Monastery Saint James the Mutilated, Le Maison d’Antioche Institute

Partner 6 – MAR YACOUB

The Monastery of St. James the Mutilated was undergoing serious degradation. It is provided with a traditional water system dating back to the Bizantine times, this was and still is the water gathering and distribution of the monastery and its fields and gardens.

In year 2000 the underground tunnels, the foggara, started to dry up. A lot of work has been done to restore them, there is a need to develop and restore the ancient structures to preserve the traditional techniques. There is also a need to disseminate in the local communitites the knowledge of their importance and value.

Thanks to the restoration of the water supplying systems it will be possible for the monastery to implement its project of developing medicinal crops in the fields, these types of plants need little water and maintenance.

The future project is also to restore the entire oasis of Qara and to transform iti nto an ecological village.

We need to preserve the traditional techniques in order to preserve the memory of the past and set the bases for the future.

In year 2000 the qanat starts to dry up

Desperate situation

Temporary solutions

Proper intervention

Partner 2 – SUD TIMMI

Partner SUD TIMMI bought a piece of land which had been abandoned and today is a desert, but was once the family oasis of Agmid. The project intends to rehabilitate the lost life in this area, that covers a surface of 1.500 ha.

During the survey on the ground 4 dry foggara were found. One of these has been dry for 17 years, but when the entrances to the underground channels was reopened, water was found underground.

The first thing that was done, with the permission of the previous owners, was to build protective walls round the foggara as was done traditionally.

The intention is to redirect the first foggara towards the palm grove, which is not completely dry and can be recovered.

An expert on the construction of saghia (the entrance and outer part of the foggara) in the region of Tamantit was called to give his advice in building the entrance to the foggara and the basin.

The regional laboratory station in Adrar examined the soil and water. The first results show that it is renewable water.

The entrance to the foggara is open to the public, and there are already visitors who are curious to see the restored drainage tunnels. Architects from the university de Ain Abah want to contribute to the rehabilitation of the ksar.

The author participated to the building and auto-construction of low cost houses in bamboo for the poorer population realized by a local organization in Ecuador. The material used is the Guadua, the type of bamboo that grows abundantly and is traditionally the most used material in this area.

Wanting to study an alternative and sustainable material for construction, the author has analyzed several aspects of bamboo structures and joints with the aim of designing simple kinds of joints to be realized with rudimental means thus making a simple, light and economic construction possible.

In the laboratory testing, bamboo has proven it has very good pozzolanical features, making in a good material to add to concrete instead of cement.

Bamboo is a perfect material for construction, especially in developing countries where it is common, and can be used both for housing a bigger structures as it always has in tradition.

As a consequence of voluntary work in Tanzania, the author witnessed the difficulty of the Maasai population in adapting to the social-economical changes due to modernization. To the pastoral activity, once the principal means of living for this population and the cause for their semi-nomad style of life, an increasing tourist activity has been added. This means that the population is becoming more sedentary and therefore the needs tend to change.

Aim of the thesis is to develop the traditional Maasai houses making them stronger, bigger and more livable through scientific research, but maintaining the traditional materials i.e earth, that is highly available and cheap compared to the “European earth”=cement that has started invading their housing together with the ondulated plate covers o their roofs.

The main area of study was the Arusha region in the north of Tanzania: the author collected samples of the earth that she then analyzed in laboratory, testified the building of the Tembe, the Maasai traditional house, sketched drawings of them, studied the possible modifications to make the structures more durable and comfortable.

Tembe structure: on the wooden structure twigs or animal skins are set and then covered with mud

woman making the internal structure. The house is not high so from the inside it is possible to make the inner shell of the house by tying the twigs together.

by analysing the behaviour of the structure it was possible to find the critical points of the structure and elaborate proposals like the strengthening of the wooden structure and the preparation of a basement, as well as the amelioration of the mud preparation.

ABC for green purchase in Civil Service

Coordinator: Arch. Riccardo Pozzi, published by the Agenda21 network of the Region of Tuscany

Available at http://agende21toscana.comune.fi.it

Aim of the publication:

Provide information for Civil Service employees and for citizens

Contents:

1- Regulations and political framework at an European, National and Regional level

2- How to make sure public-sector contracts are “green”

3- Possible ways to apply the GPP (Green Public Procurement)

4- Ecological labels and environmentally friendly management systems

5- Integration between purchase procedures and sustainable criteria

6- References for sustainable public contracts

Designer: Mohammed Bah Abba

The Pot-in-Pot system consists of two pots, a smaller earthenware pot nestled within another pot, with the space in between filled with sand and water. When that water evaporates, it pulls heat from the interior of the smaller pot, in which vegetables and fruits can be kept. In rural Nigeria, many farmers lack transportation, water, and electricity, but one of their biggest problems is the inability to preserve their crops. With the Pot-in-Pot, tomatoes last for twenty-one days, rather than two or three days without this technology. Fresher produce can be sold at the market, generating more income for the farmers.

Authors: Alberto Panissidi, Diego Quarta

Part of a project called “Progetto Madagascar-Ambanja” by Ingegneria Senza Frontiere of Naples answering the requests of an agricultural cooperative in Ambanja (north-western Madagascar) to ameliorate their hygienic conditions in sanitation.

The research focused on the disposal of urban solid waste and in particular on the organic component as this represents 80% of the total.

Today there is no plan for waste treatment, and this is simply stored in unauthorized dumps and burned periodically.

dumps where waste is burned periodically

cement refuse container created within a French project, day 0

same container day 9

wooden box for composting, 75×75x100

biomethanation of the solid organic waste

The research thus develops a system to treat the solid organic waste with processes of aerobic and anaerobic digestion that provide biogas and compost, two important sources of energy.

“Waste with love” is a project that wants to awake people’s awareness on the necessity of reducing waste. It consists in modifying the garbage bins and creating one that is made especially for exchanging goods we no longer need and making them available for others. There is no need for emptying operations because the contents are supposed to be automatically exchanged by people who choose from this collection point.

The project is being experimented on the small island of Giudecca, Venice, from June 2007.

More information at: www.rifiutoconaffetto.it

Cuando llueve en la ciudad, las superficies impermeables como el asfalto o el cemento repelen el agua y la mandan directamente a las alcantarillas. Con este pavimento el suelo de las ciudades se mantiene sano.