Can bamboo save our forests and help end poverty?

A shift toward more bamboo production by small scale farmers in Vietnam could reduce poverty and help circumvent worldwide demand for timber as a building material, writes Bryan Nelson from Ecoworldly, part of the Guardian Environment Network.

Due to its many benefits, bamboo has been touted as an environmental miracle crop. It's a significant carbon sink, it grows fast, is more termite-resistant than timber, and can be used for everything from food to clothing material to scaffolding for building construction.

But are environmentalists being bamboozled? Despite its benefits, increased bamboo production could raise a lot of concerns too. Perhaps the biggest concern about bamboo comes from the fact that it can't be sustainably grown on a large scale in North America and Europe, meaning it has to be imported from abroad. Currently 80% of the world's bamboo production comes from China. There's also a concern that increased demand for bamboo could encourage farmers to ramp up their use of pesticides to boost yield, which would readily accumulate as run-off in the moist regions where bamboo grows best.

Since bamboos are the fastest growing woody plants in the world, the crop can be replenished quickly. Furthermore, bamboo is self-regenerating, which means that after the stalk has been cut, it rapidly regrows from the remaining rootstock. As long as bamboo is grown in its native habitat, its impact on local ecosystems is minimal compared to the destructive foresting practices of timber production.

For farmers and local communities in developing countries like Vietnam, it's impossible to deny the economic benefits of growing more bamboo. The Prosperity Institute estimates that 60% of the value of bamboo production goes right back into the pocket of the farmers who grew it. And as demand increases, rural economies in Asia could garner huge benefits by growing and selling bamboo to foreign buyers.

As many as 1.5 billion people already rely upon bamboo or rattan in some significant way, according to the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan. So even if bamboo isn't an omnibenevolent eco-crop, it's not bad, and it's here to stay.

Shouldn't we tell that to our farmers?