Bamboo is a wonder crop that sustains its surrounding environment. When it rains, bamboo can retain huge amounts of water which it then releases during dry periods, nurturing the ground around it and promoting crop growth for sustainable income. Grown on the hillside, the bamboo plantations provide protection against landslides, while also creating a sustainable business for local farmers. Bamboo is also an extremely useful raw material that can be manufactured into a wide variety of products, from structural materials to a myriad of household items. This creates social and economic benefits to communities, something in which WWF-Hong Kong sees great potential. The PT Indobamboo Lestari (PT Indobamboo) project, one of several supported by the Dutch Fund for Climate and Development (DFCD) and led by WWF-Hong Kong, showcases how to make sustainable bamboo bankable. The DFCD is a consortium of four partners – WWF, SNV, FMO and Climate Fund Managers – enabling private sector investment in climate adaptation and mitigation projects in developing countries. The role of WWF-Hong Kong is to source, incubate and make projects business-ready.

PT Indobamboo is an Indonesian firm established in 2012 that sources bamboo from smallholders spread across 10,000 hectares of sustainably-managed plantations on the island of Flores. Their bamboo is high-quality and high-yield, making it increasingly attractive to the global market. They currently produce sturdy bamboo building materials and dunnage – a product used by the shipping industry to fix heavy cargo in place while in transit.

In 2021, the DFCD gave a €350,000 development grant to PT Indobamboo, allowing the company to expand their bamboo manufacturing operations and making them more attractive to investors. The support includes the acquisition of licenses and permits, and preliminary environmental and social impact assessments. Growing investor interest will bolster PT Indobamboo’s sustainable agroforestry practices, and improve the lives and livelihoods of local farmers and workers.

The next step will see the WWF team and PT Indobamboo scale up operations and prepare agreements, a finance model and a business plan for approval. When the company successfully meets certain impact and financial deliverables, they will complete the development phase. unlocking debt financing from FMO.