The contribution of bamboo to climate change mitigation and household livelihood improvement in Cameroon

Bamboo sequesters 1.33 times more carbon than trees. The global market value of bamboo products is around €50 billion. Cameroon has about 1.2M ha of bamboo, a mix of indigenous and species introduced in colonial times. Bamboo contributes to the livelihoods of c.31,000 people, providing incomes for harvesters, craftspeople and sellers albeit these incomes are generally below poverty benchmarks. The potential for this grass to contribute further to livelihoods and to mitigate climate change however is under-realised due to a lack of, and inappropriate policy, and insufficient data. This study investigates the socio-economic contribution of bamboo for stakeholders in bamboo value chains and evaluates the potential of bamboo to mitigate climate change. This data is then used to provide input to a sectoral policy to be co-developed with bamboo value chain stakeholders, which considers trade-offs between the goals of conservation and climate change mitigation and development. An innovative Social-Environmental Systems and value chain approach is used to analyse socio-economic benefits. The Poverty Environment Network Sustainable Livelihoods approach is adapted to collect and analyse livelihoods data. To evaluate climate change mitigation potential, allometric equations using the clump-base method are used. To ensure policy relevance and societal impact, this scientific data provides evidential input as part of a participatory policy development process to draft a sectoral policy for the development of bamboo in Cameroon. The conceptual framing of trade-offs between carbon sequestration/mitigation and livelihoods and using this evidence as part of a co-developed policy process are novel aspects of the research.