Rome, 5 March 2007 - Knowledge and skills handed down from generation to generation have found a new lease of life in the production of marketable goods to provide much-needed cash to local producers.

During the Committee on Forestry taking place at FAO headquarters from 13 to 16 March 2007, FAO will distribute folders and other materials made by villagers in Laos and Guatemala using local handicrafts.

Weaving bamboo to produce mats is a traditional knowledge in the Lao People's Democratic Republic, handed down from generation to generation by women. It is a valuable tangible national heritage that the government is making efforts to preserve.

Tapping into this knowledge, FAO has asked the villagers of Ban Lak 62 to produce folders for the Committee on Forestry made of bamboo sheets. The initiative is part of an FAO project launched in 2004 to help local communities develop businesses and market their products to obtain greater profit for the craftsmen themselves.

Thongdeuane Keomany, who studied bamboo handicraft for more than ten years has taught the women in the village of Ban Lak 62, the basics of bamboo weaving - a tradition that was in danger of being lost. Mo then helped the women from the production of very simple items to more complex products at a quality that would be good enough to meet international market requirements.

At the same time, FAO has helped the women to establish links with national and regional markets to buy the products. The result has been that the weavers have been able to increase their incomes from 40 to 50 percent. Another positive outcome is that the villagers have started to pay more attention to how they manage bamboo as a valuable natural resource on a sustainable basis.

Symbolically, a woven mat is synonymous to a "council" in pre-Columbian Maya culture, where dignitaries discussed public matters while squatting on a woven mat.

Similarly, FAO has also involved a local village in Guatemala in the production of cords for building passes for participants attending the Committee meeting using local skills, with the help of a local non-governmental organization, Maya Republic.

Hand weaving, using waist looms, is a traditional practice of Mayan women in Guatemala. Originally, this was done to create fine traditional cloth. However, the beauty, high quality of the textile and tourism have helped to diversify and open markets for products made using this ancient technique.

For the production of the cords, eighty women from the village of San Antonio Aguacalientes worked in their spare time. The colors used to make the cords are from natural ingredients found in the woods: green and blue were extracted from tree bark, fruits, leaves and herbs; and red, orange and brown were extracted from an insect that lives in a local cactus.

Beyond their use at this international committee meeting, the cords are being marketed as a new product introduced to the local market to further enhance the preservation and use of a Mayan traditional knowledge and culture.