Natural building material could be used for safer refugee housing

Jutin, a material made from jute, can be used to build sturdy yet lightweight structures that stay cooler during summer heat.

At the world’s largest refugee camp, in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, most people live in makeshift housing built from bamboo and plastic tarps.

These shelters are often damaged or destroyed during monsoons, which are intensifying as the climate warms. And they get very hot during heat waves.

Jahan: “As those houses have poor ventilation, the people living there were suffering from respiratory disease frequently, but also suffering from heat-related illnesses in summers.”

That’s Farjana Jahan of the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research in Bangladesh.

As part of a pilot project, her group built six houses using a sturdy, lightweight material called jutin instead. It’s made from jute – a natural fiber that’s cheap and abundant in Bangladesh.

In the first year, the jutin houses stayed cooler in the summer and withstood the monsoon winds and rain.

Jahan says safer, more comfortable housing not only leads to improvements in residents’ physical health.

Jahan: “But also in mental health, which is very important because they are people who are already traumatized.”

So these materials could be an affordable way to create more climate-resilient housing for some of the world’s most vulnerable people.