## 3 Results and Discussion
### Carbon Credits in Bamboo Projects
Regarding the international aspect, the Ecoplanet Bamboo Group developed the first-accredited bamboo reforestation project under the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) in Nicaragua with 3199 ha of area (EcoPlanet Bamboo Central America--Reforestation Project Nicaragua) [102]. This project has five additional bamboo reforestation projects in the VCS pipeline [103]. Another registered VCS bamboo project is the Peri-urban Bamboo Planting around South African Townships (South Africa) project, developed by the Food and Trees for Africa (FTFA) and Renewable Energy Solutions (RES) [104]. All the VCS bamboo projects (Table 7) are based on traditional CDM methodologies, and they present higher emission reduction ability than Tongshan and Shunchang projects, especially the Nicaragua project. Apart from the significant difference in total area (Nicaragua, 3199 ha vs. Tongshan, 700 ha), the Nicaragua project included carbon pools from shrubs, dead wood, forest litter, and soil organic matter [105]; however, due to conservative principles, the projects based on CCER bamboo methodologies ignored all these carbon pools [96; 98]. As in China, the development of carbon projects for bamboo forests in other bamboo-rich global locations is currently very under-exploited. Acquiring data from the Verra registry database [101], the number of bamboo projects (13) is insignificant when compared to the large number of all forestry projects (520) (Table 8). Similarly, comparing the annual emission reduction amount, bamboo projects account for only 0.34% of all forestry projects in VCS. These bamboo projects were developed based on arbor forest methodologies rather than bamboo-specific methodologies, potentially blocking the convenience and accessibility of developing bamboo projects. Bamboo is different from tree species regarding its biological mechanisms. For instance, a bamboo forest aforestation project typically has two natural periods: growth and stable periods [106]. Bamboo grows rapidly when new shoots come out and can reach maturity within 4-5 years, much quicker than common tree species; after reaching maturity, an aforested bamboo forest can be sustainably managed. Thus, the calculations of net aboveground carbon stock changes in these two periods are different from the existing tree-based afforestation methodologies. An internationally rec \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c} \hline \hline  & & & & **Estimated** & & \\
**Name** & **Platform** & **Status** & **Country** & **Annual Emission Reduction (COe)** & **Crediing Period Start** & **Crediing Period End** \\ \hline Bamboo Plantations by Farmers and & & Under development & India & 61,126 & 09-07-2019 & 08-07-2049 \\ Community in the Country & VCS & Under development & India & 100,000 & 01-07-2017 & 30-06-2037 \\ Reforestation Pipeline & VCS & Under development & Italy & 315,494 & 01-07-2022 & 30-06-2050 \\  & & & development & & & \\  & & & & & & \\  & & & & & & \\  & & & & & & \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 7: The current bamboo forest carbon projects worldwide [96; 98; 100; 101]. ognized bamboo methodology may motivate the development of under-exploited bamboo projects. Other underlying reasons that limit their development, including geographic locations, costs and benefits, public awareness, etc., need further research. Managing bamboo forest projects also presents challenges. Although gregarious flowering can be overcome using short rotation and stand replacement, bamboo forests are vulnerable to insects and disease [18], influencing project permanence. The offset standard's credibility is crucial. For example, before the completion of afforestation, the Bamboo Forest Carbon Project in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan Province (Table 7), was withdrawn after the Panda Standard exited the carbon market due to the standardization of the national carbon offset market. A farmer's commitment to managing a project is essential to effective emission reduction; however, [PERSON] et al.