Growth Green and Inclusive -

The Case of Ethiopia

OECD Green Growth Papers June 2013
Ethiopian society, economy and environment
 the second most populous country in Africa - one
of the continent’s largest
 economy depends highly on agriculture and
current climatic variability
 climate change, poses challenges to achieving
Ethiopia’s green economy objectives
 Population
rural population, 70.4 million – urban population
13.6 million (2011/12) the majority in Addis Ababa
- urbanization rate 4.4%.
 classed as a least-developed country
 the economy is one of the fastest-growing in
Africa
Ethiopian society, economy and environment
 impacts of climate change
• devastating droughts in some areas, associated
crises in food security, and health impacts.
• increasing temperature
• declining rainfall

Due to the strategic importance of agriculture to the

national economy, and its sensitivity to water availability,
this sector has been given priority by the government.
Ethiopian society, economy and environment
society, economy and environment are intimately interlinked

 poor people’s dependence on agriculture and their related skills

 society’s dependence on farmers managing land well in order to
conserve watersheds and biodiversity
 the threats of climate change including increased risk of drought and
more extreme weather
 the unique attributes of Ethiopia’s agricultural products and its potential
for green hydroelectric power
 the powerful market drivers associated with rapid urbanization

There are also

 increasing population pressures, resource scarcities, price pressures,
and competition with other countries.
Glimpses of a green economy – pioneering initiatives in Ethiopia today
 There has been considerable policy attention recently to incorporate
environmental considerations in Ethiopia’s economic plan.

 Over the last few years and prior to the CRGE (Climate Resilient Green
Economy strategy), several green economy-type activities have been in
operation, albeit often at a small scale at project level. Mostly driven by
Ethiopian stakeholders, who have increasingly become aware of, and have
responded to, the many threats and opportunities of environmental change.

 In general, they are isolated examples from a growing range of experiences in

different sectors, but they could be improved and increased in number given
the right conditions and sufficient incentives.

 These ‘glimpses’ offer a good basis to pursue some elements of green growth.
The National Biogas Program for Ethiopia (NBPE)

 establishes biogas digester plants that provide smallholders

with alternative, renewable, clean, and safe energy (biogas)
for cooking and lighting, as well as organic fertilizer
(bioslurry) to improve their crop yields, and improved
sanitation - combining economic, social and environmental
benefits.

 In the Tigray region, for instance, the project covers many

communities. Results indicate that the use of bioslurry as
organic fertilizer has indeed increased crop yields,
outperforming chemical fertilizers.- Possibility for greening
rural economies at scale.
The National Clean Cook Stove Program Ethiopia (NCCSPE)

 wood continues as the main source of energy for many.

 Rural households using open wood-fires to cook household meals

suffer health problems associated with indoor air pollution.

 As part of the program, World Vision promote fuel-efficient stoves,

known as Tikikil, producing little or no smoke, consuming less fuel wood.
- Pilot projects were started in the Oromiya and Amhara region.

 social benefits – improved health

 environmental benefits - lower firewood consume, emission
reductions
 economic benefits - lower inputs requirements, such as fuel wood
Wind turbines

 The government of Ethiopia has planned to boost generation capacity to

10,000 MW from clean energy sources by the end 2014/15.

 Two wind farms are being built in Tigray region and Oromiya .

 economic objectives – main power producer of the region,

principal exporter to neighboring
countries

 environmental objectives – producing clean energy

 social objectives – to connect people to clean

energy.
Protected Area Management

 Ethiopia’s biodiversity is unique.

 However, many of the protected areas in the country

are only “paper parks”.

 It is a fact, that Regional and District investment bureaus allocate land

inside protected areas for development.

 This is why the Sustainable Development of Protected Areas System of

Ethiopia was set up, with support from the Global Environment Fund and
UNDP.
Community Forest and Development

 The Humbo Community-based Natural Regeneration Project was started

in 2005 and is Ethiopia’s first carbon trading initiative.

 Both sustainability and inclusiveness have been key features of the

project, which has protected 2,728 hectares of degraded forest, and is
now restoring and sustainably managing them.

 The Humbo forest had largely been destroyed

by the late 1960s.

 The project got recognition and was the first

project in Ethiopia (also in Africa) to receive
temporary certified emission reductions.
Sustainable Land Management program (SLM)

 Land degradation and limited agricultural productivity are two of Ethiopia’s

most significant developmental and environmental problems.

 The Government of Ethiopia in collaboration with donors (e.g. World Bank,

Finland, EU and Germany) and other stakeholders to reverse land
degradation and improve agricultural productivity initiated the
Sustainable Land Management program.

 Activities in Amhara, Oromiya and Tigray regions, running from

2005-14, already show encouraging results.

 This kind of program could form the core of any local green economy –
protecting the natural assets that underpin development and livelihoods.
Local holistic management

 The pastoral and agro-pastoral communities of the Borena zone are highly
vulnerable to drought, which leads to a range of environmental, health and
economic crises.
 The Agency for Cooperation and Research in Development (ACORD) has
been implementing an Integrated Drought Risk Reduction project in
Borena.
 This brings together water development, rangeland improvement, animal
health services, and community capacity enhancements.
 The communities have been deeply involved in the execution of the
project.
 Programs such as this – which include the people - offer much learning for
a more widespread approach to inclusive green growth.
The Addis Ababa in the global C40 program

 Addis Ababa a member of the C40 – forty cities committed to tackling

climate change, both through mitigating Green House Gas emissions and
in deploying adaptation actions.

 As part of the C40 commitment, the municipal authority is also examining

the sustainability of urban land use and scaling up urban green areas.

 Outreach campaigns have also been carried out to make Addis’ citizens
aware of the benefits of saving water and other natural resource.
 The initiatives highlighted above cover a broad range of successful
practices for green growth.

 They were developed, mostly prior to the conceptualization of a

national green growth strategy, to suit local circumstances.

 The success factors of these examples provide a good basis for scaling up
existing activities to drive a well-grounded implementation of the CRGE
(Climate Resilient Green Economy strategy).

 The government developed its Climate Resilient Green Economy strategy

(CRGE) as an anticipatory strategy to avoid the negative effects of growth.

 The CRGE’s vision is to achieve middle-income status by 2025 whilst

building a climate-resilient green economy – for Ethiopia to become a
“green economy front-runner”.
 The CRGE is identified as the most prominent feature in the Ethiopian
green growth landscape, albeit still a ‘map’ rather than a ‘destination’.

 Many constraints block the implementation of both the CRGE and the
scaling up of existing green growth solutions.

 These will need real attention if green growth is to be enabled in practice.

 Among such constraints are:

 Limited government capacity in relation to the huge new green growth
agenda,
 and the Lack of data and limited knowledge on
relevant variables
Governmental housing program for affordable housing, especially for
households with low and medium incomes., to which belongs the majority of
citizens.
EiABC/Addis
experiments with new architectural
Proposals (material, design)

SUDU
Sustainable Urban
Dwelling Unit
Container Building

Sustainable
 Container Building Rural Dwelling Unit
 SECU (SRDU)
 SRDU
 SUDU SECU - SUSTAINABLE
EMERGING CITY UNIT
SECU
Sustainable Emerging City Unit

double-storey prototype
structurally built out of compressed
straw board panels (STRAWTEC)

Will be produced in Ethiopia in

cooperation with the German
company STRAWTEC.
SRDU
Sustainable Rural Dwelling Unit

Transformation of vernacular
architecture, incorporating needs
for healthy habitation.

dominant building materials:

Earth and bamboo
SUDU
Sustainable Urban Dwelling Unit

construction elements:

slab - reinforced concrete slab,

walls - rammed earth/interlocking

soil blocks,

windows and doors - timber,

roofing ring beam

vault - clay tiles (8 % cement)

 the rural population has a strong
traditional way of living - oriented
around models handed down from
the past

 different cultures and ethnic

groups living far apart and in
isolated areas.
 comfortable natural conditions and climate
 daily life characterized by close social
structures
 primary rural work/income –
farming/agriculture
 lack of:
modern resources, infrastructure, technology,
long-distance communication systems
 but, people become connected to the modern
world – lacking any background knowledge of
the consequences of its use.
Traditional housing - using only natural and locally-available materials
The variety of Ethiopian dwellings…

traditional huts - contemporary slums - simple houses - single-family detached

houses - modern western-style apartments (G+ …) - high-rise buildings
 One common characteristic of the traditional tukul and cooperative detached
houses – the strong relationship to the ground
 the Ethiopian way of life in general has a strong relationship to the ground,
live is strongly connected with being outdoors.
 In many cases, the way of life indoors is not especially partitioned into
separate areas, and sanitary facilities are separate, outdoors or non-existent.
 involvement of users in the design and construction of housing varies
greatly.
• in slums the involvement - very high,
• for low-rise cooperative, private housing schemes - at a smaller scale
• condominiums - no involvement

 two aspects as a matter of social responsibility.

• Finding the right way for design and construction into existing systems
is a complex problem connected with difficulties and
misunderstandings, even though it may have clear benefits, such as
better living conditions and better chances for society.

• It is important to maintain cultural traditions and typical ways of living

on the one hand and also providing opportunities for more education,
public social space, infrastructure, sources of income and better health
and hygiene on the other.
the rate of migration from rural to urban areas is rising rapidly and
this shift looks set to increase in the immediate future.

Architectural concepts needs

 to create better living conditions in rural and urban areas –
creating a relation to the area
 to offer answers responding to the specific situation and
resources for sustainable and long-term development –
reinforcing the living and working environment
 developing the use locally available building materials/construction
techniques - improving existing skills and knowledge.
 to consider the way of land-use – providing greater density, compact
neighborhoods and maintain social interaction – preserving land
for agriculture purposes.
Activities and initiatives in the field of housing and urban development can be
divided into three broad approaches:

1. The umbrella model 2. The awareness model 3. The Fly-in model

provision of basic facilities and know-how, such as provision of infrastructure,

upgrading of skills and education, supply facilities, introduction of financial
models, with the goal of providing the background and motivation for greater
awareness and options for changing housing conditions.
The introduction of individual components to existing structures that through
the use of other materials and technologies, through learning by doing and
skills upgrading help to improve the overall durability, practicability and
quality of existing houses in rural areas.

Placing new house types, building systems and technologies by parties and
interests from outside which are not normally used there, with the firm
conviction that those products will be immediately accepted and adopted.
1.“Open space versus built space”
Open space in housing – semi-private outdoor areas that are sheltered and
partially concealed – must offer similar qualities to enclosed space defined by
walls.

Rural cultural activities are characterized by outdoor living and working with
only small built enclosures that are suitable for the respective climate.

Consequence:
A housing arrangement
with a more equal
proportion of enclosed
and sheltered open space
2. “Let the water out”
In Ethiopian housing culture and tradition, sanitary installations are not as
ubiquitous as they are in the West.

The quality of these installations is often poor resulting in damage to the

adjacent construction and in health and hygienic hazards.

Consequence:
Placing sanitary units out
of the core of the house.
3. “Participation”

Providing housing also involves creating a means of identification with

one’s surroundings. Ready-made (designed) constructions don’t offer their
inhabitants the chance to contribute themselves, to express their social
standing and acquire cultural acceptance.

Consequence:
involve people in the construction from the beginning

as a variant:
provide a basic core
structure that offers
inhabitants the ability to
complete it on their own
4. “Improved and innovative use of natural materials”

Traditional and modern building materials , such as straw

and earth.
 People like what they know.
 People like modern innovations too.
Consequence:
 New technologies and converted materials
processing methods can help improve on local
methods while employing locally available materials.

 The creation of new materials and principles, based

on traditional, available and affordable raw materials
and knowledge, can also act as a ‘technology
bridge’.
Ethiopia is confronted with a huge population increase, along with the
increased demand for food, water, safety and shelter, which are not yet
existent or already over stressed urban settlements.

Ethiopia’s challenges:
 invention of its own 21st century urbanization model - not relying on
models from the developed world”.

 reinvention of its indigenous building methods, construction technologies,

material use – reducing its dependence on imported materials
Addis Ababa
population (2025) 6 to 8 million

Need of solutions for:

density, health care, safety, social coherence, psychology, economy, ecology

Need to search for appropriate building materials and technologies

“Dubai Fever”
Newer developments – the contrary
to appropriate
 imported images – associated
with economic growth, political
power and misunderstood as
manifestations of positive
economic development and as
the singular aesthetic outcomes
of a modern looking city
 In reality, the city is anything but prepared for such a speculative boomtown
urbanism, considering that more than 60% of its population live below the
poverty line.

 The copy/paste of such architectural strategies includes serious problems.

• more than 80% of the construction materials, are imported.
• Big construction sites - usually led by foreign know how and leadership,
Ethiopians mostly seen in lower day-laborer ranks.

 The glass tower design

• big impact on the energy consumption of the city
• Big impact on the ecological footprint of the whole country.
• force the necessity of technical cooling systems

 Instead of taking advantage of and designing for the ideal climatic conditions of
Ethiopia, these designs support the depletion of one of Ethiopia's still limited
goods – energy – interruptions of electrical supply are the norm.
Big construction sites are usually led by foreign know how
and leadership and Ethiopians are mostly seen in lower
day-labourer ranks.

The glass tower symptomatic of “Dubai Fever” has a big

impact on the energy consumption of the city and
resultantly on the ecological footprint of the whole
country.

Instead of taking advantage of and designing for the ideal

climatic conditions of Ethiopia, the glass facades force the
necessity of technical cooling systems, depleting one of
the goods that Ethiopia does not have – energy –
interruptions of electrical supply are the norm.
 To generate conditions, geared toward sustainable development,
Ethiopia needs to develop regulations for and visions of, how to use its
rich culture and its reliable resources.

 These are first and foremost locally available construction material and
know how, such as natural stone, loam brick technology and rammed
earth construction techniques.
Housing Programs - Construction technology
 based on concrete pillar/slab system
 use of huge amounts of cement, gravel, hollow concrete
blocks
 application of technique, knowledge, material from the
global market.
 implementation of imported materials to facilitate
construction, to shorten construction time. – often
resulting in opposite, because of material shortages,
improper use of material/technology, unskilled manpower
 scaffolding, support for beams and ceilings – use of large
amounts of eucalyptus trees - facilitating the deforestation

A serious need to apply alternative techniques and methods

to achieve a more sustainable kind of construction.
Sustainability requires the integrative thinking of various disciplines in
design, the building sector and the urban infrastructure.

There is a need to enhance vernacular construction and material

knowledge, both of which could be used to cope with the dramatic need for
new urban dwellings.

This knowledge must be based on integrative modes of thinking, combining

design, construction, building physics, sociology, energy, ecology and
economy.