Bamboo as a building material for meeting East Africa’s housing needs : a value chain case study from Ethiopia

This paper assesses the potential of bamboo building materials to meet East Africa’s urgent housing needs, with special reference to Ethiopia. A value chain and sustainability study entitled “Development and Promotion of Bamboo Housing Technology in East Africa” is central to the project. Traditional Ethiopian bamboo building processes are evaluated, and recommendations are made for enhanced government support of the industry through: 1) promotion of bamboo construction projects in urban and rural housing development programmes; 2) preparing building codes and product standards for bamboo housing and construction products; and 3) creating clear conservation and utilization policies for bamboo resources

Promoting bamboo as a sustainable building material in Africa

26 persons from Kenya and Uganda were trained for bamboo cultivation and management by the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR). The project has initiated a dialogue among African countries and informed the public on sustainable use of local materials for housing. Such demonstrations and capacity-building activities will eventually motivate the public and respective governments to adopt national policy on sustainable management and utilization of local bamboo resources. The model buildings have received a lot of public attention, as people could hardly believe what one can do with bamboo, which has mostly been neglected in those countries

Bamboo as a sustainable building material for meeting housing needs in East Africa : a value chain case study in Ethiopia

This paper assesses the potential of bamboo to meet East Africa’s urgent housing needs, with special reference to Ethiopia. The paper is based on a one-month field study of Ethiopia conducted in early 2011, where local bamboo value chains and their sustainability were investigated through a series of interviews, questionnaires, and site visits with local bamboo stakeholders. The study highlights that many rural communities use bamboo extensively as a building material with widespread applications in wall, roof, ceiling, structural work and scaffolding systems. Ethiopia has a rich diversity of traditional bamboo housing designs, practices and skills. However, we also found that the sustainability of Ethiopian bamboo architecture is under threat from modernization, decreasing availability of bamboo resources, increased rural populations, and lack of adequate processing skills and modern designs. Despite these challenges, our economic analysis indicates that using bamboo for the development of tourist lodges and, or, low-income urban housing offer a financially viable means of developing the bamboo construction sector. Therefore, to ensure sustainable development of bamboo-based construction, the study recommends that Ethiopian Government, with assistance from international development agencies, should 1) continue to integrate bamboo with local building materials and promote a broader range of bamboo construction projects through its urban and rural housing development programmes, 2) prepare building codes and product standards for bamboo housing and construction products, and 3) develop clear conservation and utilization policies for bamboo resources to ensure sustainability of the resource

Climate Variation and Disturbance Regime Affect Stand Composition and Structure of the Boreal Forests in Southwest Yukon of Canada

The cold and dry boreal forests of the Southwest Yukon are dominated by white spruce (Picea glauca), trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides) and balsam poplar (Populus balsamifera), and the variability in structure and composition of stands depends on the favourability of disturbance, climate and site conditions for stimulating regeneration. In this study, we investigated relationships between stand structure and ecological, climatic and disturbance factors in the southwest Yukon. We found that white spruce dominates mature forests across the landscape, but it is regenerating proportionately less than trembling aspen. Nevertheless, regeneration of all the three species was abundant following any type or severity of disturbance. Height and diameter of both species varied with several environmental variables, particularly site physiography. Mixed stands of aspen and white spruce were more productive than pure stands of aspen or spruce. However, overall productivity in mixed stand decreased when density of aspen was more than 1000 stems/ ha. These results suggested that mixed stands of deciduous and coniferous species where appropriate should be promoted maintaining aspen density below 1000 stems/ha as the productivity declined beyond this threshold. Similarly, we suggest carrying out selection harvesting of co-dominant trees and regular thinning of intermediate trees to promote the height and diameter growth of the remaining trees

Equity and Coverage in the Continuum of Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Services in Nepal-Projecting the Estimates on Death Averted Using the LiST Tool

INTRODUCTION: The third Sustainable Development Goal, focused on health, includes two targets related to the reduction in maternal, newborn and under-five childhood mortality. We found it imperative to examine the equity and coverage of reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health (RMNCH) interventions from 2001 to 2016 in Nepal; and the death aversion that will take place during the SDG period. METHODS: We used the datasets from the Nepal Demographic Health Surveys (NDHS) 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016. We calculated the coverage and equity for RMNCH interventions and the composite coverage index (CCI). Based on the Annualized Rate of Change (ARC) in the coverage for selected RMNCH indicators, we projected the trend for the RMNCH interventions by 2030. We used the Lives Saved Tools (LiST) tool to estimate the maternal, newborn, under-five childhood deaths and stillbirths averted. We categorised the interventions into four different patterns based on coverage and inequity gap. RESULTS: Between 2001 and 2016, a significant improvement is seen in the overall RMNCH intervention coverage-CCI increasing from 46 to 75%. The ARC was highest for skilled attendance at birth (11.7%) followed by care seeking for pneumonia (8.2%) between the same period. In 2016, the highest inequity existed for utilization of the skilled birth attendance services (51%), followed by antenatal care (18%). The inequity gap for basic immunization services reduced significantly from 27.4% in 2001 to 5% in 2016. If the current ARC continues, then an additional 3783 maternal deaths, 36,443 neonatal deaths, 66,883 under-five childhood deaths and 24,024 stillbirths is expected to be averted by the year 2030. CONCLUSION: Nepal has experienced an improvement in the coverage and equity in RMNCH interventions. Reducing inequities will improve coverage for skilled birth attendants and antenatal care. The current annual rate of change in RMNCH coverage will further reduce the maternal, neonatal, under-five childhood deaths and stillbirths