IN A BID to help mitigate the effects of the climate change in the country, bamboos are being eyed inclusion in the country’s national greening program.
At least one million hectares of bamboo are being pushed by the Water Resources Research Center (WWRRC) to be planted nationwide in the next six years within the critical watersheds in the country. WWRRC Center Director Carlos Arida Sr. during a press briefer Wednesday said aside from the mitigating the effects of climate change, this will also help provide livelihood to families all over the country.
“Bamboos have good economic potentials for poor families who can start out a business out of bamboo crafts,” Arida said.
Arida said with the abundance of bamboo, rehabilitation of denuded forests and grasslands within the different watersheds in the country will be among the priorities to avert possible water crises in the near future.
Bamboo's impact on the environment, according to Arida, sequesters 400 percent more CO2 from the air and generates up to 35 percent more oxygen compared with other trees.
While this will have to be implemented, Philippine Bamboo Foundation president Edgardo Manda said aside from helping mitigate effects of climate change in the country, bamboo can also serve as an alternate livelihood for Benguet farmers engaged in vegetable farming.
"We urge our local farmers to have bamboo as an alternate crop because of its many use and this will give them extra income," added Manda.
Considered by local forest scientists as "poor man's lumber," bamboo provides livelihood for about 1.5 billion people worldwide.
Currently, the Philippines ranks as the sixth biggest exporter of bamboo products in the world, mainly exporting to Europe, North America, Mexico, Canada, China, Singapore, South Korea, and Australia.
Locally, the demand for bamboo is expected to rise following the depletion of timber resources and the strict implementation of Executive Order No. 23, which bans logging in natural forests.