Elephants and Bamboo

Growing bamboo in elephant regions in order to generate income for the population seems a daring step, because bamboo is very high on the menu of elephants. Nevertheless, it is less attractive than corn fields or banana plantations, as it becomes lignified over time and thus becomes less interesting for the animals. Bamboo is an ideal plant for reforesting degraded forest areas and maintaining eroding soils. Bamboo is a grass, the fastest growing family of plants with a growth of up to one meter per day and provides a wide variety of materials and raw materials for further processing, for example for textiles, paper, medicinal charcoal and building materials. The cultivation of bamboo is promoted by the government in many African countries in order to generate income for the local population and to make a contribution to binding CO2. The demand for bamboo on the world market is growing and so large regions of Africa could soon be used for bamboo cultivation with perhaps similar consequences for wild animals as the cultivation of oil palms in Asia. We rely on the approach of the Wildlife Friendly Enterprise Network and want to grow bamboo in a wildlife-friendly and, above all, elephant-friendly way. We have been researching human / wild animal coexistence issues and ways in which wild animals can find opportunities to live in agricultural areas for years and this is how we came to bamboo. Now it is time for us to put our research results into practice in a specific project. After a final preparatory research stay, we plan to buy land and build a bamboo farm with an accompanying research station. The aim is not the creation of bamboo monocultures, but the species-rich mixed forests with many indigenous tree species, permaculture areas in the form of food forests and bamboo areas, in connection with beekeeping and in cooperation with smallholders and indigenous communities in order to create a biotope that can accommodate people and wild animals benefits, as a tangible opportunity for the people of the region and transferable to the farms in the neighborhood and also in other regions of Africa. We need your help for the implementation. A crowdfunding campaign is in preparation. Donations can already be paid into our foundation account under the name "Elephants and Bamboo".