JL RESOURCES | BCP
PRINTED ON BAMBOO PAPER
CONTENTS Executive Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Preamble. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 JL Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 The Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Schizostachyum brachycladum
!
Page 2
JL RESOURCES | BCP
PRINTED ON BAMBOO PAPER
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
!
Page 3
JL RESOURCES | BCP With current Global Warming and the Climate Change crisis, it is necessary for us to reconsider our approach to the activities we have traditionally carried out in furthering our economic and financial prosperity. Natural resources which may have seemed abundant in the past are now revealed to be depletive and in some cases
PRINTED ON BAMBOO PAPER
even detrimental to the planet’s ability to sustain our needs. We seek to explore new uses for materials that have previously been regarded as specialized in their use, and present the possibilities for repurposing them to allow for a broad range of new applications replacing conventional materials.
Bamboo is one such example. It is an extraordinary plant, fast growing sufficient to enhance its financial viability, while possessing positive properties such as its high tensile strength, allowing for its use in construction-related applications. It also has the highest carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration rate among all plants.
guarantee of economic feasibility. While bamboo is highly sustainable, the environmental benefits realized from its cultivation will not only be enjoyed by us, but can be extended to the host state, as well as benefit the local communities through their participation in the upstream and downstream activities of this industry.
In conclusion, this document is a precursor to our formal application for plantation and industrial land for this project. We are looking to inject the investment required in order to realize this project. Various business models may be explored, including one where the state may be an equity holder in this venture.
Dendrocalamus asper
The intent of this document is to present a concept paper to establish Malaysia’s first bamboo plantation and processing facility exclusively for the production of materials that are applicable in the construction industry such as bamboo ply and bamboo lumber for furniture. This will also act as an enabler for the creation of subsidiary industries that further process the bamboo ply and lumber into products that are fit for use by the end-consumer. We are thus taking the necessary measures to maximize the value created from the raw material to finished endconsumer products with a
!
Page 4
JL RESOURCES | BCP
PRINTED ON BAMBOO PAPER
PREAMBLE
!
Page 5
JL RESOURCES | BCP
PRINTED ON BAMBOO PAPER
Bamboo scaffold, dismantled and stacked on the street in Hong Kong
The recent ‘Superstorm Sandy,’ with a damage mitigation cost of over $50 billion, serves as the latest reminder that in the 21st century, extreme weather patterns have become the norm. Our Prime Minister has pledged the nation’s support for sustainability with his announcement to a voluntary but conditional 40% carbon emission intensity reduction from 2005 GDP levels compared to 2020, at the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15). This is conditional to foreign capital and technology inflow.
!
At JL Resources, we realize the significance of this commitment and intend to support it by manner of realizing this project. This project is aligned to our Prime Minister’s commitment as the bamboo plantation would contribute to high carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration. It is our intent to ensure exemplary environmental bottom lines that take the forefront in the business and prove that by considering ‘planet’ first, ‘profit’ can increase while at the same time creating value and improving the lives of ‘people’. Bamboo is a renewable material applicable as lumber in construction and as a raw material in the manufacture of end-consumer furniture. Certain species can also replace steel used in scaffolding.
During the lifetime of this tall grass, it will absorb the highest amount of CO2 from the atmosphere, compared to any other plant, and release 35% more oxygen than an equivalent number of trees.
Page 6
JL RESOURCES | BCP
These characteristics illustrate bamboo’s high environmental value, and this in turn can yield profitable bottom lines when considering CO2 abated. Robust CO2 accounting at this juncture can expand economic benefits through the potential of trading certified emission reductions. The host state can then benefit by using some of these certified emissions reductions to offset the CO2 footprint of certain internal activities, for example transport. Malaysia is a major target for local and international investment, but conventional heavy industries like steel, cement and coal-fired power plants are also responsible for increasing the negative impact to the environment and therefore contributing to climate change. It is thus crucial that the private sector participates in implementing an all-inclusive solution. We will require up to 5,000 hectares of land in order to pursue a viable venture in renewable bamboo lumber, which will be sold to the host state at competitive rates, replacing conventional !
PRINTED ON BAMBOO PAPER
lumber and steel scaffolding in municipal construction or any of the state’s public works projects. Over the past four decades unconventional wood types like durian and rubber woods have been explored and adopted and have today become accepted alternatives in the place of other depleted conventional timber such as Meranti. The Malaysian market has proven it is receptive to reconsidering the viability of new varieties of wood to satisfy existing requirements. The use of bamboo for highly varied purposes over thousands of years has established its value; one resource lists over 5,000 uses including paper, diesel fuel, airplane ‘skins’, desalination filters, aphrodisiacs, musical instruments and medicine. But this repurposing into lumber will pave the way for intensified diversification, securing
its sustained relevance in the fields of construction and furniture manufacture. The COP15 commitment reflects Malaysia’s rising sense of stewardship and acceptance of ecological responsibility amongst the highest ranks of leadership. While the Malaysian green
industry is still in its infancy, it has gained sufficient international exposure to consider carbon sequestration from the cultivation of bamboo.
Page 7
JL RESOURCES | BCP
PRINTED ON BAMBOO PAPER
THE PROJECT
!
Page 10
JL RESOURCES | BCP
PRINTED ON BAMBOO PAPER
ECONOMIC BENEFITS As a venture in the chain, bamboo lumber can be production of renewable processed into premium bamboo ply and lumber, the bamboo planks for floor plant’s fast maturation rate of paneling and furniture three to five years is a major manufacture, whilst plywood for advantage over conventional construction and bamboo poles sources of for scaffolding timber, which can replace can take up conventional to 50 years to wood and fully mature. steel. Some These varied species of uses allow for bamboo can the use of this even be renewable continuously alternative harvested material in after applications reaching ranging from their mature civil stage. engineering to Different shades of ‘plyboo’ Together, end-consumer goods. This these factors greatly contribute holistic approach guarantees towards increasing the optimal capitalization on the economic and financial viability material being produced. of a bamboo industry. In addition, the tensile In order to maximize the strength, strength-to-weight creation of value in the value ratio and overall toughness of bamboo surpass the standards currently applicable to the conventional plywood it will replace. This means that the thicknesses required for bamboo ply to fulfill existing requirements will be less than those of conventional plywood, translating to savings in the net quantity of raw material required and the energy needed to produce it. This also means that
Durable and sturdy construction
natural resources can be used in a more efficient manner. Further, we will be exploring the substitution of steel with bamboo in concrete reinforcement. This, however, is a long-term goal and will require rigorous testing in order to ensure that the bamboo is in accordance with the relevant building codes and standards that are in force in Malaysia.
Stylish and futuristic designs
!
Page 11
JL RESOURCES | BCP
PRINTED ON BAMBOO PAPER
ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS Malaysia is very well suited to the cultivation of bamboo. Our warm, wet tropical climate provides the ideal conditions for the plant to flourish. In addition, there are already known native bamboo species in Malaysia, allowing for the continuation of endemic species and averting the harmful ecological effects of introducing new species. Malaysia plays host to seven genera of bamboo, with 44 species, 12 of which are currently commercially utilized. Locally, bamboo occurs naturally from sea level up to 1,000 meters. As mentioned earlier, bamboo investment has high environmental-compliance and this is due to the fact that it sequesters the highest amount of CO2 from the atmosphere, amongst all plants. In fact, some
remains captured in the wood. At the destruction of the product, it will still have a net zero effect on the environment as the carbon it releases would have already been absorbed during the bamboo’s lifetime. Indeed, bamboo has proven its sturdiness before; in the aftermath of Hiroshima’s 1945 atomic bombing, the plant was the only living thing found closest to the epicenter of the blast. Bamboo was also used in the first regreening efforts species across the even absorb up destroyed city. This fact hints at bamboo’s to 12 tons of CO2 from the great ability to ecologically air, per hectare. rehabilitate degraded areas. Furthermore, the stated Cultivation of the tall grass also strength characteristics creates new, lush habitats, which and overall quality of directly enriches ecology bamboo throughout the plant’s lifespan. lumber Besides the lumber being allow it to be produced, the bamboo plant will made into a also yield a variety of ‘by-products’ in its leaves, stems and stalks. In great achieving true environmental variety of durable sustainability, these parts will also products with long shelf be used as biomass to generate lives, thus maximizing the electricity and supplement the amount of time manufacturing facility’s energy sequestered needs. CO2
!
Overall, bamboo cultivation is a remarkable environmental
Gigantocholoa albocilliata
investment, specifically because it targets the greenhouse gases (GHGs) that have been designated as most harmful to the environment by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol of 1997. Nevertheless, the best argument for bamboo cultivation in Malaysia remains that our own Prime Minister has had the vision to call for a voluntary 40% carbon emission intensity reduction from 2005 GDP levels compared to 2020, and this venture falls perfectly in line with achieving those goals. Page 12
JL RESOURCES | BCP
PRINTED ON BAMBOO PAPER
SOCIAL BENEFITS Whilst successfully realizing these goals and objectives, we are actively seeking out corporate
By arranging unique educational field visits, students and members of the public will become informed on the advantages of sustainable industries and renewable material production, ultimately leading to a greater sense of exposure to the green industry in general. Finally, the cottage industries that produce handmade goods in these rural communities will also be supported by the project. Useful offcuts from the cultivation, harvesting and manufacturing processes will be given to these cottage industries, to help in producing their traditionally essential wares. In fact, successful implementation of this project may even result in the Mepantigan event center, Green School, Bali their income in exchange for the labor force they offer, development of upstream sources citizens with high social of bamboo in the form of a raw while in turn they help protect responsibility to participate and material for processing. endemic biodiversity through collaborate with us, as well as manual share the resulting triple-bottomharvesting line outcomes. and Through the involvement and transportation participation of the existing local of the bamboo communities, tangible Corporate without the Social Responsibility (CSR) use of heavy outcomes can be leveraged by our machinery. partners and used in their annual The CSR reports, shareholder relations and benefits of broader public relations and this project interactions with their target can also be markets. extended to By adopting an inclusive the students approach, we can enrich the lives Traditional Balinese bamboo roofing techniques of these rural of local village communities and communities. the indigenous orang asli, by We intend to set up a fully providing them with employment operable bamboo awareness and and ensuring that they are not education center featuring a involved in any unwanted museum, knowledge center, activities. classes and handicraft workshops.
!
The community will also benefit from environmental education and supplementation of
Page 13
JL RESOURCES | BCP
This project was conceived in consideration to be carried out as a collaborative effort between the various participating stakeholders. State government as well as private institutions and even individuals will all have to cooperate closely in order to fully realize the triple-bottom-line returns of this venture. We are working closely with various private and public bodies including the Malaysian Timber Industry Board to ensure compliance with industry standards, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) for its research capabilities, and the Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) for its expertise and invaluable database. These collaborating bodies have also indicated their interest in assisting in plant tissue culture R&D efforts to identify and commercialize new hybrid strains of bamboo that return optimal outputs in terms of both raw material yield as well as economic, social and environmental gains.
!
PRINTED ON BAMBOO PAPER
With the full support of all parties, this project could even result in a new industrial model for the host state. One where businesses emphasize the environmental aspect, while also focusing on profitability and social accountability. In the future, this can also lead to the establishment of new industrial parks that cater solely to these types of green businesses.
Furthermore, the renewable bamboo lumber industry is also highly expandable, where numerous downstream and subsidiary industries – such as manufacturing of furniture and household utensils – can be established to further process and increase the value of the raw materials produced.
Page 14
JL RESOURCES | BCP
PRINTED ON BAMBOO PAPER
CONCLUSION
!
Page 15
JL RESOURCES | BCP
PRINTED ON BAMBOO PAPER
THE WAY FORWARD The very nature of bamboo cultivation requires long-term investment and commitment to the areas where it is being farmed. To ensure significant positive environmental impact, the venture will have to be sustained beyond the initial harvesting phase of the first three to five years.
Further, our holistic three-pillar approach demands that the venture is sustained for a considerable number of years, in order to be truly successful, especially in terms of carbon abatement. Therefore, implementing the venture means that we will be dedicated to ensuring its success, not just in the short and medium terms, but consistently and in the Gigantochloa ligulata long term.
!
To proceed with the next stage of planning, our way forward will have to be determined, especially with regards to project approval, the allocation of suitable land and land lease agreements, among others. To advance with these, the next set of documentation will be presented as and when required. Until then, we hope to have provided sufficient information on the opportunities inherent in bamboo ply and lumber and CO2 sequestration, and will look forward to any further inquiries on the same.
Page 16