we will travel to Brasilia to meet Anelizabete for meetings with the RBB (Brazilian Bamboo Network) and the agricultural institution, Embrapa. These meetings will determine the level of support we can expect for hosting the WBC. To gain even better insight into the potential of bamboo within the Amazon basin, we will continue our travel to Acre to visit a project site of Guilherme Korte.
Some of you may remember our plans for a WBC in Rio de Janeiro in 2007...unfortunately the support fell through and the event was cancelled. We feel optimistic we can bring the WBC to Brazil soon, to help promote and realize the National Policy for bamboo cultivation and industry. The National Policy to Encourage the Sustainable Management and Cultivation of Bamboo, defined thirteen years ago by Law 12,484 of 8 September 2011, has yet to be regulated. In the meantime, Brazil has become a member of INBAR (2017). We hope by bringing global attention to investment opportunities and project collaborations, bamboo in Brazil will help mitigate climate change, increase economic value in bamboo cultivation and utilization and of course, alleviate poverty. Stay tuned!
~Susanne Lucas, Executive Director
National flag of Brazil.
Bamboo Shoot Superfood for Nutrition, Health and Medicine book to be translated into Spanish!
This incredibly important book by World Bamboo Ambassador Nirmala Chongtham and Madho Singh Bisht of Panjab University, originally published in 2020, will soon be available in the Spanish language, thanks to funding provided by WBO. World Bamboo Ambassador Guillermo Mortera is leading the translation, with help coming from Ambassadors Mauricio Mora Tello and Ximena Londoño!
Based on 18 years of research, Bamboo Shoot: Superfood for Nutrition, Health and Medicine details health-promoting bioactive compounds found in bamboo and offers practical guidance on how this vegetable, bamboo shoot, is used for food fortification. Already a delicacy in many Asian countries, bamboo shoots aid in the prevention of cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, hypertension and obesity. Exploring the tradition and culture of bamboo in Asian countries, this book also provides information on the science behind the nutritional value of bamboo shoots.
Written by individuals with expertise in bamboo shoot nutrition and fully illustrated in color, this book reveals the antioxidant activity of bamboo shoots and discusses the potential for bamboo to be used as an ingredient in functional foods and nutraceuticals. This highly practical book discusses processing and packaging of shoots for long term storage and using bamboo in the development of novel food products.
Having this valuable resource in the Spanish language will open new opportunities for cultivating bamboo for food and medicine across the Spanish-speaking world!
Insights Forum 2024: From Roots to Revenue: Securing Finance and Climate Solutions Through Agroforestry—The
Case of Bamboo
Last month I had the opportunity to attend this seminar held in Singapore led by the Asian Development Bank. Thanks to meeting Thomas Kessler and Hans Woldring of ADB at the WBC in Taiwan, we are working together to expand the impact of WBO to a larger audience of people in finance with little knowledge of the benefits of bamboo, and the ways in which bamboo is a nature-based solution to climate change. WBO Ambassador Luis Felipe Lopez was at the event on behalf of Base Bahay, as was Russell Smith, CEO of Rizome, Harriet Rudd of EcoPlanetBamboo, and Marc Peeters of BambuNusaVerde. Discussions at this event left me hopeful that investments in bamboo projects will come soon and become a more common reality. Cultivating bamboo can give the planet more resilience against the increasing temperatures and catastrophes damaging all life on earth.
Let me take this opportunity to extend my personal gratitude to all of you out there who believe in bamboo. Yes, bamboo can make a difference. Yes, you can make a difference. Together we must #keepbamboostrong!
Please take a look at our new website and if you can, please consider a donation to help the World Bamboo Organization continue on the path of promoting bamboo globally for the benefit of all living things on this planet.
Help us make a difference today!
Sincerely, Susanne Lucas - Executive Director
Thomas Kessler and I, In the Bambusetum at the Singapore Botanical Gardens.
