BARRINGTON, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In a major milestone for both the forestry and climate change arenas, EcoPlanet Bamboo has become the first company to receive carbon validation through the VCS (Verified Carbon Standard) for its large scale commercial bamboo plantations in Nicaragua.

EcoPlanet Bamboo converts degraded land in some of the poorest parts of the world into commercially productive bamboo plantations, not only sequestering and storing significant volumes of atmospheric carbon dioxide, but providing growing timber markets with a sustainable alternative source of fiber. In a country and category that have traditionally not benefitted from significant carbon finance, this achievement solidifies the social and environmental impacts that the Company is making, both locally, regionally and internationally.

Validation by the Rainforest Alliance of an initial 816,000 tons of carbon dioxide from the reforestation of 3,370 acres of highly degraded land is a major policy achievement for a species that has until now fallen in a grey area between agriculture and forestry. Despite its contribution within forests globally, bamboo's ecological status as a grass combined with its unique growth patterns have made the quantification and understanding of its carbon sequestration benefits challenging. As the first company to develop accurate scientific methods for the measurement of such benefits, EcoPlanet Bamboo is driving international policy for the inclusion of bamboo within the ongoing forestry and land use debate.

"This VCS validation not only provides EcoPlanet Bamboo with the ability to continue to expand internationally, but lays the benchmarks for the development of an industry that is projected to reach $20 billion by 2015," says Troy Wiseman, CEO of EcoPlanet Bamboo.

EcoPlanet Bamboo is a global leader in the sustainable production of certified bamboo timber with operations in Central America and South Africa. For more information visit our booth at ForestDay 6 during COP18 in Doha, Qatar, Dec 1st 2012, or email us at info@ecoplanetbamboo.com.

For more information, see www.ecoplanetbamboo.com.

Contacts

EcoPlanet Bamboo
Kristena Blume, (847) 387-3609
Operations Manager
kblume@ecoplanetbamboo.com