Winner of the

U.S. Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other ...

's 2014 Award for Corporate Excellence, founded in 2010 by Troy Wiseman and Camille Rebelo, EcoPlanet Bamboo has pioneered the industrialization of bamboo as an alternative fiber for timber manufacturing industries. To date the Company has 37,250 acres of bamboo farms under ownership, in Central American, Western and Southern Africa, with larger scale

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

s underway. EcoPlanet Bamboo is a privately owned United States Company, registered in Delaware and with corporate headquarters located outside of Chicago, Illinois. It is a US Series LLC allowing each geographic region and individual bamboo plantation to be funded and operated separately but under the same umbrella. The Company has been recognized for its social impact created more than 750 jobs and operates in some of the poorest parts of the world in

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the countr ...

, South Africa and

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

. EcoPlanet Bamboo plants species of tropical clumping (

sympodial Sympodial growth is a bifurcating branching pattern where one branch develops more strongly than the other, resulting in the stronger branches forming the primary shoot and the weaker branches appearing laterally. A sympodium, also referred to a ...

) bamboos, using only highly degraded and marginal land to produce a tree free,

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated ...

free fiber. The Company has developed a framework for what sustainability means in respect to

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, ...

. Farms reach maturity in 5–7 years and the fiber is targeted towards

Fortune 500 companies The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States corporations by total revenue for their respective fiscal years. The list includes publicly held companies, along w ...

dependent on wood and fiber as their raw resource. The company is highly decentralized with individual bamboo plantations operating under EcoPlanet Bamboo Groups standardized operational framework to achieve Forest Landscape Restoration. A full set of qualified managerial staff exists on each farm and is overseen by a core managerial team.

Bamboo in China

Although bamboo is a plant that has been grown and harvested in China for generations, it occurs only within a smallholder model. There are few commercial or large scale managed plantations. The majority of area under bamboo comprises plots of a few Mu in size, owned by individual farmers or families, and managed as part of a diverse mix of livelihood crops. Throughout China bamboo has been planted only in areas not suitable for agriculture, which generally mean mountainous land that is often inaccessible. Most of China's bamboo industry is focused on a single iconic species – Moso (''Phyllostachys edulis'') The processing of bamboo in China is dominated by low and medium level processing, with a large focus on two very different markets (1) the global handicraft industry and (2) the production of edible bamboo shoots for the food industry. In recent years there has been an increase in the production of

bamboo floor A bamboo floor is a type of flooring manufactured from the bamboo plant. The majority of today's bamboo flooring products originate in China and other portions of Asia. Moso bamboo is the species most commonly used for flooring. Characteristic ...

ing. EcoPlanet Bamboo is working in a different manner growing certified bamboo fiber for the pulp and paper industry, textiles and engineered timber.

Historical barriers to industrialization

EcoPlanet Bamboo claims to have overcome many barriers to industrialize bamboo as a commercial crop: # A lack of planting material. See “ bamboo mass flowering". # Lack of knowledge on the growth, ecology and yields of bamboos other than Moso. # High investment required to take bamboo through the 6–7 years required to reach maturity. # Difficulty of operating in remote parts of the developing world.

Bamboo sustainability

EcoPlanet Bamboo is a triple bottom line company promoting the concept of conscious capitalism. The company has pioneered the concept of sustainability certification for commercially produced bamboo. Nicaraguan farms are certified under the

Forest Stewardship Council The Forest Stewardship Council A. C. (FSC) is an international non-profit, multistakeholder organization established in 1993 that promotes responsible management of the world's forests via timber certification. It is an example of a market-ba ...

(FSC), the

Verified Carbon Standard The Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), or Verra, formerly the Voluntary Carbon Standard, is a standard for certifying carbon emissions reductions. VCS is administered by Verra, a 501(c)(3) organization. History In 2005, carbon markets investment ...

(VCS) and have gold level Climate Community Biodiversity Alliance (CCBA) stamp of approval. EcoPlanet Bamboo is the first entity to have received these certifications for application to bamboo. The Company has been insured by the World Bank's Multilateral Insurance Guarantee Agency (MIGA), holding a $48 million policy. MIGA has featured EcoPlanet Bamboo for strong social and environmental impact. EcoPlanet Bamboo's farms are examples of private sector forest landscape restoration, with planted bamboo conserving and reconnecting remnant forest patches and scattered native vegetation, restoring soil functioning, water tables and carbon sinks.

US Department of State ACE Award

This annual award was presented to EcoPlanet Bamboo by Secretary Kerry at the US State Department in 2014. EcoPlanet Bamboo was honored alongside the

Coca Cola company The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation founded in 1892, best known as the producer of Coca-Cola. The Coca-Cola Company also manufactures, sells, and markets other non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups ...

for trendsetting good business practices in its countries of operation.

References

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External links

Bamboo Parquet Plank
Bamboo Environmental organizations based in the United States Sustainable development