Hola MaHigh-School - October 2020

Page 34

Bamboo in Africa Are bamboo plants a significant part of the bioeconomy? A bioeconomy as defined by EU, comprises of those parts of the economy that use renewable biological resources from land and sea – such as crops, forest, animals, and micro-organisms – to produce food, materials and energy. It is clear that from this definition that plants are included. To be more particular, the bamboo plant is popularly referenced. In fact, Bamboo is a name for over 1,400 species of giant grasses in 115 different genera. All bamboos have wood-like stems. Bamboo can grow anywhere. And that is where the challenges are. Bamboo is one of the fastest-growing plants on Earth, which can be up to 1 m in a day. However, the growth rate is dependent on local soil and climatic conditions, as well as species. A more typical growth rate for many commonly cultivated bamboos in temperate climates is in the range of 3–10 centimetres per day during the growing period. With this information, an initiative called AFR-100 spearheaded and led by African Nations aims to use Bamboo plants to achieve landscape restoration. Reason being that the integration of bamboo plants in these degraded lands is expected to be a tool for positive economic development while reversing environmental degradation and climate change across the continent. Although bamboos are successful in reversing environmental


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