With depleting forest supply, the Orang Asli community that use to forage materials and use it to rebuild homes and other shelters finds it difficult to find sustainable materials supply while the demand is still high. The reason for this is due to degradation of the forest surrounding Orang Asli settlements from logging and agricultural activities, some are legal and some are illegal.

Our propose approach to reduce the burden of the above issues is to introduce a socio-economic driver for the Orang Asli to farm bamboo to be the sustainable material source for them to rebuild their shelters and also selling the material to home building NGOs (such as Epic Homes / Teratak Semai) and other markets. This way, the local community can create a local industry to spur economic activities whilst reforesting degraded lands with a fast growing, good carbon sequester plant like the bamboo

The project intent is to form multiple small cluster bamboo farms of approximately an acre each by securing natural bamboo resource from the forest (minimum 2 sites), propagating new seedlings adjacent to it and train locals to harvest the bamboo sustainably to ensure continuous resource for local bamboo materials to can be use for building, furniture making and other products.

The small cluster bamboo farms will provide bamboo resource and able to be harvested every year on matured bamboo. Therefore, securing existing bamboo clumps that exist naturally in the forest while planting new seedlings will be able to provide bamboo resource from the start while growing the new seedling to be able to harvest in 5 years time. In one acre, you can grow around 200 bamboo plants comfortably. Based on some research, bamboo farms can capture up to 5 tonnes of CO2 per acre per year. The estimated ROI per acre of bamboo farm is about rm15,000-rm20,000 for treated bamboo (based on each bamboo pole 5m length x 3? diameter at rm20 per piece)

The small cluster bamboo farms will empower the indigenous community to have a local industry of their own, planting, harvesting and treating bamboo to be sold or use as a sustainable building material will help at least 1 family to fully sustain themselves. This then creates a viability for Orang Asli communities to self-build their homes and shelters using the treated bamboo material that is durable and robust.

The impact of the farms and local business to the community and the forest is great. With higher surveillance over their forest as it becomes a sustainable economic driver, the forest can then be better protected from degradation and illegal clearing. The local community can then refine their skills and knowledge in farming, processing and using bamboo and past on for generations.