President of CASSA

Guatemala is a beautiful country, rich in natural resources, a wonderful climate and, along with its neighbors in Central America, forms one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots. Simultaneously, Guatemala is one of the world’s most vulnerable countries to the effects of climate change due to widespread poverty, food insecurity and deficient infrastructure. We are convinced we can overcome this, and bamboo and this Workshop have an important role in helping Central America adapt to a changing climate.

Punta Brava, a small coastal community of 350 people on the shores of Lake Izabal, is showing a better way forward to deal with their extreme climate vulnerability, extreme flooding happening 10x faster than a few decades ago. They are starting to adapt their village infrastructure, economics, and education to better deal with the realities of a warming world. Bamboo is becoming a quintessential element of Punta Brava’s development strategy.

CASSA began working with Punta Brava in 2017, designing and building their first community high school, Instituto Puente, with purely local and natural materials, prominently featuring bamboo from a local plantation that few ever noticed. Instituto Puente forever changed their perspectives of what can be done with this amazing material. Last year, with the support of the Climate-Smart Forest Economy Program, we planted 4 hectares of Dendrocalamus Asper bamboo in Punta Brava, designed and built 2 “Do-It-Yourself” bamboo houses and taught locals how to build them. Those two houses already perfectly withstood a hurricane and severe flooding, safeguarding their residents and even neighbors who sought shelter in the elevated, climate-proof bamboo houses. This only accelerated and strengthened villagers’ belief and interest in bamboo.

Attendees to the Workshop will get to participate in this live, ongoing and wonderful story of helping the people of Punta Brava rebuild their village and their livelihoods. The theme of Workshop is “building a climate-resilient future with bamboo”, will not just be a theoretical concept – we will be doing it. In addition to the wonderful constructions we will undertake during the Workshop, we invite you to join us to build knowledge and capacity and leave a permanent and uplifting mark in the minds and hearts of Punta Brava’s people that bamboo can change the world! Punta Brava can serve as a shining example for thousands of other Central American villages that bamboo can be our greatest ally to adapt to climate change.

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¡Bienvenidos a Guatemala!