Bamboo to the rescue in Costa Rica

Swenarski, Lisa . The Christian Science Monitor ; Boston, Mass. [Boston, Mass]09 Dec 1988.

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ABSTRACT
 
[...]it's attractive Chaves's proposal convinced international donors that bamboo was a good investment, leading to
$7 million in financing from the government of the Netherlands, the Central American Bank for Economic
Integration, and the United Nations Development Program International consultants, particularly Colombian and
Dutch, have brought their knowledge to the project, assisting a top-notch staff of Costa Rican professionals Their
offices consist of four model bamboo houses constructed by 10 graduates of the technological Institute of Costa
Rica, who now train people throughout the country to build on their own.

FULL TEXT
 
AN idealistic architecture major in Costa Rica, Ana Cecilia Chaves, came up with the idea of using more bamboo
for building. She believed it could help solve housing needs of the poorest people here; Eight years later, her
college thesis is a presidential priority in the form of the National Bamboo Project; ''I dreamed and dreamed and
dreamed of making it a reality,'' she remembers. ''But when you are working to help others, and not just yourself,
the work gets done.''

The bamboo project is Costa Rica's response to a number of development crises. In 1985 it was estimated that
140,000 families lacked adequate housing. And with 50,000 hectares (about 125,000 acres) of forest being
destroyed annually - with predictions of a need to import - the cost of wood, the traditional housing material, has
soared

More than half of those needing housing have low incomes, and the rising prices mean they are unable, more than
ever, to build on their own. And bamboo will not only make houses, but will create jobs for poor rural residents who
build the houses and grow the trees

Bamboo has been used by wealthy Japanese and Chinese families for years in the construction of their homes.
Peru and Ecuador have used it, and in Colombia entire towns are made of bamboo. The Netherlands has
researched the material extensively through its assistance to developing Asian countries

Nevertheless, in Costa Rica bamboo has never been used for housing, but only for fencing, propping up banana
trees, and making some furniture. So although the response was generally positive when Ms. Chaves introduced
the idea to communities throughout the country, some people were skeptical

''They had never thought of using bamboo, but rather they burned it like garbage,'' says Chaves. ''It wasn't until they
understood that they could make their homes from their own resources and not be dependent on materials from
the city that they felt some pride in the idea.'

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What's so goodabout bamboo

It costs one-third of the amount of a cement-block house. It better withstands earthquakes, because of its light
weight and flexibility. It can be used for reforestation and soil conservation. It can be planted and harvested in five
years with little work. And it's attractive

Chaves's proposal convinced international donors that bamboo was a good investment, leading to $7 million in
financing from the government of the Netherlands, the Central American Bank for Economic Integration, and the
United Nations Development Program

International consultants, particularly Colombian and Dutch, have brought their knowledge to the project, assisting
a top-notch staff of Costa Rican professionals

Their offices consist of four model bamboo houses constructed by 10 graduates of the technological Institute of
Costa Rica, who now train people throughout the country to build on their own. The buildings are covered with
cement and painted white. The bamboo only shows at the corners and on the inside of the roof

On one wall is a collage of photos of Chaves giving a tour of the model houses to President Oscar Arias. He has
made housing a No. 1 priority of his administration, naming 1988 the Year of Rural Housing, and placed a target of
80,000 new housing units built by 1990. Forty thousand have already been built, using cement, and now the
National Bamboo Project is being launched

The 10 construction technicians are going to 38 communities throughout the country to teach 900 people how to
build their own bamboo homes and to assist them in the actual construction. The participants will receive credit
from the project to buy necessary materials, and the World Food Program will provide food packages

Of these 900 people, 180 will be chosen to set up 10 small enterprises, which will process bamboo and instruct
others in construction. Each enterprise will build 750 houses a year for four years, resulting in 30,000 new housing
units - and employment for 180 families

Costa Rica has an abundance of cana brava and a bamboo species called vulgaris. These materials will be used
during the four-year pilot plan, but in the meantime cultivation of a stronger species is under way

Guadua, the type of bamboo used in Colombia, can grow 100 feet high and produce a trunk about eight inches in
diameter. It is growing rapidly in three nurseries and six experimental plantations and will soon cover 500 hectares,
to be harvested at the end of the project

Chaves has not lost her idealism. Although the project has just started in her country, she is already planning to
take the technology beyond Costa Rican borders

''Bamboo is a material that can solve the housing crisis of all Central Americans,'' she says. ''The help we received
from the Colombian experts we will be able to share with the entire region.''

Credit: Lisa Swenarski, Special to The Christian Science Monitor

Illustration
Caption: Picture, Ana Cecilia Chaves of the National Bamboo Project, LISA SWENARSKI

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DETAILS

Subject: Construction

Location: Netherlands Colombia Costa Rica

Publication title: The Christian Science Monitor; Boston, Mass.

Publication year: 1988

Publication date: Dec 9, 1988

Section: NEWS

Publisher: The Christian Science Publishing Society (d/b/a "The Christian Science Monitor"),
trusteeship under the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Place of publication: Boston, Mass.

Country of publication: United States, Boston, Mass.

Publication subject: General Interest Periodicals--United States

ISSN: 08827729

e-ISSN: 2166-3262

Source type: Newspapers

Language of publication: English

Document type: News

ProQuest document ID: 1034601879

Document URL: https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/bamboo-rescue-costa-

rica/docview/1034601879/se-2?accountid=27128

Copyright: Copyright 1988 The Christian Science Publishing Society

Last updated: 2017-11-19

Database: Business Premium Collection

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