New Delhi: Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma will be arriving here this weekend en route to Belgium to attend the six-day World Bamboo Congress (WBC) beginning next Tuesday.
On his return from Belgium Dr Sangma will attend the Chief Ministers’ Conference in the national capital on April 16. The meeting is being convened by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on internal security.
The World Bamboo Organization is organising the event to promote and support use of bamboo as a sustainable and alternative natural resource. This is done through the development of partnerships and alliances, and creation of mechanisms for global communication, information exchange, and technology transfer.
In the last 15 years, the WBC has grown to attract at least 400 participants from more than 30 countries around the world, including world-renowned experts in bamboo design, construction and architecture. Bamboo trade shows and cultural performances are also a special part of the WBC.
Several representatives of corporations manufacturing bamboo products around the world will be present during the event which will include a round-table discussion.
On a global scale, bamboo is a major commodity and source of livelihood, especially for poor people in rural areas for which it is called poor man’s timber.
Over one billion people, the size of India’s population, live in houses made of bamboo worldwide.
Other applications of bamboo include paper, food, construction, joinery, panels, flooring, furniture, charcoal, pulp,paper, cosmetics, medicine, and textiles. It is a source of biomass for the booming renewable energy markets, with Europe alone looking to import substantial quantities of bamboo as part of its renewable energy programme, official sources associated with the WBC said.
Bamboo is the fastest growing source of wood and investors are taking a keen interest in the potential gains that can be sustainably generated through bamboo utilization. The world market for Bamboo is valued at USD 10 billion and is expected to reach about USD 20 billion by 2015. The hill state of Meghalaya is richly endowed with bamboo forests. Its abundance and multiple uses have led bamboo to play a pivotal role in the socio-economic and cultural life of the tribal people of rural Meghalaya.