Bamboo plantations – A building block for Nicaragua
When you think of bamboo, you may think of ornate bamboo baskets, chopsticks or more daringly a labourer scaling the bamboo scaffolding surrounding a mega skyscraper under construction in Hong Kong. But aside from these familiar uses it seems that bamboo could be playing a vital role in helping to alleviate not just environmental degradation but the plight of poverty in developing countries such as Nicaragua.
Nicaragua is one of the poorest countries in the Western hemisphere with 47% of the population living below the poverty line and earning less than $1 per day. Shockingly, only 22% have sanitary equipment or access to clean water while houses in the country are very small and cramped with at least four people sharing a single room. Not surprisingly, as with many developing nations, Nicaragua has a housing deficit of around 500,000 homes and this issues needs to be addressed.
Over half of Nicaragua’s population, 65% to be exact, live in the rural countryside where homes are constructed from sun-dried clay bricks, corrugated iron, plastic or cardboard. Due to huge deforestation and government timber quotas, wood is very seldom used for home construction due to its costly nature meaning the majority of Nicaraguans live in inadequate accommodation.
It would seem therefore that there are many reasons alternative construction materials must be used not only to limit the devastating levels of deforestation that threatens the habitats of many species but to help in the production of renewable construction materials and improve the lives of poorer nations like Nicaragua.
Harvesting the fastest growing plant in the world, bamboo, is a labour intensive process and it therefore creates many jobs in areas where employment is scarce. The social and environmental benefits that can be brought by this resource are therefore dramatic.
Bamboo is a rapidly renewable source of timber that is more versatile than any other building material. It has twice the compression strength of concrete and a greater tensile strength than steel. Building with bamboo is an attractive wood substitute and is not only inexpensive but also has the added benefit of providing earthquake proof housing with many architects arguing that bamboo cultivation and construction is the answer to protecting the world’s poor in disaster prone areas.
Luckily, Nicaragua is home to Guadua bamboo which was naturalised as far back as the 1930s and has become fully integrated into the tropical forests of the Atlantic Coast. Bamboo flowers only once in seventy or a hundred years and as chance would have it, it has recently flowered Nicaragua.
But it’s not only Nicaraguans that will benefit from bamboo farming. Matthew Kahn, a professor in the UCLA Institute of the Environment, Department of Economics and Department of Public Policy, has suggested that investors could also benefit from bamboo, getting ‘very rich’ from building bamboo housing developments and renting them out to day labourers.
Dr Montagnini from Yale University School of Forestry also suggests that bamboo is an attractive asset in which to invest, commenting,
“Bamboo plantation projects will be as profitable as those involving timber tree crops. In fact, there are clear indications that bamboo plantations can be more profitable”
Leaders in the alternative investment market, Property Frontiers believe that investing in bamboo makes perfect sense and will suit investors looking to have a positive social and environmental impact as well as enjoying a high return. As the most exciting of any timber investment, Property Frontiers are offering a secure and rewarding bamboo investment in Rama, Nicaragua.
But how does it work? Well, investors have the opportunity to invest in a bond issued by EcoPlanet Bamboo (UK), part of the US based EcoPlanet Group. These 15 year bonds offer fixed returns which increase over the term as well as a return of the investor’s capital on redemption. By way of example, the most expensive bond at $50,000 offers a total fixed return of 503%. All bonds are backed by assets as security which are held by UK based trustees.
It is predicted that the Bamboo market will be worth $20 billion by 2015. Consequently, this green investment in Nicaragua allows investors to build their ‘green’ credentials, make considerable returns from a lucrative and growing market whilst helping to lessen environmental impacts and improve social and economic wellbeing in Nicaragua, a country desperate for sustainable friendly investment.
For more information on this investment opportunity please contact Property Frontiers on +44 (0) 1865 202700 or visit www.propertyfrontiers.com.