integrated recovery & low-carbon reconstruction - and update from pakistan

How humanitarian response can address key vulnerabilities, innovate, showcase best Value for Money; and help people adapt to changing climates The Pakistan experience. Magnus Wolfe Murray

• Shelter “roofing” kit – with steel beam • Water filter: multiple years of use (vs. aquatabs, etc.) • Solar light x 1 @ £5.00 each

Link immediate relief to recovery – resilience continuum – wherever possible

Upon return, most families have used this roofing kit a “second time” to cover temporary shelters (that are NOT flood resistant). Now these same materials will be used a third time to cover a durable flood-resistant home.

A roofing kit by Local NGO HANDS being used as to build a quite permanent-looking shelter. The family built the walls themselves using vernacular technology (earthen bricks and mud plaster).

And used again for the 3rd time For a Flood-Resistant Shelter

Cost: Emergency: £60 / family Robust shelter: £130 Admin, etc.: £15 Total: £205 / family

The alternative: Emergency only: £60 / family – every year assuming climate change drives extreme weather events.

0

2,000,000

4,000,000

6,000,000

8,000,000

10,000,000

12,000,000

14,000,000

16,000,000

18,000,000

Affected Population

Comparison across humanitarian crises

Large tent, £130 - £180 range. Limited adaptability – can’t be used to reconstruct the home.

And expensive!

An overview of “conventional” response

£18 / Unit

Cheap but not very good (not much protection and dignity)

Cheaper tent (£100)

In contrast – a DFID / IOM designed family shelter

£60 / family – including a solar light

Whole families: better protection, enhanced dignity

The “Roofing Kit” idea

• £58 per unit

• Used as temporary shelter

• Later to build a roof

• Double the value of a tent

• And half the price

Solar lights

OK but what does it mean? Research: Protection for women? Economic savings? Potential for small businesses? Ref. Grameen Shahkti - Bangladesh

good

thick

Walls

(better for keeping the house cool)

Many villages built these “chora” structures, which seem to cope with the heat much better (hot air rises and escapes through the small gaps in the thatch) while the steep roof ensures water flows away quickly in the rains.

“I am illiterate – therefore my daughter has a right to an education”

(!!!)

• Community development organisations (CBOs) Key for Social Capital and future development

• A well built structure, large enough to fit 50 people during this meeting.

• External temperature: 42

degrees • Internal temperature: 36

degrees

A quick introduction to Lime

• An ancient building material that could be the key to flood resistant housing in Pakistan

Hydraulic lime can be poured directly into the foundation trenches and used to reinforce the lower parts of walls, as shown.

Lime pits are built to allow lime rocks to slake (soak) properly before being used with local earth and sand to create flood-resistant plasters and renders. One person is elected by the community to run these pits and manage the process.

Walls after 4 – 5 days heavy rain, still in good condition

The ring-beam as designed by Heritage Foundation, installed by IOM’s partner NGO, SEWA. This is a lime-based concrete, using gravel bought in the local market; steel bolts are sunk into the walls to connect with the bamboo girders that will act as roof beams – making roof and wall an integrated structure. Note that a piece of split bamboo replaces the conventional use of reinforced iron bar.

Four pieces of bamboo are wired together to create a beam spanning the 4m room. Five such beams are used in total. The ring beam distributes their weight to avoid point loading. Note the massive 18” (50cm) walls which reinforced with lime based plaster should be virtually indestructible.

Yasmeen Lari, head of Heritage Foundation explaining the different components

A traditional Sindhi round-house, built on a

raised platform by Heritage Foundation as a

training model. Lime mud render for water-

resistance.

Examples from DFID-funded work with IOM

and Heritage Foundation, Sindh, 2012

Target: 17,500 one room shelters

View from inside the chora structure. These young men have now learned how to build flood resistant structures like these – knowledge that could stay with them all their lives.

Local and Global Emissions – total

brick production in Pakistan

Dioxins : 425.88 nanogramme

/ brick

32

CO2 Emissions : 37.4 million Tonnes

Equal to:

• 40m Pakistanis CO2 / year

• 9 million cars CO2 / year

Social impact – bricks in Pakistan

(Should we ignore this element?)

33

Child Labour Bonded Labour

Table 1: Conventional construction materials and practice

Item Required

amount per house (KG)

quantity per house

CO2e (Kg) emissions per

Kg / brick

CO2e (Tonnes)

emissions per House

Target no Houses

Amount for 50,000 houses (CO2

Tonnes)

Fired bricks (per brick figure - based on 0.23 CO2e per kg

n/a 5,500 0.55 3.03 50,000 151,250

Cement (Average CEM I Portland Cement 94% clinker)

600 600 0.95 0.57 50,000 28,500

Steel (Bar & rod 'Rest of World' average recycled content value)

54 54 1.95 0.11 50,000 5,265

Total Tonnes of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions 185,015

Table 2: Environmental Building Systems - as adopted by DFID & HANDS/IOM

Item (and items being replaced)

Required amount per house (KG)

quantity per house

CO2 (Kg) emission per

Kg / brick

CO2 (Tonnes) emission per

House

Target no Houses

Amount for 50,000

houses (CO2 Tonnes)

Fired bricks used for 20% of project only

5,500 0.55 3.025 10,000 12,100

Lime - in place of Cement (CO2e reduced by 70% as biomass based - see below)

50 0.234 0.0117 50,000 585

Steel: one beam instead of two procured

26 1.95 0.0507 50,000 2535

Total 15,220

Difference and saving in tonnes of CO2: 169,795

Source: University of Bath, Embodied energy and carbon in Construction materials (2008) Available at: https://www.circularecology.com/nuqdjaidjajklasah.html

VfM

• Lower cost = £50m saved

• Allowed for much greater coverage

• Low cost = easier to replicate for poor people

• RED supporting evidence study for replication and publication of guide

Lessons learned

• Main objective: flood resilience

• Environment impact: let’s not make it worse

• Low cost = replicable

• LIME: community based training AT SCALE

• 100,000 safe houses at less cost than the post-flood cash transfer programme. Value?

• Knowledge management (Humanitarian Library)

WASH in Emergency: Quick and Effective

But at what cost ?

Cost Environment Ecology Water

After 6 months in the

Sindhi sun…

$90 / unit

Note: this picture is

replicated across

thousands of

villages where

similar latrines built.

Lesson: we can do

better than this!

Structure alternatives – Earth Bags?

In May 2012 HANDS (local NGO based in Sindh) –

built this earth-bag latrine to test the idea. Total

cost including slab and door: £33 / $50 / 5000 PKR

Alternative slab design. Liberia, 2003.

These cost $5 / unit (compared to $35 / unit

of plastic slabs). A viable alternative?

• DOME shaped slab –

no need for iron or

mesh.

• Can be moved when

pit is full and re-used

• Lid section placed on

top prevents flies,

smells, etc.

• Very sturdy to stand on

– no wobbles like the

plastic slab

The other system: Pour Flush & Septic Tank Latrines. Copes better with heavy

water use. U-bend in slab means less smell. More costly:

Cost per unit: $275 (25,000 Rps)

But there are problems…

Septic Tanks will fill up. Effective run-off design needed – and

rarely incorporated

Poorly designed

overflow from septic

tanks

A common sight all over

Pakistan

A serious public health

problem has been

created, not resolved.

There are alternatives!

For example: constructed wetlands

Biogas plant

A sectional view of a fixed dome biogas plant

Energy potential of

different materials

C/N Ratio Hydraulic Retention Time

Duck dropping 8 Human waste 55 days

Human Excreta 8 Cow/Buffalo Dung 45 days

Chicken dropping 10

Goat dung 12 Low C/N ratio Low gas production

Pig dung 18 (Need 3 times the plant size to produce

Sheep dung 19 same amt of biogas as cow dung)

Cow/Buffalo dung 24

Water Hyacinth 25 High HRT Less amount required

Elephant dung 43 for feeding into plant

Maize stalk 60

Rice straw 70 WASH solution – HYBRID PLANT

Wheat straw 90 Cow dung for biogas production

Saw dust 200 Human waste for sanitation

Biogas sewage

treatment

Already tried and tested in Kenya – proving that this treatment system works well at low cost. Funding for pilots and testing in this technology needed.

Typical scene in semi-urban towns around Pakistan Environmental engineering solutions needed Must be: low cost, low tech and environmentally beneficial

UNICEF promotes model latrines, which it supports with < 9,000 PKR. This model cost 5,500, for slab, cement, etc. Now the community have the design model.

The problem of standing water is prevalent across Sindh – posing a challenge to both WASH and agriculture / livelihood colleagues: which species are most appropriate here?

Adapting local spaces Very low cost (c. £10) Paid by owner Materials only now available on local market

UNICEF / NRSP provided 5,500 towards the cost of this latrine.

Note: INNOVATION for hand-washing

What difference does it make?

Latrine Cost $ /

Unit

# Units # people

reached

(SPHERE)

Financial saving

Normal vs low-

cost

90 vs. 30 3,250 65,000 $ 195,000

@ 1m people 90 vs 30 50,000 1,000,000 $ 3,000,000

families people 1 latrine per 20 persons

10,000 65,000 3,250

100,000 650,000 32,500

153,846 1,000,000 50,000

# units # units # units # units

cost / unit $ 10,000 32,500 50,000 3,250

90 3,250 292,500

Latrine 90 900,000 2,925,000 4500000 292,500

Latrine 2 30 300,000 975,000 1500000 97,500

difference 600,000 1,950,000 3,000,000 195,000

Outcomes of 2012 workshop: research priorities

Sector Focus

Emergency sanitation Cost, design, ecology

Hygiene kits Evidence of impact

Emergency water Innovation and lower cost

Purr / aqua tabs Research efficacy / impact

ER sanitation Effective sewage treatment Innovations testing Environmental impact Biogas and wetlands

ER water Durable HH solutions

Local soap production Pilot on much larger scale

Groundwater quality Link with existing research Specific problem areas

Environmental impact of materials e.g. wood for latrines – at scale, what impact?

Quick compost making

Essential material for

establishing plant and

tree nurseries

Source: IDEP permaculture field school, Aceh

Applied at a household

garden level these

innovations can

generate enormous

returns.

building resilience for

communities facing malnutrition:

access to micro-nutrients

around the home

Garden in Jordan, used as part of short training courses.

Source: Permaculture Research Institute, Australia

Restoration of degraded, former agricultural

desert land in Jordan applying permaculture

design principles to create highly productive

plantations.

In Sindh, with a similar climate, this

approach could be adopted, transforming

salinated or depleted land into a resource for

fresh food, fuel, produce for sale,

construction materials, employment.

This short film gives a good

introduction to the strategy and

methods used:

http://youtu.be/sohI6vnWZmk

Before and after, Jordan, 2001.

Source: Permaculture Research Institute, Australia

HANDS in Gotki – a good example of grey water run-off. Eucalyptus chosen – fast growing, very water hungry, high value timber

Bamboo or short rotation coppice to absorb waste waters The problem is the solution (creates an opportunity rather than a problem)

Slide 1: A normal village in Sindh: little shade in the extreme heat, no kitchen gardens, high malnutrition, poor health and hygiene, deforestation, denuded environment, etc.

Concept: DFID Illustration and artwork: UNHABITAT

Loess Plateau – China An example of reducing vulnerability

& increasing resilience (for 50m people)

Stabilise eroding landscapes – tree roots bind soil & produce food

Youtube: Hope in a Changing Climate, trailer = 5 mins.

Before

After Tamera, Southern Portugal