“This is the first time a project on Vietnam’s bamboo has been honoured in the world,” Dr Diep Thi My Hanh, who chairs the project on “Phu An Bamboo Ecological Museum and Botanical Reserve” in the southern province of Binh Duong said on August 24.

The Phu An Bamboo Village is a cooperation project between Binh Duong province and Ho Chi Minh City National University , France ’s Rhone Alpes Region and Pilat Natural Park of France. It has an initial investment of nearly 675 million EUR.

Six years after implementation, the ecological reserve in Binh Duong province has a collection of about 130 species of bamboo belonging to 17 varieties. Among them are rare and precious varieties of each region in the country such as ivory bamboo and yellow-striped bamboo.

The 10ha reserve also includes a museum made from bamboo displaying equipment, instruments and works made from bamboo materials such as music instruments, and a research area for scientists and students who want to learn about bamboo and growing and developing this tropical tree.

The Phu An Bamboo Village is likely to turn into Asia’s bamboo reserve, said Dr. Gabriel de Taffin, regional director of the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD) in Southeast Asia.

According to Hanh, bamboo grows fast, is used for different purposes, and is particularly useful in absorbing carbon dioxide and fighting climate change.

Apart from protecting the biodiversity of bamboo, the Phu An Bamboo Village is a centre for research and technological transfer on the applications of bamboo in life and environmental protection, Hanh said.

Dr. Hanh now researches the applications of bamboo in absorbing heavy metal present in soil, bamboo fibre in replacing composite material, and cellulose from bamboo as water-resistant material, and production of biological clothes or nylon bags.

The Equator Prize is an award for initiatives in natural resource conservation that meets the goal of poverty reduction, community development, gender equality, focusing on women, environmental protection, and serving sustainable development.

Equator Prize 2010 winners will be celebrated at a high level event at the American Museum of Natural History on September 20, 2010. Representatives from winning communities will also participate in the Community Summit dialogue space, to be held in conjunction with the United Nations General Assembly in New York.