I N T E R N A T I O N A L D E V E L O P M E N T R E S E A R C H C E N T R E

Restoring land, reaping benefitsHealthy environments. Access to naturalresources. The balance between these two is akey issue in many developing countries. For 40 years, IDRC-supported researchers havecome up with innovative ways both to reducepoverty and protect the natural resources onwhich communities depend.

Bamboo and rattan anchor an environmental revival Bamboo and rattan are at the centre ofmajor initiatives in Asia, Africa, and LatinAmerica that are combatting globalwarming, fighting soil erosion, protectingforests, and enhancing communities’access to water.

When IDRC first supported pioneeringresearch on these plants in 1979, the worldknew little of their positive environmentalpotential. But this is changing thanks towork undertaken by the International Net-work for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR),created by IDRC in the early 1990s.

In Allahabad, India, bamboo plantingrestored the fertility of soil degraded bybrick mining, so farmers once again cangrow crops. That project, which won the2007 Alcan Prize for Sustainability, alsoraised the local water table by seven metreswithin five years.

A new bamboo plantation in China’sGuizhou province reduced soil erosion ina mountainous area by 75%, while makingdegraded farmland and forests viable again.Meanwhile, manufacturing charcoal fromsustainable bamboo in India, Tanzania,Ghana, Ethiopia, Mozambique, and thePhilippines has prevented the deforestationthat results when trees are cut to make fuel.

New bamboo-based building tech-niques developed in Latin America andsince transferred to Uganda and Kenyahave similarly reduced reliance on threat-ened forests while avoiding the use of con-crete, a major producer of carbon dioxide.

Network based in Beijing

The first international workshops on rattanand bamboo in 1979 and 1980, both held atIDRC’s Singapore office, blossomed soonafter into the Bamboo and Rattan ResearchNetwork, the precursor to INBAR. Housedinitially at IDRC, in 1997 INBAR becameindependent — and also the first interna-tional research organization to be based inBeijing. Since then, IDRC has supportedINBAR’s work through a series of grants.

From the beginning, the researchers rec-ognized these traditional Asian crops’unique environmental role. “Like grass, youcan cut bamboo and it will quickly growback,” INBAR director-general CoosjeHoogendoorn explains. Those grass-like

qualities account for bamboo’s restorativeroles. Bamboo has roots, for example, thatremain in the ground after the poles are cut.Those resilient roots prevent soil erosionand draw water closer to the surface in areaswhere the water table is low. Bamboo plantsalso absorb at least as much carbon dioxideas trees, providing a renewable bufferagainst global warming.

The research agenda for bamboo andrattan has focused largely on finding waysfor poor communities to add value to rawmaterials by creating finished products. Forexample, one IDRC-supported INBARproject works with women in Tripura,India, who used to craft the raw bamboosticks that were made into incense stickselsewhere. Now, the women roll, scent,package, and even market the finishedsticks. “It has been possible for women withvirtually no income to get a reasonableincome that helps them take care of theirfamilies,” Hoogendoorn says.

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Pioneering research on bamboo and rattan halted soil erosion and protected forests.

IDRCManaging natural resources

LASTING IMPACTSHow IDRC-funded research has improvedlives in the developing world

Small-scale farmers in Oaxaca, Mexico,now have access to more native corn vari-eties from across the region, allowingthem to breed local strains more adapt-able to environmental challenges. Thiswas made possible by an innovativeIDRC-funded program.

By the late 1990s, commercial hybridvarieties of maize (corn) were being pro-moted, and some traditional varieties —or landraces — had been lost. Farmersrisked becoming dependent on new vari-eties requiring expensive pesticides, fertil-izers, and irrigation. Having to buy hybridsfrom seed companies every year alsothreatened farmers’ economic viability.

With IDRC support, researchers fromthe International Maize and WheatImprovement Center and the Mexicannatural resources agency INIFAP can-vassed farmers and catalogued the attrib-utes of preferred varieties. These werethen “frozen in time” in maize gene banks.

Farmers were given access to landracesfrom the gene banks, allowing them tocross-breed new maize types that couldadapt to environmental changes. Newstorage facilities also allowed them to savemaize for sale when prices were higher.These incentives bolstered farmers’ deter-mination to preserve Oaxaca’s biodiversity.

A cooking stove that has become popularin Kenya and neighbouring countries hastaken pressure off Africa’s threatenedforests by reducing the demand for woodand charcoal.

IDRC began supporting research thatled to the marketing of the ceramic Jikostove in the mid-1980s. Today, surveysshow that 80% of households in Nairobiand Mombasa use the stove, reducing theirfuel consumption by up to 50%.

Developed by the Kenyan agencyKENGO, the ceramic Jiko now “has

become almost the standard stove in Kenya,”says energy expert Stephen Karekezi.

Several thousand institutional-scale Jikostoves have been distributed within Kenya.Large numbers have also been exported toEthiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, andother countries. With a smaller combustionchamber and insulated sides, the ceramicJiko boosts the efficient use of wood. And inhomes, where charcoal is used, the greenertechnology allows poor families to usemoney otherwise spent on fuel toward thepurchase of food.

Hill people in Cambodia’s Ratanakiriprovince set a powerful precedent that hasserved as a model for the country’s landtenure laws. With IDRC support, they pro-tected their livelihoods by establishing legalrights to their land and its resources.

In the early 1990s, the Cambodian gov-ernment readily granted contracts toinvestors for rubber and palm oil planta-tions and logging. Unrestrained develop-ment endangered the region’s forests — thesource of food, fuel, medicine, and otheressentials for local communities.

A team led by the regional UnitedNations Development Programme officeworked with villagers to create detailedmaps and plans showing the region’s cus-tomary boundaries and allocation ofresources. These efforts convinced theprovincial governor to recognize the hillpeople’s traditional use of the land. Devel-opers were forced to back down.

The researchers also established theneed to include provisions for communalland tenure in Cambodia’s new land law.The participatory planning process used inRatanakiri served as a model for the nation.

About Canada’s International Development Research CentreIDRC supports research in developing countries to promote growth and development. IDRC also encourages sharing this knowledge with policymakers, other researchers, and communities around the world. The result is innovative, lasting local solutions that aim to bringchoice and change to those who need it most.

www.idrc.caRead more about the lasting impacts of IDRC-funded research @ www.idrc.ca/lastingimpacts.

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Maize gene banks help farmers adapt to new challenges

Ceramic stove eases strain on African forests

Securing land rights defuses conflicts in Cambodia

New maize types have contributed to Oaxaca’s biodiversity.

The popular Jiko cooking stove boosts greentechnology use in Kenyan households.

Research called for communal land tenurein Cambodia’s new land law.

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