Ecobreves – CUBA: Bamboo for Green Construction

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

HAVANA, Jan 5 2008 (IPS) - A Cuban program to expand bamboo plantations to an rea of 30,000 hectares will have a strong environmental impact in capturing climate changing gases and recuperating degraded soils, say experts. The plan involves seven provinces and includes a project to foment the use of bamboo in construction, with financing from the government and the Swiss Agency for Cooperation and Development.

There will also be workshops to produce furniture and laminates, which will allow the dissemination of technologies that have been under development in a first phase that began in 2005, materials and structures expert Fernando Martirena, of the Central University of Las Villas, told Tierramérica.