Beyond what gives the bamboo plant its conventional popularity, there are more nuanced reasons why the world’s fastest-growing plant is a suitable construction material that a tropical country like the Philippines can benefit from.

During a learn-and-earn seminar last Saturday, March 22, hosted by the Carolina Bamboo Garden– a haven of tall greens located in Antipolo, Rizal– eager attendees were treated to a deep dive into the bamboo’s local architectural benefits, its employment upside, and the properties that make it useful in climate change mitigation.

SUITABLE TO LOCAL ARCHITECTURE

Architect Jed Michael de Guzman, an agripreneur whose expertise is in bamboo structures, believes that the Philippines can benefit from its longstanding tradition of using bamboo as a construction component. 

“In the Philippines, in our vernacular architecture, we have a tradition of using bamboo for our structures. We do it especially with the (climate) conditions in the Philippines– bamboo as a component, together with other construction materials,” said de Guzman during his lecture. 

With its sturdy poles and resilient roots, bamboo is a no-brainer pick for structural projects that require both stability and weather compatibility. 

Engineer Carlo Cacanando, also one of the event’s resource speaker, echoed the same sentiment about the world’s tallest grass.

“Bamboo‘s unique thing is its roundness and the circular cross-section nature of it. (That’s why) bamboo is integrated in our long history like in bahay kubo and other structures like huts,” Cacanando suggested. 

“It is part of our history for bamboo to be incorporated in our structures and it’s part of our identity as a tropical country,” he added.  

But there must be new and improved ways of using bamboo as a structural component, said Cacanando, especially in prolonging its material life by “including technology that would make it last longer.” 

“Even if your bahay kubo is made of bamboo poles, give it a few years and expose it to sun, rain, and UV rays, eventually you'd have to replace it. By incorporating a little bit of engineering to it, by putting a Bahareque type system with cement plaster, or at least protecting your bamboo from UV and rain, it will make your bamboo last much longer,” explained Cacanando. 

UPSIDE TO EMPLOYMENT

Another green flag of the ever-resilient bamboo is the nature through which it is cultivated and made into creative products. 

According to AR Jed de Guzman, the simple economics of bamboo production, from its propagation to manufacturing, requires more skilled laborers than what other construction materials necessitate.

“At 60-70% labor cost… we are building more jobs. Because doing bamboo pole construction requires high skill, as opposed to the 2x2 or 2x6 na kahoy (wood) – yun yung difference,” explained de Guzman.

“In comparison to conventional concrete, steel or glass, 60 to 70% nila yung material cost, 30 to 40 lang ang labor cost,” he added.

The uphill climb in the Philippines, however, is that there aren’t yet large bamboo havens, noted de Guzman, which means “we have to utilize the existing bamboo plants spread sporadically in the regions.”

“What we do with the amount of bamboo we have is a business model that creates small utilizations in bamboo but sells them at a premium because of different yung marketing mo, and yung value proposition– you are supporting a community eh, locally sourced ito,” he explained.

CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION

Aside from the economic and architectural affordances of the bamboo plant, it also has an undeniable utility to climate change action. 

For one, it is “regenerative and carbon-negative.” 

According to AR de Guzman, construction materials typically come from finite resources by harvesting lime, and gravel, among others. 

“Alam naman natin ilang bundok ang kailangan tibagin to create our cities. To lessen that, we need to regenerate our resources, and bamboo checks all of that. Ang bamboo, grow it for 10 years, and every year may harvest ka.”

In comparison, wood trees, said de Guzman, need 20 to 30 years to grow fully, “pero once lang yung harvest natin, so the more we use bamboo as a material, the fewer the natural resources na binabawas natin.”

Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)’s Gregorio E. Santos Jr. believes in the power of bamboo as an effective windbreaker.

“Napakaimportante ng bamboo dahil it is a very good windbreaker. Sa Eastern Seaboard kung saan laging pumapasok ang bagyo, tadtarin ng bamboo plantation ‘yan. Kasi kung vegetated yan, pag hambas ng bagyo, either hihina o mag-iiba ng direction,” suggested Santos Jr., who heads the DENR-ERDB’s Urban and Biodiversity Research Development and Extension Center. 

“Bamboo is a very good rainwater harvester… our mountains, marami na ang kalbo. That's the reason why the government is pushing for the revegetation and rehabilitation of the deluded forests, and bamboo can be a good material in restoring, rehabbing, or enhancing the deluded forests including river banks,” he noted.