Nagaland to host 1st World Bamboo Day on Sept 18

Guwahati : Nagaland will host first World Bamboo Day on September 18 based on the theme ?Bamboo for Community and Livelihood? , officials said.

Under the aegis of World Bamboo Organisation (WBO), the first ever World Bamboo Day celebrations will be held at Kisama, a heritage village near Dimapur.

The Day will be celebrated across countries, but the main event will be hosted by Nagaland.

Indian Vice President M Hamid Ansari will inaugurate the three-day long international celebrations.

Ansari will also inaugurate the Bamboo Heritage Hall, which is being constructed at Kisama for Nagaland to show its bamboo crafts to the world.

The World Bamboo Day was declared in 2009 in Bangkok, during the 8th World Bamboo Congress, in which, a delegation of Nagaland, led by chief minister Neiphiu Rio, also took part.

Bamboo run, bamboo sports, bamboo music and food festival, bamboo planting and essay and painting competition will be highlighted during the celebrations.

Over thousand of delegates from Japan, France, Korea, Thailand, Norway, US, Italy, Greece are expecting to participate in the celebration.

It is to be mentioned that, Nagaland is the home to almost five per cent of total India?s growing stock of bamboo; in which about 4,48,000 hectares.

At least 46 species of the wonder grass has been identified in the State so far.