Costa Rica Plans to Build on a Forgotten Natural Resource--Bamboo

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.

Will Create Houses, Jobs

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 Chaves introduced the idea to communities throughout the country, some people were skeptical.

‘Burned It Like Garbage’

“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.”

What’s so good about 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’ proposal convinced international donors that bamboo is 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.

Consultants Brought In

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.

10 Small Enterprises

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.