Arief Rabik’s passion for bamboo has deep roots in his childhood. Born and raised by a dedicated bamboo pioneer, Linda Garland, and surrounded by the forests of Ubud as his playground, Arief Rabik answered his true calling. The Bamboo Village Initiative (BVI) was conceived as an ambitious and groundbreaking strategy by Arief Rabik aimed at addressing one of the world’s most critical issues: land degradation.

Simultaneously, Arief designed the Bamboo Village Initiative as the cornerstone for creating community-based social forestry assets, which he referred to as the Restoration Economy. He established the Bamboo Village Trust (BVT) for its global implementation.