BY DR. NANDKUMAR M KAMAT
There is an Asian saying: “A man is
born in a bamboo cradle and goes
away in a bamboo coffin. Everything
in between is possible with bamboo!”
A list of one thousand products is
available on http://www.guaduabamboo.
com/uses/products-made-from-bamboo.
Bamboo, a non wood forest product,
is considered Green Gold.
Kamesh Salam, the Founder and Executive
Director, South Asia Bamboo Foundation,
former president, World Bamboo
Organisation, founder of World Bamboo
Day, and Co Founder of Bamboo Global
Summit is on visit of Goa to from January
15 and would deliver a talk on Bamboo,
the green Gold at the Surendrabab
Timblo auditorium of Goa Chamber of
Commerce and Industries, on Monday,
January 18 at 3.30pm. This interaction
is organized by Goa State Biodiversity
Board (GSBB) to educate people on bamboo
biodiversity and its propagation in
Goa. Bamboo is an indispensable part of
landscape of Western Ghats and Goa and
integral part of Goa’s culture.
Ancient village communities in Goa
carefully planted thick bamboo groves as
bioshields to break the energy of winds
and to provide useful building materials.
Village artisans made mattresses,
baskets, containers and many useful
things from bamboo. Flutes made from
Bamboo were very popular as ethnomusicological
blow instruments in Goa. In
archery and hunting bows and arrows
made from bamboo were employed. Angling
and sport fishing also used fishing
rods made from bamboo. Bamboos were
employed for biofencing, as scaffolds,
for erecting pandals. Many mud houses
incorporated bamboos as reinforcement.
Bamboos are also used as indoor ornamental
species and for beautiful landscaping.
Tender bamboo shoots “quills”
harvested during monsoon were consumed
plentifully. Food historian K T
Achaya mentions use of tender bamboo
leaves as edible item in ‘Ramayana’ and
extract of green bamboo stems by Jain
monks. The people in Kurga/Kodagu
produce Baimblay a bamboo shoot dish.
Bamboo rice or grains of Bamboo are used
to produce ‘rajannaakki’ a royal dish.
Cultivation of bamboo does not need much expenditure
and it can come
up on any type of soil. Bamboo called
Green Gold and non wood forest product of future
has huge potential in Goa especially in urban forestry,
agroforestry, landscaping for ecotourism, ecofriendly
architecture and backward integration for bamboo based
industries. Therefore we need to welcome the initiative
of GSBB to invite Kamesh Salam, a skilled Bamboo
management Consultant with 25 years experience
in the bamboo sector. He has tremendous experience
in bamboo processing, skill development, capacity
building, planning. Kamesh is a machinery and development
strategies expert. He has rich experience at management level
with the community in development work in the bamboo and
rattan processing and manufacturing industries.
From 2008 to 2010, Kamesh was president of World Bamboo
Organization, (WBO) based at Boston, USA, an NPO to
facilitate the exchange of Information from around the
world on the environmental, socioeconomic, biological
and cultural aspects of bamboo. From 2004 for seven
years he had served as Director of Cane and Bamboo
Technology Center, (CBTC), India while also acting
as technical coordinator, Bamboo Technology Support
Group for National Bamboo Mission for North East India,
Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal for the Ministry of
Agriculture and Co-operation, Government of India. Kamesh
contributed handsomely as Member, National Apex/Steering
Committee of National Bamboo Mission Ministry of
Agriculture, Government of India for five years and
offered consultancy to UNIDO in Ghana, Timor Leste,
Ethiopia, and Uganda. He was Consultant to Royal
Government of Bhutan. Government of India gave him
opportunity to promote Bamboo in North East and
FICCI nominated him on North East Advisory Committee.
Kamesh needs to be credited for organization of VIII
World Bamboo Congress 2009 at Bangkok, Thailand.
He promoted the idea of “World Bamboo Day Celebrations”
on September 18 since 2009. He organized Global Bamboo
Summit at 10th World Bamboo Congress at Damyang, south
Korea. UNIDO appreciated his relentless work to champion
Bamboo and supported BAMFEST and BAMTECH
in North East India and SE Asia and Africa
As demonstrated by Bamboo and Cane
craftsmen from North Eastern states
of India, there is huge potential for Bamboo in handicrafts.
Kamesh worked as Member of All India Handicraft Board of Ministry of Textiles,
Govt. of India and on Board of Director, North East Handicrafts and
Handloom Dev Corpn. Ltd. (NEHHDC).
He was tasked with preparation of master plans on
Bamboo development for National Bamboo
Mission of India besides for Government of Mizoram,
Nagaland, Manipur, Republic of Timor Leste, Royal
Government of Bhutan and other clients. He understood
the need for attracting more investment in Bamboo sector
and organized an Investment meet on South Asia on Bamboo
during the IX World Bamboo Congress at Antwerp, Belgium
in 2012. He came out with an illustrated book ‘GREEN GOLD’
as chief editor for National Bamboo Mission and contributed
effectively to promote bamboo with more than 200 publications.
He has been involved in organization of Bamboo Policy Workshops
in Kochi, Kerala and Bhopal, MP in past two years. It can be seen
from his accomplishments that here is an expert which state like
Goa which respects, uses and relishes Bamboo needs as a dependable guide.
GSBB has sent invitations to community biodiversity committees established in several
villages. These committees should not remain on paper. The tribals
of Goa have a lot of knowledge about traditional uses of Bamboo.
Therefore the department of tribal welfare and semi government agencies
likes Goa Forest Development Corporation need to focus on tribal areas
to promote cultivation of many useful species of Bamboo under the guidance of Kamesh Salam.
Goa can also benefit additionally as Bamboo acts as a huge
carbon sink to mitigate global warming. If more than ten thousand
hectares of land areas including khazan embankments, eroded hill
slopes, perimetre of industrial estates, mining areas are brought
under large scale Bamboo cultivation then the Green Gold can create
many new and sustainable job opportunities in Goa. State government,
NGOs, farmers, mining companies, hoteliers and corporate sector of
Goa should fully utilize the knowledge and expertise of Green Gold
crusader Kamesh Salam.