Bamboo is a hugely environmentally friendly resource. Typical hardwood trees, such as the ones popular in wood fencing take between 30-50 years to regenerate to their full mass. As we are fast becoming aware, this causes major issues to the environment – there is less oxygen produced, less consumption of carbon dioxide and more soil runoff where those trees were harvested. All of these have a negative effect on the environment. Bamboo however, is the fastest growing plant on the planet, with some species having been recorded to grow over 4ft in just 24hours!

Bamboo can be continuously re-harvested every 3 years with no damage to the surrounding environment. This regular harvesting is actually of benefit to the health of the bamboo plant.

Also, during it’s regeneration, the bamboo plants root system remains intact preventing massive soil erosion where it is utilised. These anti-erosion properties are key to the bamboo’s reputation as a useful soil conservation tool. The lack of erosion creates an effective watershed, stitching the soil together along fragile river banks, deforested areas, and in places prone to earthquakes and mud slides. It has a sum of stem flow rate and canopy intercept of 25% which means that bamboo greatly reduces rain run-off.

It is widely believed that if bamboo were to be planted on a mass basis the effects of global warming could be reduced in as little as just 6 years with a renewable source of food, building materials and erosion prevention also being provided.