Towards Resilient Bamboo Forestry

The primary aim of this manual is to provide the reader with basic information on how to improve the health of bamboo clumps and the interdependencies within predominantly bamboo-based agroecosystems, in turn increasing the sustainable yield of quality bamboo culms. As managers, we can analyze, understand, and enhance this system so that human inputs are minimized and thus management costs are too. We assume that the reader agrees wholeheartedly that a managed bamboo forest system is far more productive than one which is unmanaged.

This book does not attempt to deal with the well-covered subjects of bamboo propagation or planting of clumping bamboo, which has been significantly dealt with in the literature, such as in Elizabeth Widjaja’s bamboo propagation guide- book “Panduan Membudidayakan Bambu” (published in the Indonesian language by the Indonesian Institute for Research (LIPI)). This sustainable bamboo forestry manual focuses on two areas: first, the initial maintenance of sympodial (clumping) bamboo and second, the annual management of the bamboo clumps within a stand (referred to in this book as either an agroecosystem or a natural bamboo forest).

As bamboos are the world’s fastest-growing land plants, more management of bamboo-based agroforestry to buffer against global climate change will be needed. By increasing the grower’s awareness and management of the many ecosystem components that affect the bamboo positively or negatively, the Resilient Bamboo forestry management system offers a holistic solution to increasing the yield of carbon-rich bamboo culms. Most references in this book are to Asian clumping (sympodial) bamboo.