News

INBAR has released its annual summary of the activities, programs and publications developed in 2019. Among the international activities, our collaboration with the organization of the First Ibero Bamboo Symposium held last October, which took place at the Instituto de Ciencias de la Construcción Eduardo Torroja (IETcc) in Madrid, stands out, as it was a great success in terms of audience and results. To outline the policies of the future and share strategies for development and sustainability related to bamboo we had the presence of the ambassadors of Colombia and Ecuador, as well as representatives from the Chinese embassy in Spain. On behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture of Spain, Mrs. Silvia Capdevila talked about "the great possibilities that bamboo offers" in our country, classifying it as a low carbon material and as an important tool to combat climate change. The representative of UN-Habitat Office in Madrid, Mr. Gonzalo Lacurcia, showed how bamboo is aligned with many of the objectives of the Agenda 2030 and the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development (AECID), and the non-governmental organization COPADE, or FSC International discussed the important role of bamboo as a building material, renewable energy source, and alternative to single-use plastic. We also counted on the presence of outstanding members of the academic community from Spain and Portugal presenting their latest studies and the most advanced companies and technicians of the country showing their work and the advances achieved in the field of structural bamboo. We would like to thank INBAR, especially Mr. Ali Mchumo, its General Director, and Borja Escardó, its Head of Global Policies, for giving us all their support to our project and for the facilities they provided us with in order to carry out an event of these characteristics, unprecedented in Europe to date.