IN AN earnest desire of the provincial leaders to significantly reduce the demand for wood and wood products, the province of Negros Occidental led by Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. encouraged everyone to promote the use bamboo as an effective product substitute to wood to protect our trees, forest and ecosystem.
Capitol consultant and former governor Rafael Coscolluela yesterday encouraged local bamboo growers and manufacturers to help the province on in its diversification efforts in view of making bamboo as a growing industry in the province.
He said several years ago, the province started an initiative to promote bamboo as construction materials which can equally replace the use of wood, a deterrent to the continuous cutting of trees in our forests.
It has in fact established a Bamboo Village at Panaad Park in Barangay Mansilingan to promote the use of bamboo, train people on how to become bamboo growers and manufacturers using creative designs fitting with the use of bamboo.
Marañon tapped Tumandok Crafts Industries and Philippine Design Development Center (PDCC) through its Regional Designer in presenting their "Asian Wood,” which is a collection of furniture, home decors, and accessories, luminaries and gifts using bamboo as the primary material. For years, bamboo is considered as a poor man's lumber, he said.
Carlos Lanuza, PDDC regional designer, said in a statement that traditionally, our culture recognizes that using wood is a sign of affluence and as people in our island become more affluent, the demand for wood-based products has been on the increasing trend.
To reduce wood product demand and to save thousands of trees now growing on the entire island including the Negros forest considered as the “lungs” of Negros Island, we must find a way to protect our trees, our forest, and our ecosystem, he said.
“In this product presentation, we have combined the skilled traditional bamboo craftsmen of the island, contemporary design ideas using modern machineries for bamboo processing and modern technology to come up with almost customized and one of a kind product made from bamboo,” Lanuza said.
Moreover, Coscolluela said the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Science and Technology served as partners of the provincial government in making bamboo as a growing industry in the province.
There is a modern technology that ensures the quality and durability of bamboo with the use of proper bamboo treatments and technology, he said.