ACCESSanitation – Accelerating City to City Exchange for Sustainable Sanitation
Project Background
Worldwide, 2.4 billion people are still in need of adequate sanitation. According to the WHO and UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water and Sanitation (JMP), 69% of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa and 67% of the population in South Asia (in total more than 1.6 billion people) live without access to adequate sanitation. Solutions applied to sanitation are often not viable in the long run and environmental issues are poorly considered creating severe impacts on water resources and eco-systems. It is now highly unlikely that the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia will achieve the Millennium Development Goal target to half the number of people without access to adequate sanitation.
Poverty and lack of access to sanitation are closely linked: unhygienic conditions lead to recurring diseases (diarrhoea, cholera, but also dengue, malaria etc.). This severely impedes the ability of disadvantaged groups of society to make their own living and together with additional expenses for medical care they are kept trapped in poverty. Furthermore, the poor are forced to live in an environment that is heavily polluted (water and groundwater pollution). The rates of those living below the poverty line are high (Philippines ca. 30%, India ca. 42%5, Lesotho ca 49%, Malawi ca 53%, Tanzania ca 36%, Uganda ca 37%, Zambia ca 68%).
Additionally, largely unplanned urban development (urban sprawl, squatter settlements) and an extremely quick spatial growth, increase the difficulty of providing adequate sanitary infrastructure to all parts of society and make conventional, centralized systems very difficult and expensive to implement. Environmental standards in developing countries are often very low or simply nonexistent, and potential environmental impacts frequently ignored when planning sanitary infrastructure. A centralised water and infrastructure-intensive approach for sanitation as applied in developed countries is still often seen as the model to go for. However, this is often inappropriate due to the enormous costs for the pipe network and a lack of water which can result in serious environmental and social drawbacks.
Many countries in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa are unlikely to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target to half the number of people without access to adequate sanitation. In addition many more countries are relying on unsustainable sanitation systems which pollute local water supplies causing disease and environmental degradation. Urban areas are particularly affected as rapid population growth and the resulting urban sprawl and informal settlements increases the need for new infrastructure and overwhelms facilities that do exist. The links between inadequate sanitation and poverty is well known and it is widely acknowledged that improvements in sanitation facilities can have a positive impact on health and livelihoods. The overall objective of this action is to reduce poverty by targeting non-existent and unsustainable sanitation in cities in South Asia, South-East Asia and, indirectly, Sub-Saharan Africa. Consequently the action pursues the MDG for sanitation while maintaining local sustainable development.
Worldwide, 2.4 billion people are still in need of adequate sanitation. According to the WHO and UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water and Sanitation (JMP), 69% of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa and 67% of the population in South Asia (in total more than 1.6 billion people) live without access to adequate sanitation. Solutions applied to sanitation are often not viable in the long run and environmental issues are poorly considered creating severe impacts on water resources and eco-systems. It is now highly unlikely that the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia will achieve the Millennium Development Goal target to half the number of people without access to adequate sanitation.Poverty and lack of access to sanitation are closely linked: unhygienic conditions lead to recurring diseases (diarrhoea, cholera, but also dengue, malaria etc.). This severely impedes the ability of disadvantaged groups of society to make their own living and together with additional expenses for medical care they are kept trapped in poverty. Furthermore, the poor are forced to live in an environment that is heavily polluted (water and groundwater pollution). The rates of those living below the poverty line are high (Philippines ca. 30%, India ca. 42%5, Lesotho ca 49%, Malawi ca 53%, Tanzania ca 36%, Uganda ca 37%, Zambia ca 68%).
Additionally, largely unplanned urban development (urban sprawl, squatter settlements) and an extremely quick spatial growth, increase the difficulty of providing adequate sanitary infrastructure to all parts of society and make conventional, centralized systems very difficult and expensive to implement. Environmental standards in developing countries are often very low or simply nonexistent, and potential environmental impacts frequently ignored when planning sanitary infrastructure. A centralised water and infrastructure-intensive approach for sanitation as applied in developed countries is still often seen as the model to go for. However, this is often inappropriate due to the enormous costs for the pipe network and a lack of water which can result in serious environmental and social drawbacks.
Many countries in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa are unlikely to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target to half the number of people without access to adequate sanitation. In addition many more countries are relying on unsustainable sanitation systems which pollute local water supplies causing disease and environmental degradation. Urban areas are particularly affected as rapid population growth and the resulting urban sprawl and informal settlements increases the need for new infrastructure and overwhelms facilities that do exist. The links between inadequate sanitation and poverty is well known and it is widely acknowledged that improvements in sanitation facilities can have a positive impact on health and livelihoods. The overall objective of this action is to reduce poverty by targeting non-existent and unsustainable sanitation in cities in South Asia, South-East Asia and, indirectly, Sub-Saharan Africa. Consequently the action pursues the MDG for sanitation while maintaining local sustainable development.
