ECO-friendly Bamboo for Reconstruction
Bamboo not only offers an accessible and affordable
option for post disaster housing, bamboo structures
have proven especially resilient to earthquakes
because of their strength and flexibility.
We are working with INBAR and the European
Commission to strengthen the bamboo sector
in the wake of the 2008 earthquake.
Guo Hengxiao, Deputy Director General,
Sichuan Forestry Department.
Brief Description
The SWITCH-Asia project, Eco-friendly Bamboo Production for Reconstruction, promotes the use of bamboo in place of timber or other non-renewable building materials, such as concrete and steel. The project operates in the Chinese region of Sichuan, which has over one third of China’s total bamboo species.
Bamboo has a high fibre rating that makes it exceptionally hard-wearing and bamboo materials have high tensile strength and good resistance to shock. The project can become a model for adopting sustainable reconstruction efforts with bamboo in post-disaster Sichuan and show how such building methods can help to make houses more resilient in the face of possible natural disasters in the future.
News
The project’s aim is to promote the development of the bamboo industry while improving the efficient use of water, resources and energy in construction. At the kick-off meeting on 16 March Dr Coosje Hoogendoorn, Director General of the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR), stressed the advantages of bamboo as building material and the potential for the project: "Bamboo has a key role to play in the development of sustainable local industries in post-disaster Sichuan. The project will not only generate local employment for more than 12,000 people, but will also promote an industry that is highly resource, energy and water efficient".
Johan Cauwenbergh, Head of Operations, European Union Delegation to China and Mongolia stressed the project’s impact on poverty alleviation: “This project will contribute substantially to the human resources development in this fascinating and promising technological field. It is evident that through the project’s efforts the livelihood of even the most vulnerable people will be positively affected in more than one way.”
This project will provide technical training for SMEs in Sichuan and help them to better comply with existing national environmental standards. At the same time the project is also to provide them with management training to improve their supply chain management system.
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