bamboo enterprise protects amazon forest

Above: Don Carlos Penarrera, president of Ecuador's Bamboo Society, curing bamboo with salt for commercial markets in coastal Ecuador.  Below: A stand of giant bamboo.

Giant bamboo has great potential for conserving Amazon forests and strengthening economies of indigenous forest peoples.

Bamboo grows quickly, at a rate of a half meter (___ inches) per day. Within 10 years one plant can provide all of the construction materials that several families need to build homesteads. Bamboo also filters and stores moisture, providing a reliable source of fresh drinking water for remote forest communities. 

Many varieties of native bamboo can be grown in the Amazon to provide communities with an alternative resource for small-scale furniture production. Utilizing bamboo as a resource, rather than trees from primary and secondary growth rainforest, strengthens local economies while reducing pressure on the rainforest.

CCBD needs funds to support the bamboo project in Ecuador. With your help in 2008, we can provide 10,000 bamboo starter plants to indigenous rainforest communities for alternative building materials and as a source of pure drinking water.

Contact us for more information, or click our Pay Pal button to donate funds.