From the website 

< Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

Preamble
This Agenda is a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity. It also seeks to strengthen universal peace in larger freedom. We recognise that eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, is the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development. All countries and all stakeholders, acting in collaborative partnership, will implement this plan. We are resolved to free the human race from the tyranny of poverty and want and to heal and secure our planet. We are determined to take the bold and transformative steps which are urgently needed to shift the world onto a sustainable and resilient path. As we embark on this collective journey, we pledge that no one will be left behind. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets which we are announcing today demonstrate the scale and ambition of this new universal Agenda. They seek to build on the Millennium Development Goals and complete what these did not achieve. They seek to realize the human rights of all and to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. They are integrated and indivisible and balance the three dimensions of sustainable development: the economic, social and environmental.>

The World Bamboo Organization is proud to be a member of the United Nations Global Compact. With the motto, Making Global Goals Local Business, this is a good fit for the WBO. As a trade association, we are committed to promoting bamboo globally as a sustainability tool. We believe that the 17 Sustainability Development Goals are our "moral compass", providing the right core values for humanity. It is the goal of all members and all peoples to integrate theses "global goals" into what is defined as progress. 

 

So, I ask, who can help WBO amplify what we do? 

On March 31, I attended the UN Global Compact Network USA meeting entitled, "Sustainable Development Goals and the Private Sector: Business Leadership towards a Sustainable World". By my side was WBO Partnership Director, Sonja Sheasley (pictured here). We were part of an audience of almost 150 people, most of whom were from some of the largest companies in the U.S. and the world (i.e. 3M, Cigna, Pfizer, Monsanto, Unilever, BASF, Owens Corning) as well as university stakeholders and other non-governmental organizations. We came away inspired and even more committed to bring bamboo onto a larger stage. Many people were surprised to learn about a global bamboo organization, with questions (Why bamboo? What do you do? How are you funded?), and genuine interest. I asked questions, too, to representatives of Owens Corning (think pink fiberglass) and 3M if their companies had investigated bamboo fiber. Sadly, they didn't really know bamboo fiber was an option.  We have so much to accomplish - we need to elevate the status of bamboo in peoples minds, educate the masses about the potentials of bamboo, and find partners to help us "expand our voice". 

What we really need to do, all of us, is to mobilize a critical mass of business leaders to address important aspects of bamboo, such as : 

> who owns the bamboo? its governance, its availability, its quality, its accessibility, its role in ecosystems...

> the industrial supply chain of bamboo for pulp and paper, as well as for building materials and household products

> life cycle assessments for the resulting products

> industrial processes such as rayon in order to improve the fabric potentials of bamboo

> water utilization of bamboo in forests and in plantations.

 

The global bamboo community truly needs COLLECTIVE ACTION to insure the best science, the best practices and the truth about bamboo.

So, again, I ask, who can help WBO amplify what we do? 

For now, we have faith in our World Bamboo Ambassadors and our corporate Partners, who help us with their commitment to bamboo.  However, we need a larger critical mass of business leaders to take a look at bamboo as not just a product, but as a sustainable solution and as part of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. 

Thank you.

Comments are welcome. Write to me at info@worldbamboo.net 

~ Susanne Lucas

 

 

 

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