Creation of the Route of Bamboo, a Contribution to Net Zero by 2050 in Vietnam

Abstract

The Phu An bamboo village, created in 1999, maintains over 200 taxa of living bamboo, collected in Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia, and was awarded the UNDP Equatorial Prize in 2010. This ex situ conservation not only provides data for basic research and preserves biodiversity resources, but also contributes to actions on CO2 to reduce the greenhouse effect in climate change and create sustainable livelihoods for the community. From the Phu An Bamboo village, the "Bamboo Route" has been built since 2016 from the north to the south of Viet Nam, with the aim of multiplying bamboo in situ conservation sites, associated with research programs and public awareness actions on the importance and environmental benefits of bamboos. Along the bamboo route, an ex situ conservation site has been developed at Dong Thap with plants of 67 different vernacular species, another at Phan Rang, in the arid region, with 62 species, and a third at Dak Nong, where the climate is more favourable, with 12 different vernacular species from the in situ conservation site at Chieng Ban, Son La, where 19 vernacular species have been recorded. Thanks to its fast-growing characteristics and large biomass production, bamboo plays an important role in carbon sequestration. Research to mesure CO2 absorption was done in three different habitats on three different bamboo species. The CO2 absorption capacity of Bambusa blumeana Schultes in Gao Giong, Dong Thap province, indicates an important role of this thorny bamboo under climate change conditions. On the " Route of Bamboo", we studied also the surface area of bare soil from north to south, except in the Mekong Delta, we can plant more than 200,000 ha of thorny bamboo to complete the existing surface area of 1.5 million ha which could contribute 30% of Viet Nam’s CO2 absorption. This enables us to estimate how planting 50% of these areas could contribute to Viet Nam’s Net 0 2050 target.