IOM working with Bangladesh to build sustainable bamboo market

Over 900,000 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar are living in Cox’s Bazar, an area where tropical heat, high humidity, and sandy soil create the ideal growing conditions for bamboo.

More than 24 million bamboo poles have been harvested for construction projects in the enormous refugee settlement in Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, thanks, in part, to support from the International Organization for Migration (IOM). 

Over 900,000 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar are living in Cox’s Bazar, an area where tropical heat, high humidity, and sandy soil create the ideal growing conditions for bamboo. 

When they arrived in 2017, the fast-growing tree provided the ideal low-cost building solution to the huge demand for semi-permanent shelters and other buildings.  

Now, IOM is working with the Bangladeshi authorities to build a sustainable bamboo market that will continue to provide for the refugees' needs but also make the isolated region of the country an international hub for the product.