BY DR SITI RAFEDAH ABDUL KARIM , DR SHAHRIL ANUAR BAHARI , DR MOHD NAZARUDDIN ZAKARIA , DR SYAIFUL OSMAN , AND BEN ONG Sector Committee for Bamboo Oxygen Park ( BOP ) MAPAN ( Malaysian Association of Public Advocacy for Nature )

Potential of bamboo in mitigating soil erosion

Natural bamboo stands were abundant for their many uses , including soil erosion mitigation . However , fast human population growth , expanding agriculture , and rapid urbanisation , especially in major cities and municipalities , made creeks and rivers vulnerable and eroded during flooding .

Species of bamboo and woody plants can be planted along rivers and creeks to rectify soil conditions due to the entangling of the root systems . Bamboo has shallow roots that can be ramified and lengthened in the presence of water and act as living cement to hold the soil for growing plants .

The holding capacity of the soil is more substantial when bamboo is interplanted with selected dicots of small shrubs and trees . A study by Merdelyn , C . L ( 2019 ) in the Philippines from 1999 to 2019 reported that the bamboo planted along creeks was sturdy even after the super typhoon .

Bamboo had protected the creek from eroding due to the root matting underneath , enriched by a web of roots , soil , sediments and weeds .

Bamboo Flash Flood Rescue ( BFFR ) System

The system involves the planting of a combination of bamboo , dicots , and shrubs to stabilise the riverbanks and creeks for rehabilitation , as well as for monitoring and determining soil conditions , flood warnings and carbon stocks of bamboo along riverbanks and creeks incorporated with sensor system of flood , soil and carbon sequestration monitoring devices .

BFFR setup depends on the soil type , pH and terrain elevation suitability . Bamboo is most suitable to be planted in sandy clay , loamy clay , and well-drained soil with a pH of 4.5-6.5 . Bamboo is also suited to be planted at 100-800 metres above sea level with a slope of not more than 250 .

Climate action to address global warming through bamboo planting

Bamboo plants absorb CO2 during growth , where carbon is locked as biomass in the photosynthesis process . Therefore , other than mitigating soil erosion , bamboo planted along riverbanks and creeks can sequester carbon in its biomass .

Bamboo has a short planting rotation of four years and grows at a rate of 1.2 cm per day , making it sustainable to mitigate GHG emissions and a potential carbon sink . The number of stomata on bamboo leaves is relatively dense and numerous , with more than 500 stomata per mm2 .

Thus , bamboo can be used as an effective plant to reduce carbon emissions in the atmosphere . Through photosynthesis , bamboo carbon stock plays an essential role in the carbon cycle to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere

Given that bamboo plays a vital role in quickly absorbing carbon from the air , it is necessary to research how much bamboo plants can store carbon stocks and reduce climate change risk .”

and , simultaneously , increase oxygen levels .

Given that bamboo plays a vital role in quickly absorbing carbon from the air , it is necessary to research how much bamboo plants can store carbon stocks and reduce climate change risk .

Carbon stock in BFFR can be done by measuring the aboveground biomass . Measurement of plant biomass can be done with destructive and non-destructive methods . For a wider area , stand-level biomass estimation of bamboo plantations can be done by remote sensing by applying Landsat Thematic mapper .

Bamboo products as a carbon sink to mitigate global warming

Essentially , CO2 production to the atmosphere is avoided by carbon storing

in bamboo products , denoted as A , versus the CO2 emissions , designated as B , which will determine if the selected bamboo product is a viable storage option .

Therefore , if A > B , then viable carbon storage is achieved ( Valters , K ., et al ., 2017 ). On the same note , the amount of energy used in the production of bioproducts are either renewable or fossil energy for 1 m3 production , where ECO-it software is used to determine the amount of CO2 generated .

The amount of possibly-avoided CO2 in the products can be calculated by the carbon content in the products in terms of their mass . Then , the actual CO2 amount avoided in 1 m3 of products is compared with the emitted CO2 amount to produce 1 m3 to choose a viable bamboo product . – @ Forest