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Determinants of successful sustainable building practices in Nigeria Anigbogu , Natalia A. Professor of Construction Engineering Management Department of Building University of Jos , Nigeria natashaanigbogu@yahoo.com . SUSTAINABILITY.
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Determinants of successful sustainable building practices in Nigeria Anigbogu, Natalia A. Professor of Construction Engineering Management Department of Building University of Jos, Nigeria natashaanigbogu@yahoo.com
SUSTAINABILITY “an idealized societal state where people live long, dignified, comfortable, and productive lives, satisfying their needs in environmentally sound and socially just ways so as to not compromise the ability of other human beings from doing the same now and into the distant future” Brian Kermath
Agenda 21 for Sustainable Construction in Developing Countries The main sources of foreign income for most developing countries remain agricultural products and raw materials, and with the declining value of these commodities, these countries find it increasingly difficult to access the financing necessary to move towards industrialization and a knowledge economy. There are also high levels of inequity within developing countries, many countries having developed a dual economy with wealthy elite that has developed consumption patterns equal to those in developed countries, and the rest of the population living in abject poverty. The developing world is further characterised by a lack of infrastructure and basic services and the capacity and resources to improve and maintain existing infrastructure, let alone cope with the demands of rapid urbanisation. While the developing world consumes far less resources, and releases far less greenhouse gasses than the developed world, the environmental degradation experienced has a more direct and visible impact and presents a more immediate threat to the physical survival of the poor. At the same time: Developing countries still have strong traditions of cooperative society and have developed sophisticated methods of conflict resolution and reaching common agreement. There is strong grassroots ability for innovation in the use of building materials, settlement development and institutional structuring that can be regarded as one of the most important resources in developing countries
endogenous determinants :culture, traditional environmentally friendly building materials and technologies, indigenous research into alternative materials, rudimentary deconstruction and use of secondary materials. exogenous determinants:worldwide sustainability efforts that resulted in widespread awareness, education and new environmental policies.
Culture, traditional and religious practices • Traditional practices that are common to many tribes in Nigeria and Africa generally: • Some trees are regarded as housing spirits and should not be felled without performing rituals. This custom had a protective effect on trees. • Animals in a particular habitat may be regarded as sacred and are therefore protected from hunting. • Many wildlife species are regarded as totems due to their historical or socio-cultural significance. Totem animals vary significantly over tribes and clans and include mammals (leopard, elephant, lion, monkey, and buffalo) and birds (falcon, raven, and parrot), turtles, crocodiles, snakes (python), scorpions, crabs and fishes. There is a belief that an intimate relationship exists between the totem animals and the tribe. Therefore, the members do not eat, kill or trap these animals. • There are sacred groves, which are pieces of land set aside for spiritual purposes, which range from a few square meters to several hectares. Apart from the collection of medicinal herbs (after the agreement of the elders), and their use as burial ground, the sacred grove areas are untouched. Farming, hunting, burning, tree cutting and firewood gathering are prohibited. • Traditional farming practices are champions in sustainable land and water management. They involve land rotation and shifting cultivation allowing the land for more than 10 years to restore its natural fertility. • Many lagoons and other bodies of water have long periods during which no fishing is al-lowed. These resting periods coincide with the period when the fish lay their eggs. • Hunting and trapping wild animals is subject to restriction.
Conservation strategy mainly rests on community solidarity, customary practices handed down from generation to generation and taboos. Age-grades and groups constitute an enduring management system in some Nigerian societies, where those who fall into a particular age range constitute an age-grade. Each age-grade has special or designated roles. Indigenous knowledge is the information base for a society, which facilitates communication and decision making. One needs however to be warned against the romanticized picture of the "primitive living in perfect harmony with his environment" approach. Archaeological evidence , indicates that even as early as 50,000 B.C.E. Africa suffered an extinction of 30% of its wildlife species, primarily due to human technology (the fire-drive method of catching game animals seems to be the most likely explanation) and one must be cautious about assigning a motive of ecological harmony to all traditional and religious practices because a significant part of traditional lore was directed towards achieving mastery over nature. Many conservation practices were not motivated by religious or aesthetic considerations but by the need to survive on the land which supported them.
Deconstruction and use of secondary construction materials Materials salvaged during demolition and deconstruction that can be found at second hand building materials markets throughout the country, some of which are up to 50 years old. Materials sold in these markets usually include: Roofing sheets Door and window frames Water heaters Ceiling board Burglary proofs Fans, light switches Wood from old roofing WCs and bath tubs Circuit breakers Wooden and sliding door panels Wash hand basins Furniture Kitchen sinks
Sustainable power backup and solar power use in buildings Power outages are the order of the day in Nigeria, lasting from few hours to several days or even weeks. Small capacity personal electricity generators have long been the only source of alternative power for many Nigerians, and their proliferation has resulted in near widespread environmental dissonance. Use of inverters and solar power as a backup for unreliable electricity supply through national grid is growing at unprecedented rate. There are reports on solar power initiatives and installations in the Nigerian media. Yet, there seem to be no reports on the performance of these installations and even though there are a number of suppliers listed on the internet, only anecdotal evidence exists as to the actual use of solar power by house-holds and organisations but without any indication of its performance or effectiveness.
Education There is a framework within Nigerian educational system for promoting the principles of sustainability at all levels. Most Building, Architecture, Quantity Surveying and Estate Management programmes in Nigeria are based in Faculties of Environmental Studies, Environmental Sciences and Environmental Design. Professional organisations are playing a very significant role in this area, especially Nigerian Institute of Building and Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria.
Environmental policies The main tool in streamlining environmental protection policies in Nigeria is Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) which was promulgated into law by a decree in 1992 and presently is EIA Act, 1992. The Act makes the application of the process of EIA mandatory for all major development projects. Careful examination of this document and its timing are indicative of concerns of the government of that time with environmental problems and beginning of social unrest in the oil producing areas of Nigeria. Out of 275 projects that underwent EIA in Nigeria between 1995 and 2005, 172 were in the area of Oil and Gas . Out of the same total number 67 projects were classified as Infrastructure Projects but out of this number only two were in the area of Housing and Urban Development; the rest were mainly in the area of power transmission, transportation, Port-Harcourt (a major oil producing area) Development, domestic water and waste disposal. EIA is conducted more or less as a separate technical exercise and is used basically as a perfunctory endorsement of decisions already made. 20 years on there are multiplier effects of this important legislative decision which paved the road for establishing a framework in the form of Federal and State Ministries of Environment, training of staff in these Ministries and creating general awareness of the importance of environmentally sound decisions with respect to development.
International sustainability cooperation Environmental issues are almost always too complex to be tackled by any one organiza- tion no matter how big the organization. The Nigerian Environmental Study/ Action Team (NEST) lists over 25 organisations in Nigeria and the same number outside the country that have been involved in fostering partnerships and linkages locally and globally to increase public awareness of issues of the environment and sustainable development through the dissemination of factual information, training on skills acquisition and promotion of sustainable livelihoods . Though some of the above could be related to capacity building with respect to sustainable construction, there is a need for greater integration of construction in Nigeria into sustainable development framework. For now construction related international sustainability efforts still have “one off” project nature.
DISCUSSION Many elements of sustainable practices in Nigeria, including those related to construction, have one thing in common with each other which distinguishes them from sustainability efforts in the western world: they are driven by an urgency concerning immediate survival needs. Whereas affluence, waste, damage to the environment often spur sustainability debates, actions and policies in the West, poverty and underdevelopment are often the main drive behind sustainability efforts in Nigeria. Sustainable practices ingrained in tradition and culture play an important part in the process of “sustainability consciousness” formation. Survival-driven sustainability, however, may result in attitude-behaviour inconsistencies.
It is important to recognise also that there is a massive informal sector in the Nigerian economy, which is responsible for a large part of environ- mental degradation. Informal construction sector is also large and difficult to regulate. Meanwhile, most of sustainability efforts, understandably, are directed towards reaching organised, formal construction sector of the Nigerian economy. Many indigenous knowledge systems are at risk of becoming extinct because of rapidly changing natural environments and fast pacing economic, political, and cultural changes on a global scale. The tragedy of the impending disappearance of indigenous knowledge is in skills, tech -nologies, arte-facts, problem solving strategies and expertise being lost. Most of sustainability related projects and research are carried out in urban areas, where the fabric of tradition and culture is fast deteriorating, while at their grass-roots in the rural areas low levels of education do not allow for the use of sophisticated approaches to developing sustainability awareness. All this calls for “user-friendly sustainability” that would allow for flexibility in reaching different stakeholders in sustainable development.
The foregoing informs the conclusion that the principles of sustainability are ingrained in Nigerian culture and tradition, development of alternative materials and use of alternative sources of energy, and general direction that Nigeria is adopting in its development efforts. This all indicates a great potential for successful incorporation of sustainable building practices in Nigerian construction. Strategies need however to be developed to turn the “sustainability capital” into “sustainability profit”.
