Natures green gold: Strategies to improve livelihoods and sustainability through bamboo resource Kittur Bhimappa Honnappa1,**, Jhariya Manoj Kumar2,*, Raj Abhishek3,***, Banerjee Arnab4,**** 1Department of Technical Forestry, Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), Bhopal-462003, Madhya Pradesh, India 2Department of Farm Forestry, Sant Gahira Guru Vishwavidyalaya, Sarguja, Ambikapur-497001, Chhattisgarh, India 3Pt. Deendayal Upadhyay College of Horticulture and Forestry, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agriculture University, Samastipur, Bihar, India 4Department of Environmental Science, Sant Gahira Guru Vishwavidyalaya, Sarguja, Ambikapur-497001, Chhattisgarh, India *Corresponding author) email id: manu9589@gmail.com
**kittur412@gmail.com
***ranger0392@gmail.com
****arnabenvsc@yahoo.co.in
Abstract Bamboo is regarded as “nature green gold” because of its eminent role in ecological functioning, strengthening ecosystem health and people's wealth in sustainable ways. The versatile resource ‘bamboo’ is innately linked to social, economic, and environmental functioning, and contributes to achieving targets of sustainable development goals set by the United Nations (UN). The bamboo industry provides many economic benefits which build the socioeconomic status of rural people. Although bamboo has improved the livelihood condition of the rural peoples, however, its value in the market is declined due to competitors such as iron, steel, and plastics. In addition, a number of constraints exist from production to consumption of bamboo resources. For instance, the mechanism of the easy harvest of bamboo from the congested culms is the main issue for growers, and market linkage, value addition, certification, promotion of bamboo products, etc. are the other problems in the market. Even-though, significant development through policy reformation in the bamboo sector has been made by the government via national/state bamboo missions and enhanced the rural livelihood and economy. However, the non-acceptability of growers on large-scale production of bamboo is the immediate concern to meet the industrial demand. Therefore, scientific collaboration is needed among various stakeholders including universities, industry partners, community groups, and non-governmental organizations for the promotion of bamboo plantations, market linkage, price fixation, and industrial set-up. Top Keywords Bamboo industry, Biodiversity, Ecosystem health, Plantation, Sustainability. Top |