Background

Bamboo is a non-timber evergreen plant that is mainly distributed in sub-tropical and tropical zones. Because it is widely distributed, grows fast, has a high regenerating rate. Once planted, bamboo have new shoots every year, usually can be harvest for culm purposes in the third and following years according to certain rates, so the bamboo plantation can bring annual profits to its manager. In addition, bamboo is a desirable plant for sustainable management, it has important direct and indirect economic and ecological benefits such as providing food (shoots), housing, furniture, artisan products and soil and water conservation. The above characteristics make bamboo an important non-timber forest resource for most developing countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa. Besides the special features introduced above, certain characteristics of bamboo are similar to wood, which make it an ideal substitute of timber material for many kinds of products. Bamboo can play an important role in the reduction of timber consumption, environmental and forest protection, poverty alleviation and sustainable development of rural economy.

Since 1999, the China Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) and the International Farm Forestry Training Center (INFORTRACE) has been cooperating in holding 7 annual training workshops on bamboo and rattan. There are totally 224 participants from 44 nations in these workshops, they are mainly bamboo and rattan (B&R) experts, related government officials and entrepreneurs. These workshops provided knowledge on bamboo and rattan in a wide range of areas: biodiversity, cultivation and management technologies, processing of different products, the purposes of the workshops are awareness raising and enhancing international exchanges and cooperation.

Bamboo industrial processing and utilization has become the universal trend of bamboo development in the world. In China, especially in South China, the bamboo industry is one of the most important rural industry, playing an important role in the modernization and economic development of the rural area. In the year 2004, the bamboo industry production value of China reached 5.63 billion USD. The workshop of this year introduces the industrial processing and machineries of bamboo products, including: toothpicks, skewers, curtains, mats, furniture, various panels (flooring, cement molding board, decorative board, fiber board, etc.), handicrafts, charcoal and shoot, etc..

Workshop Organizers

MOST is a central governmental agency under the state Council and it is responsible for the nation's science and technology activities. One of the important missions of MOST is to strengthen international cooperation in science and technology.

INBAR (International Network for Bamboo and Rattan) is a non-profit international organization that develops, provides and promotes appropriate technologies and other bamboo and rattan based solutions to improve the well-being of producers and users of bamboo and rattan within a context of a sustainable bamboo and rattan resource base.

INFORTRACE (International Farm Forestry Training Center) is a part of CAF (the Chinese Academy of Forestry) and a center of excellence in the fields of farm forestry/agroforestry and integrated rural development. It was established in 1990 with the sponsorship of the International Development and Research Center of Canada. In the past 15 years, INFORTRACE offered a series of training workshops in the field of rural land use, forestry, non-timber forestry products and sustainable management. Up to date, the Center has carried out 24 international training workshops; 630 participants, including scientists, land use managers, entrepreneurs and policy-makers from more than 40 countries all over the world received the training.

Objectives

Through the practical training, get the trainees familiar with the production techniques of small bamboo daily handicrafts and the performance of the relative machines. Enhance the technology exchange in related fields among developing countries and improve the bamboo development and ecological environment of these countries.

Programs

Participants will register on September 6th 2006, and departure will be on September 21st 2006, totaling 15 days. This training workshop will combine courses with practices in factories. The main courses will include:

1) An introduction to China's main experiences in sustainable development of the bamboo industry
2) The impact of bamboo industry to sustainable rural development
3) Processing techniques and machines for bamboo products: tooth picks, skewers, curtain, mats, panels (flooring, decorative board, cement molding board, fiber board, etc.), furniture and shoots, etc..
4) Bamboo processing machines
5) Bamboo preservation technologies
6) The supply chain of bamboo industry
7)Bamboo development strategy identifications for developing countries

The Workshop will start with in-door courses in Zhejiang Province, experts will be invited to give courses and instructions, skillful masters will be demonstrating the processing techniques and the operation of the machines. At the same time, the field visit in Lin'an and Anji Counties of Zhejiang Province will provide an opportunity for participants to visit processing factories and companies of various bamboo products, and will be able to practice on some of the machines in factories to get familiar with the processing techniques and the performances of the machines, they will also visit bamboo machine manufacturers. At the same time, participants will be able to study the rural development with bamboo based industry and enjoy the beautiful bamboo plantation scenery. Also, they will have the chance to exchange knowledge and experiences with participants from other countries.

Note: Detailed programs will be provided in the Agenda of the Training Workshop.

Fees
Tuition of the workshop is USD 350.00 per person. Participants from developing countries can be exempt from the tuition (utmost number of tuition exemption is limited to 20). Expenses for meals, accommodation and local transportation is 50 USD/person/dayfor shared room (total for two weeks is 750.00 USD) and 60 USD/person/day for single room (toal for two weeks is 840.00 USD). All participants have to be responsible for their own travel to and from the Workshop, the in-China expenses for accommodation, meals, local transportation as well as health insurance during the Workshop. To learn about details and other fees, please contact organizer.

Participants
Researchers, technicians from related sectors of governments and NGOs, technicians and engineers from enterprises, supervisors working in grass-root agencies whose works are related to the topics of this workshop, who should be able to provide effective information exchange, training activities after they return to their own country. Because the Workshop working language will be English, participants must have basic English listening and speaking abilities. Principally, participants of this workshop should at least be graduated from a professional school or have similar education background.

The Workshop will provide an opportunity for each participant to exchange information/knowledge/experiences with the other participants, Participants who would like to give a presentation during the workshop are required to send their presentation to us by email before August 10th, 2004 to facilitate editing of training materials.

Climate during the Workshop
Lin'an and Anji of Zhejiang Province locates in the sub-tropical zone, the highest temperature will be 26 - 30??, the lowest temperature will be 15?? - 18??, with plenteous sunshine. It is suggested that an umbrella should be taken during the Workshop. There is no local epidemic. For further details on vaccinations contact your local health service.

Transportation and Registration
Registration for the training workshop will begin on September 6, 2006 in Lin'an, Zhejiang Province. Our staff will pick up participants at the International Airport of Hangzhou, Capital city of Zhejiang Province. There are flights from Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen to Hangzhou everyday and it will not be difficult for you to select comfortable flights.

Visitors to The Green House will encounter a full-size recreation of the California-based architect Michelle Kaufmann¡¯s Glidehouse?, a single-story, prefab Modern house graced with glass curtain walls and louvered-wood sliding panels, which, incidentally, comes in at $120 per square foot. Visitors can walk through its great room and kitchen space, laid out to maximize breezes and minimize the need for artificial lighting. They can examine firsthand the built-in cabinets, bamboo flooring, carpet tiles of recycled materials, countertops made from recycled paper, and furniture of organic textiles and sustainably harvested/reclaimed wood. Cut-away walls and windows allow glimpses of the roof and wall structure. Water-saving fixtures and a tankless water heater outfit the bathroom. Walls are finished in low-VOC paint.

High tech and high touch
The architecture firm that designed and installed this 7,000-square-foot exhibition is Lewis.Surumaki.Lewis, New York City. Organizer for The Green House is Curator Donald Albrecht, the exhibition director and catalog editor of ¡°The Work of Charles and Ray Eames: A Legacy of Invention,¡± a traveling exhibition organized by the Library of Congress and the Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany (1997-2005). A noted designer of architecture-themed exhibitions, he also writes widely on design and architecture. ¡°This show illustrates that environmental priorities and the highest aesthetic standards are fully complementary,¡± says Albrecht. ¡°Today we are seeing architects and interior designers combining new, high-tech materials and old-fashioned architectural wisdom to create houses that are glamorous, comfortable, and sit lightly on the land.¡±

The exhibition catalog, The Green House: New Directions in Sustainable Architecture¡ªcoauthored by the exhibition¡¯s consulting curators, Alanna Stang and Christopher Hawthorne, and copublished by the National Building Museum and Princeton Architectural Press¡ªfeatures more than 35 residences in 15 countries, with designers ranging from starchitects to little-known practitioners. Visitors to the exhibition will receive a free resource newsletter that includes a glossary of green terms; directories of leading architects, interior designers, builders, advocacy groups, and others; and listings of ways to get additional information on green building and design.

An array of varied houses
The Green House exhibit highlights 21 homes considered by the curators to be especially interesting and beautiful. The curators displayed the projects according to the environment to which they respond.