Forest Loss Catastrophic for Wild Bamboo Warns UNEP Report

From UN Environment Programme
Tuesday, May 11, 2004

LONDON/NAIROBI, 11 May 2004 - Urgent action is needed to protect one of the world's most ancient life forms and the species that depend on it. A new study estimates that as many as half of the world's 1,200 woody bamboo species may be in danger of extinction as a result of massive forest destruction.

Consequently, many extraordinary and vulnerable species such as lemurs, giant pandas and mountain gorillas that depend almost entirely on bamboo for food and shelter face an even-greater struggle for survival.

Millions of people use wild bamboo for construction, handicrafts and food. And international trade in bamboo products, mostly from cultivated sources, is worth more than $2 billion annually.

The study, produced by INBAR (the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan) and UNEP-WCMC (the United Nations Environment Programme's World Conservation Monitoring Centre), is the most comprehensive ever undertaken on the subject and uses novel analyses to combine data on the distributions of bamboo species and on existing forest cover. It shows that many bamboo species, including relatives of those cultivated commercially, have tiny amounts of forest remaining within their native ranges.

Some 250 woody bamboo species have less than 2000 km2 of forest (an area the size of London) remaining within their ranges. This study shows locations of high forest bamboo diversity and the areas where deforestation risks are highest, creating a valuable planning tool for conservation action.

The extraordinary life cycle of bamboos -- individuals of each species flower once simultaneously every 20 to 100 years and then die -- make them especially vulnerable to rapid deforestation that is restricting the areas in which they can survive.

UNEP Executive Director Klaus Toepfer said: "Bamboos are some of the oldest and most fascinating life forms on Earth with high economic and conservation value. Many curious and unique species depend on bamboo. Trade in these plants is worth as much as bananas or American beef. Yet until now, their status and condition have been largely ignored with many species taken for granted. This new report highlights how vital it now is for the international community to take a far greater interest in these extraordinary plant species."

"Governments at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) two years ago agreed to reduce the rate of loss of biodiversity. This new report makes it clear that conserving bamboo, for the sake of people and for the sake of wildlife, should have a high priority in this global effort", he said.

INBAR Director-General Ian Hunter comments: "The report is the first step towards quantifying existing resources of bamboo. The survival of many potentially important bamboo species may be threatened as they grow in forests that are shrinking under human pressure. INBAR is greatly concerned about this potential loss of biodiversity and wishes to encourage both in-situ and ex-situ conservation"

UNEP-WCMC Director Mark Collins explains that the researchers have used unique mapping techniques to identify for the first time the worldwide distribution of bamboos and this has revealed some surprising findings: "Woody bamboos are important world-wide. Many people will be surprised to learn they are found not only in Asia but also in the forests of the Amazon and the Andes and even in African cloud forests.

"They are associated with threatened plant species and many highly specialized animal species including the bamboo lemurs of Madagascar, giant pandas, mountain gorillas, and tiny species such as the world's second smallest bat (3.5cm), which roosts inside bamboo stems."

Peter Wyse-Jackson, Interim Chairman of the Global Partnership for Plant Conservation, has welcomed the report and comments that it is an important contribution to implementing the Convention on Biological Diversity's Global Strategy for Plant Conservation, which aims to halt the current and continuing loss of plant diversity.

"By assessing conservation status, identifying areas important for bamboo diversity and in-situ conservation of threatened species, and providing information on the use of wild species, the Bamboo Biodiversity report contributes directly to implementation of the Global Strategy and achievement of its targets."

Nadia Bystriakova, the report's lead author, concludes. "The study recommends recognizing the 'at risk' status of many bamboos and developing new strategies and efforts to slow the loss of forest and secure the survival of important forest species like bamboos."

Valuable renewable resource International trade in products from cultivated bamboo is valued at $2 billion annually. Among the internationally traded products derived from this important renewable resource are edible bamboo shoots, furniture and paper. The commercial potential of many wild species has yet to be evaluated. Millions of people depend on wild bamboos for food, construction material, furniture and even musical instruments. The uses of bamboo range from acupuncture needles to zithers, from flooring to firewood and paper to posts.

Unique and endangered species The report identifies unique and endangered species, whose fates are intimately linked with those of bamboos, in every region where bamboos occur.

In Asia these include the red panda and Himalayan black bear, and perhaps best known, the giant panda. In Africa, mountain gorillas depend on bamboos for up to 90% of their diet in some seasons. The survival in the wild of the mountain bongo depends on conservation of the bamboo thickets to which it migrates during the dry season. In Madagascar, the critically endangered greater and golden bamboo lemurs depend on bamboo for much of their diet, and the rarest tortoise in the world, the ploughshare tortoise, is also intimately connected with bamboos. In South America, the spectacled bear, the mountain tapir and many endangered bird species are connected with bamboo in the Andes, Amazon and Atlantic forests.


For more information from UNEP, please contact: Eric Falt, Spokesperson/Director of UNEP's Division of Communications and Public Information, in Nairobi, on tel: +254-20-62-3292, mobile: +254-733-682656, e-mail eric.falt@...; or Nick Nuttall, UNEP Head of Media, on tel: +254-20-62-3084, mobile: +254-733- 632755, e-mail: nick.nuttall@..., or Robert Bisset, UNEP Spokesperson for Europe, in Paris, on tel: +33-1-4437-7613, mobile: +33-6-2272-5842, e-mail: robert.bisset@...

At UNEP-WCMC: Will Rogowski, Head of Marketing, on tel: +44-1223-277314, e-mail: will.rogowski@..., or Rachel Holdsworth, on tel +44-1954-202789, e-mail: rachel@...

About Bamboo Biodiversity: the report is in two parts, volume 1, Asia Pacific and volume 2, Africa, Madagascar and the Americas. To download volume 1, click on: http://www.unep-wcmc.org/resources/publications/ss1/WCMC%20bambooCompletePOv6.pdf
To download volume 2, click on: http://www.unep-wcmc.org/resources/publications/UNEP_WCMC_bio_series/19.htm

The report is an important input into the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation, which aims to halt the current and continuing loss of plant diversity.


BAMBOO FACTS

-- Although very few bamboo species are listed as endangered by IUCN-the World Conservation Union, one third to one half of the world's 1,200 woody bamboos may now be in danger of extinction because so little forest habitat remains within their ranges.
-- These include one African species, 10 endemic species in Madagascar and 95 species in the Americas that have less than 2000 km2 of forest remaining within their ranges. Over 180 woody bamboo species in the Asia-Pacific region have similarly limited amounts of natural forest habitat remaining.
-- Bamboos can be very fast growing; a Japanese species grows 1.2 metres a day (D Franklin, Charles Darwin University).
-- Bamboos are important structural components of many forest ecosystems and play a major role in ecosystem dynamics through their distinctive cycles of mass flowering and subsequent die-off -- in many species all individuals flower simultaneously (at intervals of a few years to decades depending on the species) and subsequently die.
-- Many specialized animal and bird species depend upon bamboos, and some of these are endangered.

Asia
Giant panda (Ailuropda melanoleuca): 600 left in the wild. 60% of the panda population lives in 13 protected panda reserves in south-west China. Eats only bamboo. They eat large amounts of bamboo 38kg a day. More than half the bamboo forests inhabited by pandas have disappeared since 1974.
Red panda (Ailurus fulgens) is also heavily dependent on bamboo.
The world's second smallest bat (Tylonycteris pachypus) 3.5cm long, roosts between the nodes of the mature bamboo and enters through holes created by beetles.
More than 15 Asian bird species live exclusively in bamboo and many more are dependent on bamboo for a significant proportion of their habitat.

Africa
Endangered eastern mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei): less than 700 mountain gorillas are left in the wild. During some months of the year (June and November) bamboo shoots form up to 90% of their diet.
The endangered eastern or mountain bongo (Tragelaphus euryceros ssp. isaaci) - a large forest antelope of the Aberdare Mountains in Kenya migrates to spend the dry season in the dense bamboo (Yushania alpina) thickets on the upper slopes. The survival in the wild of the mountain bongo depends partly on the conservation of bamboo forests.

Madagascar
Bamboo lemurs in Madagascar: the grey bamboo lemur (Hapalemur griseus), the greater bamboo lemur (Hapalemur simus), and the golden bamboo lemur (Hapalemur aureus). The greater and the golden bamboo lemurs are critically endangered.
Bamboo frogs, endemic to Madagascar, breed in 'bamboo wells' the pools of water that form in broken bamboo stems. These 'wells' are important microcosms.
World's rarest tortoise: the ploughshare tortoise or Angonoka (Geochelone yniphora; WWF 2003b) lives in the bamboo forests in the drier western part of Madagascar. - 5 -

Americas
Spectacled bears (Tremarctos ornatus) and endangered mountain tapirs (Tapirus pinchaque) eat considerable amounts of bamboo.
Invertebrates: many are specially adapted to the environment within hollow bamboo culms. There are complex ecological relationships between South American forest bamboos and ant species that inhabit their stems and defend them from attack by herbivores.
4-5 % of all the bird species that occur in Amazonia are dependent on bamboo. In the Atlantic Forest, at least 27 bird species are closely associated with bamboo; 11 of these are of conservation concern.
In the Amazon, huge areas of forest are entirely dominated by bamboo. They may total as much as 180,000 km2.

Bamboo uses
-- Bamboos have over 1,500 documented uses, including housing, food, paper and handicrafts.
-- In Asia bamboo shoots are used by millions of people as a meal base like rice.
-- Worldwide, over 2.5 billion people trade in or use bamboo. Global domestic trade and subsistence use of bamboo are estimated to be worth USD 4.5 billion per year, and export of bamboo generates another $2.7 billion (INBAR 1999).
-- Indigenous people worldwide use woody bamboos to make handicrafts and musical instruments. Baskets, fans, utensils, toys, furniture, irrigation systems and agricultural supports are all made from bamboos of different types. Musical instruments ranging from flutes to drums are also produced from bamboo; the panpipes of the Andes and the traditional valiha instrument of Madagascar are made from bamboo.
-- Contemporary architects are also using new techniques to combine bamboo with modern materials like reinforced concrete or steel to create some extraordinary structures including luxury housing, bridges and observation towers.



For more information, contact:

Nick Nuttall
Head of Media
UN Environment Programme
cpiinfo@...


Web site:

www.unep.org

 

Raphael Moras de Vasconcellos
raphael@...
www.bambubrasileiro.com