International Network for Bamboo and Rattan - INBAR

INBAR evolved out of an informal network of bamboo and rattan researchers, set up in 1984 by Canada’s International Development Research Centre. Since then, INBAR membership has grown to include 38 countries, with regional offices that are extending our network across Asia, Africa and Latin America. This growth represents a remarkable transformation from a temporary project that had previously found it difficult to attract new partners and funding. However, it was not until 1995 that a more permanent organisation began to take shape, with the proposal to base its headquarters in China in 1995 and the creation of the China-INBAR Preparation Leading Group in 1996 paving the way for INBAR’s official launch. On 6th November 1997, nine founding member states and observers from 6 other countries witnessed the signing of the INBAR Establishment Agreement at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.INBAR's work is focused on five main areas:

Climate change, INBAR is demonstrating how bamboos can help adapt lives and livelihoods to increased occurrences of extreme climatic events, for example to landslides and floods, with a suite of innovative disaster-resilient bamboo houses and innovative ways of preventing erosion with bamboo.Environmental sustainability and poverty alleviation, for many years, INBAR has been demonstrating how integrated development with bamboo can provide secure livelihoods in the long term, and we have helped many thousands of rural producers to make a living from bamboo where once they did not.Sustainable construction, our work on sustainable building with bamboo focuses on three key themes: Sharing and adapting traditional bamboo construction technologies. Bamboo has been utilized in construction for millennia and there are many existing, low-cost technologies that INBAR helps to disseminate and adapt across the world. Innovation of new bamboo construction technologies and designs, INBAR has helped to develop improved, safer designs for bamboo scaffolding, as well as new laminated bamboo construction technology for prefabricated bamboo housing. Policy support for bamboo-based construction In China, we are now supporting development of a draft provincial bamboo building code for post-earthquake Sichuan.Trade development, this includes provision of data on trade in the bamboo and rattan sectors, and analysis of trends. And provision of policy advice based on trade data and changing import policies

After more than 15 years of successful operations, the INBAR network is now widely recognised as the premiere source of expertise on bamboo and rattan. By 2015 we aim to have further improved the lives of the people who live with bamboo and rattan, and to have produced a broad portfolio of tested solutions to development challenges.