Around 200 million people in India are in need of affordable housesand are supported by government housing schemes such as 'Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awaas Yojana'. Usually these houses are built with concrete-steel combinations, with major impacts on climate change.
Low-cost houses for the rural poor can be constructed using bambooas the major raw material along with other eco-friendly, reusable and recyclable, locally sourced materials such as wood, mud, lime and ferro-cement. This innovative approach covers the housing problem of rural poor by generating employment and compensating CO2 emissions, as one hectare of bamboo can store 250 tons of CO2 (ecology.com). One of the multiplier effects of this project is, that the unused part of bamboos after being used for construction will generate a surplus of raw material, which can be used in other field applications like farming and non-farm sectors and thereby generate more gainful employment opportunities in rural areas which helps developing a circular economy.This project has two components:The main focus is onconstruction and housing. However, inthe process of developing a bambooresource base, the component ofcommunity and village developmentcomes into play.Forthis, bamboo planting programmes must be initiated, which include bamboo farming practises and plantations. This will generate increased employment opportunities in rural areas and can help in restraining migration towards big cities and decrease the linked CO2-emissions. A further step will be to provide training to the local population in bamboo utilisation and product skills.A village can be taken as the operation scale model. A pilot project shall be implemented in a selected village where the following facilities can be developed: Bamboo plantations, a common bamboo treatment and processing center with training facilities, construction of houses with bamboo as the main raw material, a bamboo based community center, etc. This pilot project is easily replicable in other places with the help of local community organisations.Thisis a solution to carbon sequestration and reducing its footprint whilst establishing a circular economy.Uravu Eco Links Ltd.(www.uravuecolinks.com)has already completed bamboo constructions in housing and built up social structures with local participation.
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