Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Harsh Vardhan Tuesday said that India has the potential to become a significant player in international bamboo export.

Speaking at a meeting held with the representatives of International Bamboo and Rattan Organisation (INBAR) in New Delhi, Harsh Vardhan emphasized the thrust provided by the Government to develop the bamboo sector to address various issues such as livelihood, climate change mitigation and land degradation. 

The Minister specifically referred to the landmark initiative of the Government of promulgating the Indian Forest (Amendment) Ordinance, 2017 to exempt bamboo grown in non-forest areas from definition of tree, thereby dispensing with the requirement of felling/transit permit for its economic use.  

Vardhan also pointed out that capacity-building and training programmes will be organized for artisans for making special items from bamboo.  

"A lot of value addition products can be worked out for the upliftment of artisans and farmers", the Minister told the INBAR representatives.

Interacting with the INBAR delegation, the Minister pointed out that natural resources such as bamboo belong to the entire world. 

"We believe in the concept of whole world as one family", Vardhan stated. 

He emphasized that India has leading research and training institutes and the country can become the research and training hub for bamboo and rattan in South Asia.  The Minister said that for value addition, joint initiatives will need to be taken by MoEF&CC and INBAR.