World Bamboo Organization

World Bamboo Organization Founded as the International Bamboo Association (IBA), the idea for an international coordinating body for bamboo practitioners was born out of discussions at the International Bamboo Workshop in Chiang Mai, Thailand in 1991. The IBA was consequently established at the 1992 International Bamboo Congress in Japan. Through 1998 the IBA had been the coordinating platform for bamboo people around the world, with its primary responsibility being the International Bamboo Congress & International Bamboo Workshop. A union of these two distinct gatherings is today called the World Bamboo Congress, and has led to the rebirth of the IBA into the World Bamboo Organization. The WBO was legally formed as a U.S. tax-exempt trade association in 2005 by CEO Susanne Lucas.^[1] She currently holds the position of Executive Director, WBO Ambassador and is the author of Bamboo.^[2] Kamesh Salam (Assam, India) served as President 2007-2009. Michel Abadie (Paris, France) served his first term as President from 2010-2012, and was reappointed a second term in 2013 and has continued his role to the present.

The founding members of the WBO are Susanne Lucas^[3](USA), I.V. Ramanuja Rao (India), Karina Quintans (USA), David Flanagan (USA), Carmelita Bersalona (Philippines), Amin Samuel Zacca (Ghana), Jorge Campos (Chile), Victor Brias (Belgium).

An Honorary Council was established in 2005 to support WBO with professional consultation and expertise. The Honorary Council evolved and was renamed to better reflect the horizontal structure of its collaborations in the name of bamboo; who are now collectively called World Bamboo Ambassadors