Under the direction of CIDEM (Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo de Estructuras y Materiales), the bamboo project aims to promote more environmentally friendly and sustainable local economies. The bamboo factory has contributed significantly to improving the living conditions of women and men in various Cuban communities. The SDC contributed 59% to the project costs. Other organisations also contributed.

CIDEM redirected its efforts in the 1980s in response to the collapse of the Socialist bloc and the need for a fundamental reorientation following the crisis in the centrally planned residential construction sector. The new CIDEM idea focused on the industrial prefabrication of building materials. The research institute developed an innovative production and marketing system for ecological building materials for communities in regions with a higher risk of natural disasters.

The first stage focuses on creating suitable conditions for the development and dissemination of this method based on ecological materials that require little energy to produce and are often made of recyclable building waste.

This stage, which ran from 2000 to 2005, was implemented as part of a South-South project. The machines and the know-how were from Cuba and other Latin American countries. For this work CIDEM received the United Nations "World Habitat Award" which is conferred by the "Building and Social Housing Foundation”.

Thanks to this vote of confidence, CIDEM and the network that supports these activities was in a better position to cope with Cuba’s economic situation (2009-2010). The continuing liquidity crisis also had a negative impact on the project. Changes in the Cuban economic model initiated in 2010 -- promoting self-employment, cooperatives in agriculture and other sectors, decentralisation and the delegation of powers to local authorities, etc. - also benefited the CIDEM project.

Implementation at the local level

The second stage of the project focused mainly on dissemination to the rest of the country of the lessons learned from experiences in the three provinces in which the pilot phase was conducted.

Other important steps included decentralisation of the production of ecological building material, involvement of the local population and authorities and the creation of new jobs. Today the following products are being marketed: bamboo furniture, handicraft items, fuel for the production of bricks, and articles for home building woodwork.

Thanks to the tangible results of this project, Cuba’s Ministry of Agriculture approved a national bamboo programme which is now being implemented. By 2014, 80 municipalities in 14 provinces will be participating in the programme and a total of 20,000 hectares will have been planted with bamboo. The project will also have a number of positive environmental effects including reforestation, CO2 capture from the air, soil regeneration and the protection of watersheds and catchment areas. Because of these successes, the National Council for Catchment Areas integrated reforestation with bamboo into its national programme for the reclamation of catchment areas (by 2010).

Concrete results

Impact on the quality of life of the population

• Improvement in the living conditions of 145,000 people in 53 Cuban communities
• Production of 22 model bamboo buildings to promote and further develop similar buildings at the local level
• Creation of 1,590 jobs with an average monthly wage of 486 Cuban pesos (CUP), which is higher than the average monthly wage in the provinces concerned (436 CUP)
• 37.5% of the jobs created went to women, working under the same conditions as men
• Creation of 9,100 part-time jobs.

Impact on the environment

• Reforestation of 5,900 hectares with bamboo
• Regeneration of 1,790 hectares of damaged land through the planting of bamboo
• Capture of 436,800 tonnes of CO² from the air
• Integration of reforestation in the national project for the reclamation of catchment areas (up to 2020).

Impact on production

• Creation of 244 small and medium enterprises (family firms, cooperatives and public sector enterprises) in 37 communities
• Development of 16 bamboo product lines
• Bamboo production chain with annual production capacity of 479,200 cubic metres
• Increased incomes in 37 communities thanks to the contribution of the bamboo industry, and decreased dependence on external resources
• Diversification and alternatives to meet the home building problems of rural communities
• Construction of three barns for agricultural use as prototypes for generalisation throughout the agricultural sector
• Creation of a network for the participation of all persons and institutions active in bamboo production, with a corresponding website.