Cooperation with China fuels Ethiopia's ambition to harness untapped bamboo resources

ADDIS ABABA -- Despite possessing the largest bamboo resources in Africa, Ethiopia has struggled for years to manage and utilize this valuable asset effectively. Recent collaborations with China and other international partners, however, are now empowering the country to better leverage its abundant bamboo resources, offering a promising boost to its sustainable development initiatives.

BAMBOO WEALTH: CHANCES AND CHALLENGES

Ethiopia boasts Africa's largest bamboo resources, with an estimated 1.47 million hectares of bamboo forests, accounting for about 60 percent of the African continent's total bamboo area. The potential for increasing the resource base could reach 3.5 million hectares, according to data from the Ethiopian Forestry Development.

Although the East African country's abundant bamboo resources hold immense potential for the country's socioeconomic and ecological development, the sector remains underutilized and largely confined to traditional processing and use such as house construction, fencing, and producing agricultural tools.

Biruk Kebede, acting director of the East Africa Regional Office of the International Bamboo and Rattan Organization (INBAR), emphasized that the sector has long suffered from a lack of attention from both the government and private sector.

Kebede highlighted that insufficient awareness of bamboo's benefits, limited processing knowledge and technical capabilities, and poor resource management are significant barriers to its effective utilization in Ethiopia.

Teshome Tamirat, head of the Bamboo Development and Technology Desk at the Ethiopian Forestry Development, said one of the major challenges is the absence of modern technologies and expertise in bamboo management and processing.

"Bamboo product development skills and technologies are the real gaps, which Ethiopia currently lacks to compete in the global market. We don't have programs of knowledge management, in which bamboo is supported in research to generate real technology for product diversification," said Tamirat.

BAMBOO DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, sustainable bamboo use can significantly advance several global Sustainable Development Goals, including combating poverty, providing affordable energy and housing for all, addressing climate change, making efficient use of natural resources, and protecting terrestrial ecosystems.

In recent years, the Ethiopian government, with support from various bilateral and multilateral partners, has been endeavoring to exploit the development potential of the country's abundant, yet untapped bamboo resources.

To support these efforts, the second-populous nation in Africa has formulated a 10-year Bamboo Development Strategy and Action Plan, which will be implemented until 2030. The national strategy underpins critical guiding principles, which include market-driven approaches, job creation for rural youth and women, and the promotion of a climate-resilient green economy.

"Now, the Ethiopian government has identified bamboo as a strategic resource for livelihood development and environmental rehabilitation. There is also a considerable and increasing interest and investments in research related to bamboo cultivation, processing, and product development," Kebede told Xinhua.

With the majority of Ethiopia's population depending on agriculture as the primary source of livelihood and income, the Ethiopian government believes such bamboo development efforts can potentially serve as a crucial impetus to poverty alleviation by enhancing bamboo farmers' livelihood security while harnessing bamboo's ecosystem functions.

As Ethiopia endeavors to harness its bamboo resources, bilateral and multilateral partners, such as the Chinese government and INBAR, are extending much-needed support in capacity building and technology sharing.

Headquartered in China, INBAR is a 50-member intergovernmental development organization dedicated to promoting environmentally sustainable development through bamboo and rattan. Ethiopia, an INBAR member since 2002 and host of the organization's East Africa Regional Office since 2009, has benefitted from the organization's various initiatives over the years.

The organization has been playing a crucial role in supporting the Ethiopian government's efforts, including the formulation and implementation of the national bamboo development strategy.

Kebede said the organization is facilitating awareness creation, knowledge sharing, and capacity development on the sustainable management, processing, and utilization of bamboo resources in Ethiopia and elsewhere across the region. He highlighted that over the past few years, INBAR has implemented about 15 different pilot bamboo development projects, focusing on sustainable bamboo management, processing, and promoting the bamboo industry.

"We have been giving different technical capacity building training programs for bamboo growers, researchers, policymakers, and the private sector on the utilization and sustainable management of the bamboo resources," he said.

SINO-ETHIOPIAN BAMBOO DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION

According to Kebede, China's support and expertise in the bamboo industry have been instrumental to recent positive changes in the bamboo sector development in Ethiopia and beyond.

INBAR's regional office has been closely working with its Chinese partners, according to Kebede. He stressed that China's continued collaboration and knowledge transfer in the bamboo sector are crucial for Ethiopia to fully capitalize on its bamboo resources and promote sustainable livelihoods for its people engaged in the bamboo value chain.

"We are trying to address all these challenges through different approaches with support from the Chinese government. As a hosting country for the INBAR headquarters, the Chinese government is facilitating different supports, through INBAR, to other developing countries in the East Africa region," he said.

For example, INBAR facilitates different training and capacity-building programs, workshops, study tours, and exposure visits to China, benefitting bamboo growers, artisanal bamboo processors, and government policymakers.

"Thousands of people, from the government, private sector and also local bamboo growers and farmers, have benefited from these opportunities and participated in the exposure visits and training programs," said Kebede.

Kebede emphasized that the China-proposed "bamboo as a plastic substitute" initiative has also created new opportunities for Ethiopia and other countries in the region. The adverse environmental impact of plastics has led many countries to restrict their use and this initiative will play a crucial role in promoting bamboo as a viable and sustainable alternative.

"The initiative will create a lot of opportunities for bamboo growing countries in terms of producing many bamboo products that can substitute plastic products. It will help bamboo growing countries to create many jobs while maximizing the utilization of bamboo resources available," Kebede said.