• The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) under the Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises has launched a unique project called ‘BOLD’.
• BOLD stands for Bamboo Oasis on Lands in Drought.

Key Features of Project BOLD 

• The first-of-its-kind BOLD project aims to create bamboo-based green patches of land in arid and semi-arid zones to solve environmental concerns such as land desertification and land degradation.
• Under the project, 5000 saplings of special bamboo species namely, Bambusa Tulda and Bambusa Polymorpha from Assam were planted on approximately 16 acres of vacant arid Gram Panchayat land, in the tribal village Nichla Mandwa in Udaipur, Rajasthan.
• In doing so, KVIC also created a world record of planting the highest number of bamboo saplings on a single day at one location.
• Further, KVIC plans to launch the project in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, and Leh, Ladakh, under which a total of 15,000 bamboo saplings will be planted before August 21.
• This bamboo plantation program will boost self-employment in the region and benefit a large number of women and unemployed youths in the region by connecting them to skill development programs.

Why Bamboos ?

• Bamboos are known for conserving water and reducing evaporation of water from the land surface. They are great sources to reduce land degradation, prevent land desertification, achieve sustainable development and solve food security issues. Bamboos can also be used to control pollution by making use of bamboo charcoal, which has absorption properties.