World Bamboo Day
This year bamboo had its own holiday: World Bamboo Day was held on September 18. True, it's not a traditional holiday like Thanksgiving or Mother's Day, but this year bamboo was recognized internationally for its potential as a sustainable material.
The official World Bamboo Day celebration took place in Thailand, where the World Bamboo Organization held its 8th World Bamboo Congress, a global symposium. The Thai Royal Forest Department declared the day, which coincided with the 113th anniversary of the department.
"It is an effort to increase the awareness of bamboo globally," said Susanne Lucas, Chair of the International Organizing Committee for the Congress. "Where bamboo grows naturally, bamboo has been a daily element, but its utilization not always sustainable due to exploitation, and we want to bring the potential of bamboo to a more elevated exposure to protect natural resources and the environment, to ensure sustainable utilization, to promote new cultivation of bamboo for new industries, i.e., biofuel, bioplastics, etc."
Over three hundred participants from over thirty countries attended the four-day conference, which took place from September 16-19, 2009 in Bangkok. Initiated in 1984, the International Bamboo Congress has been presented every few years, the most recent being held in India in 2004. During the event, speakers gathered to present papers on all aspects of bamboo, from biology and taxonomy to community and economic development.
Because this year's conference was held in Thailand, it featured a full afternoon of presentations on bamboo in Thailand and Southeast Asia. These papers included a look at the impact of bamboo harvesting in the region, the history and technology of bamboo production in the Philippines, and at how the bamboo supply chain has helped poor people in the region by providing sustainable employment.
World Bamboo Day ended the formal program of the Congress with a celebration, and the following day it was also marked with a ceremonial bamboo planting near Bangkok at Prachin Buri, where a representative from each country planted a bamboo seedling "as a symbolic gesture of our mission," said Lucas.
Under Thailand's National Forestry Policy, at least forty percent of the country is forested. Twenty-five percent of that land is protected for nature conservation and environmental quality. This land also can be used for recreational purposes. The other fifteen percent is designated for production usage of wood and forest products.