detailed shelter response profile Local Building Cultures for sustainable Ethiopia and resilient habitats 1st edition December 2018 detailed shelter response profile: ETHIOPIA | Local Building Cultures for sustainable and resilient habitats Cover images (from top to bottom): Stone houses in Axum, Tigray Region. CC - A. Davey Round chikka houses and elevated granary near Langano lake in Oromia region. CC - Ninara Dorze houses (Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ Region). CC - Maurits Vs Images credited with CC have a Creative Commons License 2 / 60 detailed shelter response profile: ETHIOPIA | Local Building Cultures for sustainable and resilient habitats Chikka constructions with thatched roofs near Gondar (Amhara Region) - © S. Moriset - CRAterre Konso village of Mecheke with round and rectangular houses both with thatched and CGI sheet roofs in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ Region. CC - Richard Mortel detailed shelter response profile: ETHIOPIA | Local Building Cultures for sustainable and resilient habitats 3 / 60 Landscape near Lake Wonchi (Oromia). ©T. Joffroy - CRAterre Nomads in the Danakil Depression, (Afar Region). CC - Archilli Family Journeys 4 / 60 detailed shelter response profile: ETHIOPIA | Local Building Cultures for sustainable and resilient habitats Table of contents Foreword .......................................................................................................6 1. Introduction ..............................................................................................8 1.1. Why Local Building Cultures are important today ............................................................8 1.2. Key concepts .......................................................................................................................8 1.3. Information used for this document and history of the collection ....................................9 1.4. Suggestions for use / audience ..........................................................................................9 1.5. Communication style in Ethiopia .......................................................................................9 2. Country profile .......................................................................................10 2.1. General description ..........................................................................................................10 2.2. Demographic, cultural and socioeconomic data .............................................................11 2.3. Natural hazards, environment and sustained weather pattern changes impacts ..........12 2.4. Refugees, Internally displaced persons (IDPs) and returnees .........................................14 3. Analysis of housing .................................................................................16 3.1. Household composition ....................................................................................................16 3.2. Inhabitants’ ability to invest in housing ............................................................................16 3.3. Tenure security issues .......................................................................................................18 3.4. Organisations involved in shelter, housing and disaster preparedness ............................20 3.5. Preparedness and post-disaster practices ........................................................................21 3.6. Construction sector ...........................................................................................................21 4. Description of local habitat ...................................................................26 4.1. Local habitat: general description .....................................................................................26 4.2. Addis Ababa ......................................................................................................................30 4.3. Afar ....................................................................................................................................31 4.4. Amhara .............................................................................................................................32 4.5. Benishangul-Gumuz ..........................................................................................................33 4.6. Dire Dawa ..........................................................................................................................34 4.7. Gambela ............................................................................................................................35 4.8. Harari .................................................................................................................................36 4.9. Oromia ...............................................................................................................................37 4.10. Somali ..............................................................................................................................38 4.11. Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ Region ...................................................39 4.12. Tigray ...............................................................................................................................41 5. Learning from local habitat ...................................................................42 5.1. Hazard-resistant practices .................................................................................................42 5.2. Prevailing dangerous construction practices ....................................................................45 5.3. Lifespan and maintenance ................................................................................................46 5.4. Green design, comfort and health features and beauty ..................................................48 5.5. Sociocultural practices fostering resilience ......................................................................49 5.6. Evolution of local building cultures ..................................................................................50 6. Projects based on the evolution of local building cultures ...............52 7. Additional resources and bibliography .................................................54 7.1. For further information .....................................................................................................54 7.2. For further information: country-specific resources ........................................................54 7.3. Other sources consulted to produce this document .......................................................55 7.4. Series of detailed shelter response profiles .....................................................................57 Key issues for initial diagnosis and project implementation ....................58 Acknowledgements .....................................................................................60 detailed shelter response profile: ETHIOPIA | Local Building Cultures for sustainable and resilient habitats 5 / 60 Foreword A COUNTRY OF EXTREMES... Ethiopia’s location gives it strategic dominance as a There are 5 climatic zones, closely associated with the varied jumping off point in the Horn of Africa, close to the altitude levels throughout the country (see pictures below): Middle East and its markets. Landlocked, it borders There are 5 climatic zones, closely associated with the varied Somalia, Kenya, South Sudan, Sudan, Eritrea and Djibouti, which altitude levels throughout the country: Kolla (Tropical weather), is the traditional access point for Ethiopia to the coast. Ethiopia Woina Dega (Subtropical weather) and Dega (Cool weather), is divided into 9 regions and 2 chartered cities (see map below). Bereha (Desertic) and Worch (afro-alpine areas above 3,200m). Ethiopia has different agricultural seasons according to the climatic regions. During the time of harvest, little construction is possible, as families are focussing on gathering their crops. (Main source for “A country of extremes”: World Bank) HIGH VULNERABILITY In Ethiopia almost 80% of the population live in rural areas and 72.7% work in agriculture. Low and unpredictable rainfall, frequent droughts, floods, crop and livestock diseases, domestic and international price volatility, environmental degradation, deforestation and also gradual and uncontrolled urbanisation are some of the root causes of increased vulnerability situations. Risks linked to natural disasters and conflicts are aggravated by © Own elaboration from Wikipedia Commons high levels of poverty (29.6% of the population below the poverty Ethiopia’s huge population of about 105 million makes it the line) and high population densities, especially in the highlands second most populous nation in Africa, after Nigeria. Although it and the Rift Valley. is the fastest growing economy in the region, it is also one of the The number of internally displaced persons has increased to poorest, with a per capita income of $768. Ethiopia’s government over 2.5 million by August 2018 due to conflicts, droughts and aims to reach lower-middle-income status by 2025. floods. Moreover, Ethiopia has become the second largest Due to its location spanning the Rift Valley, Ethiopia has some of refugee-hosting African country due to the long term conflicts in the most extreme changes in altitude and temperatures in Africa. neighbouring countries. In August 2018, it hosted over 905,000 In Afar, the Danakil Depression is a