WASH and environmental sustainability: Integration for sustainable development

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1 WASH and environmental sustainability: Integration for sustainable development I. Introduction: This framing paper provides context on the crucial linkages between WASH and sustainability and invites everyone to consider some key questions developed to help structure discussions over the week. This week s consultation provides a unique platform for development and environmental groups, joined by all stakeholders and the general public, to come together and debate the importance of integration between WASH and conservation objectives, and explore ideas about how to achieve such integration. The week also offers an opportunity for all these actors to share resources, knowledge and experience around innovative, costeffective programs that have successfully combined freshwater conservation and WASH. Such interactions could ultimately contribute to overcoming misperceptions that WASH and environmental sustainability goals are unconnected and may compete for resources and political attention. As experience shows, integration and cooperation can produce better results for both people and nature, and such an experience should feed into the consultation process on the Post-2015 Development Framework. II. WASH and sustainability: The sustainability of WASH services includes various dimensions: affordability, accountability, and financial, operational, institutional and environmental sustainability. In this sense, a drinking water, sanitation or hygiene service is considered to be sustainable if it continues to deliver the designated level of service (with respect to affordability, availability, quality and accessibility) over the long term. (JMP, 2011) All such dimensions cut across the entire WASH sector, as the means for ensuring the sustainability of results directly related to service outcomes. Financial, operational, institutional and environmental sustainability for the delivery of sustainable WASH services should be somehow reflected in the Post-2015 Development Framework. For the purpose of informing this week s consultation, this framing paper focuses on environmental sustainability. Freshwater is critical to our survival. Yet, around the world, increasing demands on water, particularly for food production, are adding pressure on fragile ecosystems and vulnerable communities. Pollution, excessive withdrawals, water diversions and loss of riparian vegetation pose a growing threat to our rivers, lakes and aquifers. Often driving these threats are population growth, rapid urbanization, poorly planned development and inadequate water governance. All these factors are crippling the ability of ecosystems to store, deliver, purify and transport water for people and nature. Climate change will make water availability even more unpredictable; climate change impacts on the hydrological cycles are already leading to more frequent and severe floods and droughts, which is likely to have major consequences to the resilience of water and sanitation infrastructure.

2 Despite all this, the need for integration between WASH and environmental sustainability remains often neglected by decision-makers, donors and project designers. The linkages between WASH and environmental sustainability are mutually reinforcing: for example, securing sustainable access to water, particularly for the poorest and most vulnerable, depends on maintaining the integrity of the wider watershed. At the same time, improving access to sanitation serves freshwater conservation by addressing pollution from human waste. III. Sustainable WASH services save lives and safeguard ecosystems: By the end of 2010, almost 90% of the world s population was using an improved drinking water source (WHO/UNICEF, 2012). Over the past 150 years, advances in water and sanitation services have eliminated cholera, typhoid and other waterborne diseases in several developed nations. Sanitation can be considered the greatest medical milestone of the last century (Boseley, 2007). Yet, major water- and sanitation-related gaps and problems, including gender and regional disparities, remain: Nearly one billion people lack access to safe drinking water; 2.5 billion people lack access to basic sanitation (WHO/UNICEF, 2012); Only 61% of the population of Sub-Saharan Africa has adequate access to water; improved sanitation coverage is less than 25% in many countries of Sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia (WHO/UNICEF, 2012); As a result of unsafe drinking water, inadequate sanitation, and insufficient hygiene, each year, diarrhea results in 1.5 million deaths; and, directly or indirectly, malnutrition kills 860,000 children less than 5 years-old (Pruss-Usten et al., 2008); School-aged children in the developing world lose 272 million school days annually to diarrhea (UNICEF, 2010); Approximately, 1 in 10 African girls in puberty or menstrual age drop out of school due to lack of clean and private sanitation (GWA, 2003); When women have to wait until dark to urinate in the open, they tend to drink less during the day, resulting in health problems such as urinary tract infections; Lack of adequate sanitation contaminates rivers worldwide, as one of the most significant sources of water pollution (UNICEF WHO 2008); The amount of wastewater produced annually is estimated to be about 1,500 km3, six times more water than exists in all the rivers of the world (UN-WWAP 2003); Access to adequate sanitation can reduce some of the estimated 2 million tons of sewage and industrial and agricultural waste discharged daily into the world s lakes and streams (UN WWAP 2003). In order to avoid unintended effects on the environment, the planning stages of WASH programs should consider environmental factors when conducting cost-benefit analyses for various water and sanitation options. WASH initiatives, however, could play an even greater role in improving the lives of people in the longterm by incorporating components aimed at maintaining or restoring the integrity of the freshwater and related ecosystems that provide multiple benefits and services to the communities at stake.

3 IV. Healthy ecosystems sustain water supplies for people and nature: Investing in freshwater conservation contributes to the sustainable provision of water supplies. Rivers, lakes, wetlands, aquifers, floodplains, as well as soils and riparian vegetation, deliver numerous services that underpin the security and basic needs of human communities. Healthy ecosystems, such as wetlands, act as natural infrastructure and can thus complement manmade infrastructure by storing, releasing, and even helping to clean water: Watersheds with significant plant cover slow rainfall runoff, increasing recharge of aquifers, preventing soil erosion and reducing flooding, while potentially limiting harmful impacts on water and sanitation infrastructure. Wetlands and floodplains absorb and reduce many types of pollutants, protecting freshwater resources and potentially reducing water treatment costs. Sustainably managed rivers transport sediments that nourish coastal habitats, which, in turn, have helped to protect cities against flooding and saltwater intrusion into water supplies, such as coastal aquifers. It is essential to protect sustainable water flows, the connectivity of watersheds, intact wetlands and floodplains, and groundwater recharge areas, in order to maintain ecosystem resilience and protect water supply and sanitation infrastructure into the future, particularly against the impacts of natural disasters associated with climate change and variability. Decision-makers often fail to understand, appreciate and account for the value of healthy ecosystems and the services they provide with regard to water security, especially during the planning of WASH projects. Even where awareness exists of the linkages between WASH and sustainable water management, information needed to enhance the ecological services directly relevant for WASH goals is often lacking in developing countries: for example, in order to contribute to groundwater availability, reforestation efforts must focus on an aquifer s recharge zones, but this cannot be done if there is no data about such zones for a given aquifer. V. Sharing Knowledge, Building Connections: There is a need to explore holistic solutions for securing water for healthy ecosystems and the human communities that depend on them. Programming and donor interest and commitment for WASH and environmental sustainability have not traditionally been integrated. It is thus vital to spread knowledge about existing programs, tools and technologies that showcase and/or facilitate integration; and advocate for increased aid for programs that simultaneously address WASH and environmental challenges. In this sense, documentation of current or recent programming demonstrating the importance of and opportunities for integration is important to raise awareness among decision-makers and share lessons learned among those working on the ground and the communities who stand to benefit from the synergies between WASH and environmental sustainability.

4 Gender, in particular, is a key theme for promoting environmentally sustainable WASH programs. Climate change will aggravate the burden on women and girls by increasing the time and distance to collect water during droughts; and, during floods, by worsening vulnerability to water-related diseases like cholera and diarrhea. Despite their central role in household management of water resources, women are often excluded from participation in the planning and decision-making around WASH programs. However, experience shows that projects designed and run with the full participation of women are more sustainable and effective than those that are not (Wijk Sijbesma et al., 2001). To address gender inequity, efforts to integrate environmental sustainability and improved WASH services should include gender analysis and a comprehensive approach to ensure among men and women, boys and girls broad participation in decision-making, equitable access to natural resources and the fair sharing of benefits that communities derive from healthy ecosystems. An example of a recent project that successfully integrated WASH and environmental sustainability is the RANOn ala Project in Madagascar. The Ranon Ala Project was funded by the US Agency for International Development, and implemented by Catholic Relief Services, Conservation International, RTI International, and Caritas Madagascar. The project integrated WASH services and products with the protection of water sources, with a view to ensuring access to economically viable and safe water and sanitation services among vulnerable and poor communities in northeastern Madagascar. The project included significant innovations for hygiene and sanitation solutions, such as market-based financing for water infrastructure, watershed mapping and protection, and the use of information and communication technologies for information dissemination, monitoring, and evaluation. The first step was to engage community stakeholders in water supply and sanitation planning. This was followed by measures to protect existing water sources, such as the use of community fines, reforestation and fencing of catchment areas, and the application of collective responsibility for ensuring the integrity of those sources. The project also supported the installation of boreholes, pumps, and water supply systems to provide water from these protected sources to private taps and community water points (Bonnardeaux, 2012). Additional examples of initiatives integrating WASH and environmental sustainability have been posted at V. WASH and environmental sustainability in the Post-2015 Development Framework Framing questions: The WASH and environmental sustainability questions below aim to provide some structure to the process of enlisting, summarizing and introducing the feedback received from the global community into the formal process for designing the Post-2015 development agenda. General questions WASH and environmental sustainability: In your opinion or from your experience, what are some potential benefits, pitfalls, challenges and opportunities for better integration between WASH and environmental sustainability? What topics or issues are missing from the discussion on environmental sustainability and WASH?

5 In terms of encouraging ongoing improvement in the environmental sustainability of WASH programs, do you have any recommendations or success stories from your country? Do you have examples of initiatives on which conservation and development organizations worked together to advance WASH goals in conjunction with the protection of freshwater ecosystems? What is your experience with designing and implementing WASH systems that incorporate climate change considerations and/or contribute to protecting watersheds and freshwater sources? Specific questions WASH and environmental sustainability in the Post-2015 agenda: What lessons have been learned from the existing targets on water supply and sanitation and their inclusion under the umbrella of environmental sustainability in the MDGs? Has that been sufficient to promote greater appreciation of the WASH-environmental sustainability linkages? Should the linkages between WASH and environmental sustainability be somehow reflected in the Post-2015 Development Framework? If so, do you have ideas on how to monitor progress towards environmental sustainability in the WASH sector? And how would you establish baselines for measuring such progress? What is your view on possible metrics to encourage specific outcomes in terms of better integration between environmental sustainability and WASH programs? How would you promote ownership of targets and indicators on WASH and environmental sustainability among national governments and local communities? We really want to hear from you! If you care or want to learn more about the linkages between WASH and environmental sustainability, or have experience and success stories to share with the world, join the global conversation towards building the future we all want. Through water, we can shape a better world. VI. Reference List Bonnardeaux, D Linking Biodiversity Conservation and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene: Experiences from Sub-Saharan Africa. Arlington, VA: Conservation International and Africa Biodiversity Collaborative Group. Boseley, S. January 28, Sanitation rated the greatest medical advance in 150 years. The Guardian.

6 Davidson, S Perceptions from the Conservation Community. Presentation at the 2011 InterAction Forum. Washington, DC. Gender and Water Alliance (GWA) Gender and Water Development Report: Gender Perspectives on Policies in the Water Sector. Delft, The Netherlands: International Water and Sanitation Reference Centre. GWA & UNDP. Resource Guide Mainstreaming Gender in Water Management. Global Water Partnership (GWP) Managing Water Resources with Natural Infrastructure., Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP), Proposal for consolidated drinking water, sanitation and hygiene targets, indicators and definitions (Nov 2011), at gets-definitions-and-indicators_version7_nov22_final.pdf. Pruss-Usten, A., Bos, R., Gore, F., and Bartram, A Safer Water, Better Health: Costs, Benefits and Sustainability of Interventions to Protect and Promote Health. Geneva, Switzerland: WHO. UNICEF Raising Clean Hands: WASH in Schools Joint Call to Action 2010, Fast Facts. US Environmental Protection Agency Aquatic Biodiversity Freshwater Ecosystems, Warner, D Perceptions of the WASH Sector: Presentation at the 2011 InterAction Forum. Washington, DC. WASH Sustainability Charter, WHO & UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation. Progress on Drinking Water and Sanitation: 2012 Update. New York, NY: UNICEF & WHO WHO, UNDESA, UNICEF, HABITAT, and UNEP/GPA The Sanitation Challenge: Turning Commitment into Reality. Geneva, Switzerland: WHO. Wijk-Sijbesma, CA van, Mukherjee, N., Gross, B Linking sustainability with demand, gender, and poverty: A study in community-managed water supply projects in 15 countries. Washington, D.C. and Delft, The Netherlands: International Water and Sanitation Reference Centre. Schuyt, K. and Brander, L The Economic Values of the World s Wetlands. Gland, Switzerland and Amsterdam, The Netherlands: World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) International and the Institute for Environmental Studies.