blue moon fund

Bamboo is a perennial evergreen grass grown around the world, most notably in Asia. Bamboo is the largest of the grass family, and one of the fastest growing plants in the world. As human demand for fiber increases, biodiversity around the globe is threatened. Fiber demands include wood for building materials, pulp paper, and local and industrial scale energy production. We consider bamboo as an alternative fiber that may significantly reduce production pressure on old growth forest and habitat.

Both previous to and since the founding of blue moon fund we have supported projects around the world that investigated using bamboo with modern processing technology to replace the demand for wood. Our primary focus has been the need for construction materials, especially wood board. Because of its rapid growing properties and structure, bamboo can easily be processed and treated to replace boards, beams, and plywood traditionally made from old growth forest. The bamboo composite wood industry is well developed in China and India, and blue moon fund has supported organizations that work to capitalize on and scale up this success.

Currently, bamboo products are primarily used for some furniture, flooring and finish materials. blue moon fund supported technical demonstrations of bamboo wood being used for primary construction. These projects include a large single family home, a pedestrian bridge, and the first freight truck rated bridge in China. These projects all showcase the durability and versatility of composite bamboo as a construction material.

Another blue moon fund supported project provided bamboo modular housing for disaster relief following the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. These modular bamboo structures delivered one hundred classrooms and offices to schools within six months of the disaster. These structures were cost effective, earthquake proof, and did not have the environmental health dangers associated with other disaster relief shelters such as tents or trailers. Earthquake resistant housing structures made of bamboo have been successfully demonstrated in China, Nepal, and India and blue moon fund grantee INBAR (International Network for Bamboo and Rattan) has been developing standards and business models for these products and structures. Bamboo housing is still in the early stage of development as consumer attitudes need to be addressed in order for bamboo composite wood to gain acceptance as alternative to traditional woods. Further development of technical standards and building code will allow bamboo to enter the housing market in a more meaningful way.

One area in which bamboo woods and housing has tremendous market potential is in the tropical American countries. Successful business models introduced from India and China model could lead to a significant reduction of loss of tropical hardwood forests. Bamboo industries, in Asia and Latin America, can be directly financially beneficial to poor mountainous communities by providing sustainable material in large quantities for local construction and international marketing. INBAR also produced a blue moon fund sponsored workshop on the linkage between earthquake resistant housing for Sichuan, China and Peru.

Bamboo is a sustainable and multi-purpose resource that can be cultivated throughout the world. blue moon fund has been at the forefront of supporting innovative uses and deployments of this fascinating plant. Residues from the bamboo wood industry and waste biomass from other bamboo uses have also been investigated at the Bamboo Research Center of the State Forestry Administration of China, for their use in biochar. Bamboo is a sustainable and flexible resource that has applications around the world that contribute to biodiversity protection and climate change mitigation.