International Bamboo and Rattan Organisation (INBAR)
Description
Established in 1997, the International Bamboo and Rattan Organisation (INBAR) is an intergovernmental development organisation that promotes environmentally sustainable development using bamboo and rattan. It is currently made up of 46 Member States. In addition to its Secretariat Headquarters in China, INBAR has five Regional Offices in Cameroon, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Ghana and India.
Bamboo, the fast-growing grass plant, and rattan, the spiky climbing palm, can be important nature-based solutions to a number of pressing global challenges, for poverty alleviation, green trade, climate change mitigation and adaptation, resilient construction and environmental protection. The mission of INBAR is to improve the well-being of producers and users of bamboo and rattan within the context of a sustainable bamboo and rattan resource base, by consolidating, coordinating and supporting strategic and adaptive research and development.
INBAR’s work is based around the following strategic goals:
1. Promoting bamboo and rattan in socio-economic and environmental development policies at national, regional and international levels;
2. Coordinating inputs on bamboo and rattan from a growing global network of Members and partners, and representing the needs of Members on the global stage;
3. Sharing knowledge and communicating lessons learned, providing training and raising awareness of the relevance of bamboo and rattan as plants and commodities;
4. Fostering adaptive research and on-the-ground innovation by promoting pilot case studies, and supporting upscaling of best practices across INBAR Member States.
INBAR has been making a real difference to the lives of millions of people and environments around the world for over 20 years. Its achievements include: raising standards; promoting safe, resilient bamboo construction; restoring degraded land; building capacity for bamboo and rattan practitioners; creating hundreds of thousands of jobs; and informing green policy and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) objectives, particularly: ending poverty (SDG 1), providing a source of clean and renewable energy (SDG 7), building affordable housing (SDG 11), encouraging sustainable consumption and production (SDG 12), combatting climate change (SDG 13), protecting life on land (SDG 15) and creating partnerships for the achievement of the Goals (SDG 17).
