CSTI Science and Culture Odsomo Webinar Series: What is the Anthropocene Epoch in Africa?
Channel: Centre for Science and Technology Innovations
Date: 2021-09-20

Our bi-monthly webinar series is in collaboration with Stanford University's Millennium Alliance for Humanity and the Biosphere (MAHB, pronounced "mob).   Geoversity is an online community (human ecosystem) for biocultural learning. Odsomo is a term from the Dholuo language which is multifaceted in meaning. Ot (singular) or Od (possessive pronoun) is a building. Somo is a place for learning that is understood to be a repository of knowledge. 

Through this second webinar, we showcase Kenyan and South African perspectives on biocapacity metrics for the construction industry.  Sustainable construction goes beyond the reduction of energy consumption and process related emissions. Sustainable construction includes the choice of materials and the impacts the material choices have on the biodiversity of plant and animal species. We include a discussion on post-mining rehabilitation because the development of construction materials begins with mining extraction.

Background and Context:

According to Mordor Intelligence, Africa's construction sector has an anticipated compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.4% between 2021 and 2026. Kenya's Vision 2030 Affordable Housing priority is driving construction growth demand.

Simultaneously, IEA estimates at a global scale, the energy consumed in the production of cement, steel, ceramics and other building construction materials generate approximately 39% of energy and process related carbon emissions. On the positive side, the World Green Building Council estimates there is enough technological capability for the construction industry to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

Links:
CSTI Science and Culture Odsomo Webinar series 
https://www.csti.or.ke/geoversity-odsomo

Blog Post
https://www.csti.or.ke/post/the-anthropocene-is-an-epoch-but-what-are-we-building

Stanford University MAHB
https://mahb.stanford.edu/

Geoversity
https://geoversity.org/

UNESCO General History of Africa
https://en.unesco.org/general-history-africa

Harvard University Languages of Africa
https://alp.fas.harvard.edu/introduction-african-languages

Mordor Intelligence
https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/africa-construction-market

IEA
https://www.iea.org/reports/global-status-report-for-buildings-and-construction-2019

World Green Building Council
https://www.worldgbc.org/news-media/WorldGBC-embodied-carbon-report-published