Malaysia's first ever bamboo village to be built in Perak

A former tin mining area in Batu Gajah, Perak which has been identified for the Bamboo Village Initiative. Photos: SEAD Plant

The Environmental Bamboo Foundation (EBF) is working with SEAD (Stewards of Environmentally Aware Developments) Plant to create the first bamboo village in the country.

EBF is an Indonesian non-profit organisation founded in 1993 to establish bamboo as a viable substitute for timber as a building material globally to prevent tropical deforestation and boost the income of rural communities while promoting gender and social inclusion.

“The Bamboo Village Initiative is an incredibly ambitious one, but absolutely worth working towards, as it is one of the most radical climate solutions that holistically brings together the triple bottom line of social, environmental and financial impact,” said Lucas Loo, SEAD executive director and founder.

Loo said they are excited about the project, to be based in Perak. They have so far identified about 390ha of land in the state – namely Sungai Siput, Batu Gajah and Sungai Raia – consisting of degraded tin mining land to plant the bamboos.

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EBF's director Arief Rabik (extreme left) with Loo (second from left) and SEAD team members during a site visit to a former tin mining area in Batu Gajah, Perak for the Bamboo Village Initiative.

SEAD Plant works closely with the Temiar community in the initiative.

“The pressure on our tropical timber forests is alarming and the money is alluring.

“Rural communities need to feed their families and if that comes at the expense of deforestation, many would be tempted to make a long-term sacrifice for short-term gain.

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“Bamboo is a game-changer in this entire paradigm. It is a resource that keeps giving, if you know how to harvest and manage it right.

“So rural communities stand to gain from a sustainable economic activity in their backyard, the pressure on deforestation lightens, carbon sequestration increases, and Malaysia moves that much closer to climate resilience,” said Loo, adding that their hope is to expand the Bamboo Village Initiative in Malaysia to cover 2,000ha of degraded lands by 2030.