Bamboo musings

FOUR hundred enthusiasts from all overthe world hailed bamboo as "regenerable steel and degradable plastic" at therecently concluded 4th InternationalBamboo Congress held from July 19-22,1995, at Bali, Indonesia. The participants gathered at the Agung RaiMuseum of Arts which housed the academic activities of the Congress.

The Congress was organised by theInternational Development ResearchCentre, Canada, and the InternationalFund for Agricultural Developmentwhich jointly formed the InternationalNetwork for Bamboo and Rattan in1993, have been working for the cause ofbamboo since the early 80s.

The, other collaborator of this project was International Bamboo Association, formed in 1992, with 86 memberorganisations in 35 countries. Besides,Environmental Bamboo Foundation, aBali-b@sed international non-profitOrganisation was joined by the environment and tourism ministries of theGovernment of Indonesia to organisethe 4th International Bamboo Congress.

The highlight of the Congress wasthe 5th International Bamboo ResearchWorkshop, earlier ones being held inChina (1985), India (1988), Japan(1990) and Thailand (1994). TheCongress covered topics like environment and bamboo cultivation; role ofbamboo in development; biodiversity,genetic resources and conservation ofbamboo; bamboo harvesting; bamboousage in the chemical industry and tissue culture of bamboo.

Of recent, the bamboo artisan'sproduct range has been shrinking due toa boom in non-traditional materialproducts. But bamboo may be combined with eco-friendly materials likeleather and textile for manufacturingmodern products. In India, bamboonow seems viable for structures bigand small, permanent or temporaryalike, in preference to energy consuming alternatives.

The Congress felt that to fully tapbamboo's potentials, support would berequired from the area of science andtechnology, designing, afforestation andagro-forestry, production and marketing, training and education and as wellas state policies.