Transcript

Despite years of progress, Asia and the Pacific still faces interconnected development challenges, especially its low-income communities.

Access to finance is still limited. Housing is unaffordable and environmentally unsustainable. And the climate crisis makes these issues worse.

Our dream as indigenous people is first to protect our ancestral land in a sustainable way. And while protecting our land and helping tackle climate change, we also want economic opportunities for our people.

Timuey Lito Sandag Palma 
Manobo Tribe leader, Southern Philippines

Bamboo, the woody grass that is abundant in the Philippines and across Asia and the Pacific, offers game-changing solutions to these challenges.

Beyond its use as a garden plant, for low-priced furniture, and as a source of food in many Asian households, bamboo has the potential to transform access to finance, housing, and sustainability.

Countries across Asia and the Pacific, including countries like the Philippines, are regularly hit by natural hazards. And time and again, it is the poorest communities who are most affected.

In searching for a sustainable solution we came across the remarkable potential of bamboo.

The real breakthrough came when we realized that when planting, bamboo plants were being geotagged. This opened up a whole new dimension—data.

Such data can enhance risk management, create investment opportunities, and an environment where bamboo can be valued for its environment impact and economic potential.

Lotte Schou Zibell
Advisor, Finance Sector Group, ADB

Bamboo's strength and versatility make it an ideal material for affordable and sustainable housing and other goods.

When treated and processed, it can also be engineered into durable building materials comparable to steel.

Bamboo's fast growth rate means it can capture and store significant amounts of carbon dioxide.

And when grown over large areas, bamboo forests contribute to water conservation, watershed protection, and landslide prevention.

And by integrating modern technologies into bamboo, it can become a valuable financial asset.

By combining data from GeoTagged and Geocoded bamboo with GeoSpatial technology and AI, an alternative credit scoring system can be developed for bamboo farmers, most of whom are unbanked and have no prior credit history.

On the other hand, financial institutions can consider detailed geospatial assessments of a bamboo plantation's value as collateral for issuing loans.

We believe that planting bamboo can preserve our ancestral land. Taking care of our environment will benefit our tribes and the next generations.

Timuey Alfredo Cacayan
Manobo Tribe leader, Southern Philippines

The thriving bamboo industry in the Philippines demonstrates its viability and scalability while engaging with local communities and indigenous peoples.

The bamboo value chain involves a lot of partners and one of the key important partners is the indigenous people because they have the land in their ancestral domains. One of the things that we’re doing is helping the IPs (Indigenous Peoples) steward their land by sustainably growing bamboos that will lead to intergenerational wealth and intergenerational opportunities.

Eileen Gamo
Director, Community Bamboo Development and Carbon Removal, Rizome Philippines

Rizome, one of the bamboo manufacturing companies in the Philippines, shows that harnessing bamboo's potential can yield social and environmental benefits.

Bamboo is a super fiber. It’s as strong as steel. It has the toughness of concrete that allows us to turn it into structural built materials like this beam.

And if we convert about 20% of the building environment with regenerative bamboo materials, we would reduce the carbon footprint of the construction industry by over 30%.

Russell Smith
President and CEO, Rizome

With the world's bamboo market growing, now is the time to leverage the industry's potential as a financial tool while supporting local communities and promoting climate action across Asia and the Pacific.

Organizations like the Asian Development Bank can play a crucial role in this journey. 

We can support governments to build the bamboo value chain. 

We can help ensure that the right environment for the private sector to help them scale bamboo supply chains. 

And most importantly, we can help empower local communities, especially indigenous peoples, whose land and knowledge are at the heart of bamboo cultivation.

Lotte Schou Zibell
Advisor, Finance Sector Group, ADB

Join us in exploring the endless possibilities of bamboo to transform finance, housing, and the environment. And let's work together for a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific.