INBAR Bamboo & NTFP's China Tour
April, 2009
In cooperation with the International Center for Research on Agroforestry (ICRAF), INBAR has begun organizing a bamboo tour of China for April, 2009.
In 2005 INBAR organized the Bamboo Study Tour in Zhejiang, China. Twenty participants from seven countries (Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, U.S.A., Vietnam and Thailand) joined the study tour and witnessed the achievements of Chinese bamboo development over the last 30 years.
At the request of UNIDO, INBAR organized two more bamboo study tours in 2007. The first in Zhejiang and Sichuan provinces of China. There were 18 participants from Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Australia, Malaysia, India and Netherlands, including Mr. Ahmed Nasser, the State Minister of Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Director General of Ethiopia Federal Micro and Small Enterprises Development Agency, Permanent Sectary of Kenya Ministry of Environment and Natural Resource, Director of Kenya Forest Research Institute and Dr. Coosje Hoogendoorn, Director General of INBAR.
Then, later in 2007 INBAR, organized another bamboo tour in Zhejiang province for four ministers of INBAR member countries, CFC officials and diplomats.
The 2008 Bamboo Tour had 14 participants from Australia, Ethiopia, Laos, Mexico, Kenya, Uganda, and the USA. The director of Kenya Forest Service joined the tour.
The objective of the annual bamboo study tours is to share the experience of Chinese bamboo and NTFP's development and to promote bamboo and NTFP's development in other countries.
The bamboo study tours have attracted a great deal of attention; hence we are organizing the 2009 INBAR Bamboo & NTFP's tour to China. We will visit Zhejiang and Sichuan provinces in April for 10 days, the best time to see bamboo shooting and enjoy fresh bamboo shoots.
If you are interest in the tour, please contact Dr. FU Jinhe soon. The cost in China will be $1,600/person, which will cover accommodation, food, transportation and domestic flights. Participants will be responsible for the cost of their international flights.
Soon you will be able to read the reports of the 2005, 2007 and 2008 bamboo tours.
The 2009 itinerary will be available soon and what follows is a draft of the plan.
In Zhejiang we will visit some leading bamboo flooring manufacturers such as:
- DASSO (who produced bamboo fire-proof ceiling for the Madrid international airport, which won the 2006 Sterlinz prize. DASSO is producing bamboo veneer for 70,000 BMW cars’ interior decoration and for the manufacture of 40m long bamboo wind turbine blades)
- Yafeng(who produces strand woven bamboo lumber and floor),
- Yongyu(bamboo floor),
- Shengbang(bamboo concrete form, a supplier for 2010 EXPO in Shanghai),
- Xieqiang(bamboo curtain and mat);
- Kangxing bamboo shoot processing company,
- Shenshi Bio-product company(bamboo extract like flavonoid, bamboo beer),
- Wenzhao, the biggest bamboo charcoal company(charcoal and vinegar) and the only China Bamboo Charcoal Museum in the world,
- some primitive processing workshops (producing bamboo strips) at the community level,
- Huachun bamboo furniture company,
- Jitai bamboo processing machine company and
- Anji bamboo product market (hundreds bamboo products including bamboo clothes).
- the biggest bamboo botanic garden in the world, Anji Bamboo Garden, which has more than 300 bamboo species plus two giant pandas, and Chinese Bamboo Museum in this garden;
- High-yield bamboo plantation,
- bamboo film production base (Hidden the Dragon and Crouch the Tiger, Banquet etc)
- eco-tourism sites, ornamental bamboo nursery,
- Baisha eco-tourism village，
- some companies and communities for NTFP's such as ginkgo, hickory and traditional dry bamboo shoot,
- Hangzhou West Lake and China Silk Museum in Hangzhou.
- some bamboo research institutions such as the Zhejiang Forestry College (visiting bamboo products showroom, bamboo charcoal production, bamboo tissue culture lab).
- We will try to develop dialogues with local politicians and experts on bamboo sector policies and technology, which encourage the entrepreneur to invest in other bamboo production in countries such as Africa and Asia and the Americas.
In Sichuan province, we will visit:
- Wangjiang bamboo park (nearly 200 tropical bamboo species),
- Living Water Park (which shows waste water treatment by plants and biotechnology and which won a UNEP award),
- Chengdu Giant Panda Center,
- the world-famous Dujiangyan irrigation system,
- INBAR bamboo handicrafts training base in Qingshen and
- China Bamboo Weaving Museum,
- bamboo pulp and paper company.
FU Jinhe, Ph.D.
Senior Programme Officer & Coordinator of East and Southeast Asia
Environmental Sustainability
Programme
Coordinator of IUFRO 5.11.05
Bamboo and Rattan
International Director of Board of Directors,
American Bamboo Society
International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR)
8, Futong Dong Da Jie,
Wangjing, Chaoyang District
P. O. Box 100102-86,
Beijing 100102, P. R. China
Tel: +86-10-64706161 ext. 208
Fax: +86-10-64702166
Email: jfu@inbar.int
Websites: http://www.inbar.int http://www.geocities.com/zhuzi.geo http://www.iufro.org/science/divisions/division-5/50000/51100/51105
