EcoBuild
Women Art & Craft
The United Nations One Planet Network Sustainable Buildings and Construction Programme initiated a study to understand the current state of play with circularity in the built environment and Better World is taking this hands-on in Africa largely due to having been in the process of transitioning Bafut to a circular economy and proactively drafting supporting policies and programmes with the goal of transitioning to low carbon futures.
Healthy living starts with having a shelter over your head, a home where to lay your head. EcoBuild is a budding cottage industry from Bafut women adult literacy using using Permaculture principles and adapted technologies in natural building. EcoBuild was constituted to build all the structures of Ndanifor Permaculture Ecovillage and has now being scaled as a program for social housing in Bafut promoting, encouraging youth of the next generation to step into more sustainable lifestyles. It integrates the rich traditional art, craft and sculptures the Bafut kingdom is imbued with.
In the war 5.000 homes have been burnt in Bafut and EcoBuild is committed to working with Better World and African Way Partners to design Natural homes that provide support for living a more nature connected life, keeping down the toxic load of the environment, and keeping the traumatised citizens grounded. It is believed that building Ecolodges in Bafut will promote Ecotourism and a circular economy in Bafut.
The prices for building housing is skyrocketing in Ambazonia and Global building material use is expected to more than double by 2030. EcoBuild is looking into the types of materials locally available to be used in construction of the Bafut Ecovillage to bring down costs and reduce GHG emissions. Economic growth in construction and utlities is expected to increase too based on current trends. Abazonians are expected to continue to use more building materials after the war than they ever.
Such trends call for an urgent attention to question current ways of operating the built environment. Present practices are locked-into a linear way of planning, designing, building and operating the built environment and it is exigent to consider alternative approaches where mitigation and adaptation goals may be achieved simultaneously. EcoBuild circular approaches present a viable alternative to underpin the transition to a decarbonised world while at the same time meeting the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The United Nations One Planet Network Sustainable Buildings and Construction programme initiated a study to understand the current state of play with circularity in the built environment and Better World is taking this hands-on in Africa largely due to having been in the process of transitioning Bafut to a circular economy and proactively drafting supporting policies and programmes with the goal of transitioning to low carbon futures.
The transition to circular economy presents an opportunity. Re-use and recycling is expected to improve in the future, even leading to up-cycling. Examples of this EcoBuild sharing economy can spread. In a society that has been touched deeply by the war of liberation, shifts in the ways of working are already occurring. As cottage industry practices are transiting to a ‘new normal’ supported by Better World Cameroon it is timely to also consider the advantages of moving to circular built environments.