Ecological Sanitation--a way to solve global sanitation problems?

Today about 2.4 billion people in rural and urban areas do not have access to adequate sanitation services. Within 20 years, it is expected that an additional 2 billion will live in towns and cities, mainly in developing countries, demanding sanitation. Still over 90% of sewage in developing countries is discharged untreated, polluting rivers, lakes and coastal areas. Conventional sanitation concepts, based on flush toilets, a water wasting technology, are neither an ecological nor economical solution in both industrialized and developing countries. The water-based sewage systems were designed and built on the premises that human excreta are a waste; suitable only for disposal and that the environment is capable of assimilating this waste. A sanitation system that provides Ecological Sanitation (EcoSan) is a cycle--a sustainable, closed-loop system, which closes the gap between sanitation and agriculture. The EcoSan approach is resource minded and represents a holistic concept towards ecologically and economically sound sanitation. The underlying aim is to close (local) nutrient and water cycles with as less expenditure on material and energy as possible to contribute to a sustainable development. Human excreta are treated as a resource and are usually processed on-site and then treated off-site. The nutrients contained in excreta are then recycled by using them, e.g., in agriculture. EcoSan is a systemic approach and an attitude; single technologies are only means to an end and may range from near-natural wastewater treatment techniques to compost toilets, simple household installations to complex, mainly decentralised systems. These technologies are not ecological per se but only in relation to the observed environment. They are picked from the whole range of available conventional, modern and traditional technical options, combining them to EcoSan systems. The paper presents an introduction to EcoSan principles and concepts including re-use aspects (available nutrients and occurring risks), and case studies of EcoSan concepts in both industrialized and developing countries.     

Sustainable sanitation,improved use of composting latrines through mixing and moisturizing: case study in Paraguay

Providing sanitation for water-starved areas is crucial to environmental sustainability. Composting latrines are a sustainable sanitation method since they do not require water. However, little analysis has been done on the decomposition process occurring inside the latrine, including what temperatures are reached and what variables most affect the composting process. Having better knowledge of how outside variables affect composting latrines can aid designers and users on the choice, design, and use. Detailed field measurements of pit temperature in a latrine for several months were taken with the compost being frequently mixed and moistened. Ambient temperatures and the mixing of liquid to the compost resulted in temperature increases 100 % of the time, with seasonal ambient temperatures determining the rate and duration of the temperature increases. However, compost only reached total pathogen destruction levels in 10 % of the measurements. Storage time recommendation outlined by the World Health Organization should be complied with. If these storage durations are obtainable, the use of composting latrines is an economical and sustainable solution to sanitation while conserving water resources.     

Making the user more efficient: design for sustainable behaviour

User behaviour is a significant determinant of a product's environmental impact; while engineering advances permit increased efficiency of product operation, the user's decisions and habits ultimately have a major effect on the energy or other resources used by the product. There is thus a need to change users' behaviour. A range of design techniques developed in diverse contexts suggest opportunities for engineers, designers and other stakeholders working in the field of sustainable innovation to affect users' behaviour at the point of interaction with the product or system, in effect ‘making the user more efficient’. Approaches to changing users' behaviour from a number of fields are reviewed and discussed, including: strategic design of affordances and behaviour‐shaping constraints to control or affect energy‐ or other resource‐using interactions; the use of different kinds of feedback and persuasive technology techniques to encourage or guide users to reduce their environmental impact; and context‐based systems which use feedback to adjust their behaviour to run at optimum efficiency and reduce the opportunity for user‐affected inefficiency. Example implementations in the sustainable engineering and ecodesign field are suggested and discussed.     

Shifting drivers and static baselines in environmental governance: challenges for improving and proving water quality outcomes

Understanding the conditions that enable or constrain success in environmental governance is crucial for developing effective interventions and adapting approaches. Efforts to achieve and assess success in environmental quality improvement are often impeded by changes in conditions that drive outcomes but lie outside the scope of intervention and monitoring. We document how long-term changes in land use, agriculture, and climate act as non-stationary, shifting drivers of change that combine to render water quality management interventions less effective and increasingly difficult to assess. Focusing on the Yahara River watershed of south-central Wisconsin, USA, we ask how baselines influence program modeling, monitoring, and evaluation, as well as adaptation in governance approach. Through historical trend, GIS, and policy and qualitative data analyses, we find that changes in long-term land use and precipitation pattern dynamics exert tremendous pressure on water quality outcomes but are not captured in snapshot baseline assessments used in management planning or evaluation. Specifically, agricultural sector change related to the intensification of milk and manure production is increasingly challenging to address through best management practices, and flashier precipitation associated with climate change makes it difficult to achieve goals and establish a causal connection between management interventions and outcomes. Analysis of shifting drivers demonstrates challenges facing environmental governance in the context of climatic and social–ecological change. We suggest that goal setting, program design, and evaluation incorporate new modes of analysis that address slowly changing and external determinants of success.     

The effectiveness of village bylaws in sustainable management of community-managed exclosures in Northern Ethiopia

Communities in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia, have established exclosures on formerly degraded grazing lands and other land uses to promote natural regeneration of plants. Village bylaws devised by communities govern the management of exclosures. We analysed the effectiveness of village bylaws that are used to manage exclosures in addressing forest degradation, resolving conflicts among users over natural resource use, and meeting high expectations of users to realise economic benefits from exclosures through enhancing revenue from sale of grass and dry wood. We collected data using qualitative methods during July and November 2008 in two villages of Tigray. The village bylaws mitigated forest degradation by facilitating users to have common goals in the management of exclosures, and resolved conflicts among users by using monetary sanctions including penalties. The village bylaws were not effective in meeting the high expectations of users to realise economic benefits from exclosures. In some cases, the enforcement of village bylaws was constrained by high social capital, which resulted in the negligence among users in exposing free riders. This indicates that high social capital does not always enhance communal resource management. Moreover, recurrent drought, shortage of fuel wood, and the growing number of landless youths in both villages constrained the effectiveness of village bylaws and further expansion of exclosures. Village committees should focus on addressing the low level of rule enforcement and minimise negligence among users of exclosures through developing a sense of responsibility among users rather than focusing on penalties.     

Water, sanitation and sustainability: lessons from a community project

This paper captures the lessons learned from the implementation of water supply and sanitation interventions in Mayiwane community in the rural northeastern region of the Kingdom of Swaziland, relating to water system rehabilitation, water quantity and quality improvements, and the promotion of latrine construction. The issues examined include both the dimensions of implementation efficiency and project effectiveness: first identifying the inputs, activities and final outputs and, then, tracking the entire project cycle, from design to implementation and monitoring. To draw meaningful lessons for the sustainability of similar interventions, project evaluation involved extensive fieldwork, water sampling and testing, review of documentation, and interviews with community members and officials of governmental, civil society and collaborating external agencies. Readers should send their comments on this paper to BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

Building capacity with demand-driven partnerships: a case study of Partners for Water and Sanitation

Multi-stakeholder partnerships emerged from the 2002 Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) as a new vehicle for progressing toward the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by aligning the interests of businesses, governments and civil society to leverage the impact of their interventions. The water and sanitation sector boasts the largest number of such partnerships, including the demand-driven capacity-building partnership Partners for Water and Sanitation (PAWS), a product of the WSSD and a premier UK partnership for sustainable development. Through its partnership network, PAWS has access to the entire UK water industry, which they assign to capacity-building projects in Africa on a demand-driven basis. Though the supply of partners is generally strong, the demand for their assistance is variable. This paper examines the efficacy of demand-driven capacity building partnerships at achieving the water and sanitation MDGs, presenting a case study of the PAWS partnership and using it as a framework for discussion of the supply–demand dynamics that influence the scope, scale and ultimate impact of such partnerships.     

Constraints on the use of anthropogenic radionuclide-derived chronologies for saltmarsh sediments

Numerous studies have employed anthropogenic radionuclides deposited in accumulating sediments to derive chronologies for use in investigations of geomorphological processes and in reconstructing temporal trends in contaminant deposition. However, relatively few have interrogated their use in systems that erode as well as accrete sediment, or have addressed limitations in their applicability in systems that experience variable rates of accumulation. This paper examines the utility of Sellafield-derived radionuclides for reconstructing sedimentary processes in two contrasting saltmarsh systems in the south-west of Scotland. Sedimentation rates and patterns derived from the radionuclide chronologies are outlined and compared to results established through conventional geomorphological methods. The results confirm that the vertical distribution of anthropogenic radionuclides can be useful in determining sedimentation rates, but that these cannot always be used as indicators of contemporary processes, particularly where erosion is occurring. Their use is also limited unless profiles are obtained from spatially diverse geomorphological units. Integrating the use of chronologies with other independent methods secures more robust data for assessing both marsh sustainability and their longevity as radionuclide sinks.     

Socio-environmental consideration of phosphorus flows in the urban sanitation chain of contrasting cities

Understanding how cities can transform organic waste into a valuable resource is critical to urban sustainability. The capture and recycling of phosphorus (P), and other essential nutrients, from human excreta is particularly important as an alternative organic fertilizer source for agriculture. However, the complex set of socio-environmental factors influencing urban human excreta management is not yet sufficiently integrated into sustainable P research. Here, we synthesize information about the pathways P can take through urban sanitation systems along with barriers and facilitators to P recycling across cities. We examine five case study cities by using a sanitation chains approach: Accra, Ghana; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Beijing, China; Baltimore, USA; and London, England. Our cross-city comparison shows that London and Baltimore recycle a larger percentage of P from human excreta back to agricultural lands than other cities, and that there is a large diversity in socio-environmental factors that affect the patterns of recycling observed across cities. Our research highlights conditions that may be “necessary but not sufficient” for P recycling, including access to capital resources. Path dependencies of large sanitation infrastructure investments in the Global North contrast with rapidly urbanizing cities in the Global South, which present opportunities for alternative sanitation development pathways. Understanding such city-specific social and environmental barriers to P recycling options could help address multiple interacting societal objectives related to sanitation and provide options for satisfying global agricultural nutrient demand.

     

mSpray: A mobile phone technology to improve malaria control efforts and monitor human exposure to malaria control pesticides in Limpopo,South Africa

Recent estimates indicate that malaria has led to over half a million deaths worldwide, mostly to African children. Indoor residual spraying (IRS) of insecticides is one of the primary vector control interventions. However, current reporting systems do not obtain precise location of IRS events in relation to malaria cases, which poses challenges for effective and efficient malaria control. This information is also critical to avoid unnecessary human exposure to IRS insecticides. We developed and piloted a mobile-based application (mSpray) to collect comprehensive information on IRS spray events. We assessed the utility, acceptability and feasibility of using mSpray to gather improved homestead- and chemical-level IRS coverage data. We installed mSpray on 10 cell phones with data bundles, and pilot tested it with 13 users in Limpopo, South Africa. Users completed basic information (number of rooms/shelters sprayed; chemical used, etc.) on spray events. Upon submission, this information as well as geographic positioning system coordinates and time/date stamp were uploaded to a Google Drive Spreadsheet to be viewed in real time. We administered questionnaires, conducted focus groups, and interviewed key informants to evaluate the utility of the app. The low-cost, cell phone-based “mSpray” app was learned quickly by users, well accepted and preferred to the current paper-based method. We recorded 2865 entries (99.1% had a GPS accuracy of 20 m or less) and identified areas of improvement including increased battery life. We also identified a number of logistic and user problems (e.g., cost of cell phones and cellular bundles, battery life, obtaining accurate GPS measures, user errors, etc.) that would need to be overcome before full deployment. Use of cell phone technology could increase the efficiency of IRS malaria control efforts by mapping spray events in relation to malaria cases, resulting in more judicious use of chemicals that are potentially harmful to humans and the environment.     

The considerations and limitations of feedback as a strategy for behaviour change

Design for Sustainable Behaviour (DfSB) is a maturing research area concerned with the application of design strategies to influence consumer behaviour during a products use phase towards more sustainable action. However, current DfSB research has focussed on strategy selection with little research into understanding the real-world impact of the behaviour changing interventions debated. This article presents the results of an extensive literature review of one specific DfSB strategy, feedback – a user agentive performance indicator. These findings exemplify the considerations and limitations of this particular approach to behaviour change, drawing on empirical research conducted by a breadth of authors, including two of the only medium-term case studies in the field of DfSB. Considerations discussed include the frequency, duration and accuracy of feedback; the selection of metrics and the presentation medium and mode; the use of ambience and the location of the installation. Limitations of feedback include the need for additional information and comparisons; the issue with multiple users; technical issues; relegation to background technology and the potential rebound effects. This article provides insights to both improve the effectiveness of future feedback design efforts and also to help facilitate discussion on feedbacks position as a strategy within DfSB.     

交通道路对区域土地利用变化的影响研究进展

交通运输业是国民经济的重要组成部分,但科学评价交通道路对区域土地利用变化的影响尚未受到足够重视。为此,通过搜集大量文献,归纳了高速公路、普通公路、城市轨道交通、铁路等交通道路对区域土地利用变化的影响。研究表明,目前的研究方向主要集中在交通道路对于区域土地利用类型和景观格局的影响上。研究发现,交通道路可以通过改变交通可达性,影响周边区域土地利用变化,其影响程度与道路等级、与道路距离、原有土地利用类型等有着密切关系。相比较于开放型道路,封闭型交通道路如高速公路、城市轨道交通、铁路等,其对于周边区域土地利用变化的影响主要通过出入口、站点等实现,并在“点”状影响的基础上形成“轴”状影响;在研究方法上,国外学者侧重模型分析,国内学者侧重宏观分析,缓冲区分析等方法是目前普遍使用的方法,但在严谨性上有待改进。最后在特殊节点、特殊地域、改进方法、建立模型等方面对未来的研究进行了展望。 关键词： 交通;土地利用;变化;影响     

Proximate causes of deforestation in the Bolivian lowlands: an analysis of spatial dynamics

Forests in lowland Bolivia suffer from severe deforestation caused by different types of agents and land use activities. We identify three major proximate causes of deforestation. The largest share of deforestation is attributable to the expansion of mechanized agriculture, followed by cattle ranching and small-scale agriculture. We utilize a spatially explicit multinomial logit model to analyze the determinants of each of these proximate causes of deforestation between 1992 and 2004. We substantiate the quantitative insights with a qualitative analysis of historical processes that have shaped land use patterns in the Bolivian lowlands to date. Our results suggest that the expansion of mechanized agriculture occurs mainly in response to good access to export markets, fertile soil, and intermediate rainfall conditions. Increases in small-scale agriculture are mainly associated with a humid climate, fertile soil, and proximity to local markets. Forest conversion into pastures for cattle ranching occurs mostly irrespective of environmental determinants and can mainly be explained by access to local markets. Land use restrictions, such as protected areas, seem to prevent the expansion of mechanized agriculture but have little impact on the expansion of small-scale agriculture and cattle ranching. The analysis of future deforestation trends reveals possible hotspots of future expansion for each proximate cause and specifically highlights the possible opening of new frontiers for deforestation due to mechanized agriculture. Whereas the quantitative analysis effectively elucidates the spatial patterns of recent agricultural expansion, the interpretation of long-term historic drivers reveals that the timing and quantity of forest conversion are often triggered by political interventions and historical legacies.     

ICT applications in the research into environmental sustainability: a user preferences approach

Whether information and communication technology (ICT) constitutes a threat or a cure to environment??s deterioration is controversially discussed. Empirical evidence on the impacts of ICT is rare, so that generalizable lessons can hardly be drawn. This study provides empirical results on the role of ICT in research for environmental sustainability, but instead of ascertaining the impact of ICT on environmental protection, we conduct an analysis of the use of ICT in sustainability research. We assess the preferences of experts in different thematic sustainability fields for applying ICT tools, and we investigate ways to improve the application of these tools in order to augment their returns with respect to environmental protection research. This analysis is based on a set of surveys that were administered to international experts to evaluate the importance of ICT in environmental sustainability research and the research demands in key environmental sectors, such as climate change, natural resources, energy and biodiversity. The methodological framework is built on the analysis of users?? preferences for future developments in ICT tools using stated preferences techniques. Overall results suggest that ICT tools need to be developed in specific contexts, taking into account users?? needs and expectations. Our analysis shows that the use of ICT in environmental research is of great importance in the scientific community, but it can also play a crucial role in the policy context.     

Fishers’ perceptions of climate change,impacts on their livelihoods and adaptation strategies in environmental change hotspots: a case of Lake Wamala,Uganda

Fisheries resources support livelihoods of fishing communities but are threatened by over-exploitation, habitat degradation, pollution, invasive species and climate change. Unlike the other threats, climate change has received limited consideration and reducing its risks requires appropriate adaptation strategies. This study used quantitative and qualitative methods to generate knowledge on fishers’ perceptions of climate change, changes in climate variables and their impacts on livelihoods, adaptation strategies, constraints to adaptation and required interventions to promote adaptation strategies that would enable fishers to build resilience to sustain their livelihoods. We found that fishers were aware of changes in climate conditions manifested by unpredictable seasons, floods and droughts. Fishing remained the main livelihood activity. However, the dominance of fishes had changed from Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus L.) to the African catfish (Clarias gariepinus Burchell). Floods and droughts were associated with damage to gears, boats, landing sites and changes in fish catches and sizes, income from fishing and fish consumption. The fishers adapted by increasing time on fishing grounds and changing target species and fishing gear among other things. Some innovative fishers diversified to high-value crops and livestock. This increased their income beyond what was solely earned from fishing which provided an incentive for some of them to quit fishing. Livelihood diversification was enhanced by use of communications technology, membership of social groups, increasing fishing days and fishing experience. Adaptation was, however, constrained by limited credit, awareness and access to land, which require interventions such as improving access to credit, irrigation facilities, appropriate planting materials and awareness raising. We identified adaptation strategies, which if promoted and their constraints addressed, could increase resilience of fishers to the influence of climate change and sustain their livelihoods.     

Developing a sustainability assessment framework for integrated management of water resources systems using distributed zoning and system dynamics approaches

The management of large-scale water resources systems requires including of different stakeholders and users from municipal, agricultural, industrial and environmental sectors. This has baffled the process of decision making for integrated water resource systems. In such systems, the interactions between various stakeholders must be carefully taken into account with the goal of aggregating interests around the sustainability concept. In this study, first, the integrated water resources systems of Big Karun Watershed, Iran, have been modeled using the system dynamics approach. The system dynamics model represents the interactions between different components of the system, including water transfer projects, dams, urban, industry, agriculture and fish farming, and environmental demands. Vensim software has been used for the system dynamics modeling. Vensim simulates the dynamics behavior of the sub-systems and overall performance of the system by comparing the current operation policies with the future management scenarios. A wide range of performance indices, such as quantitative and qualitative water stress, income, cost, and productivity, have been used here to represent different aspects of sustainability goals. Finally, the performance of the systems has been evaluated by developing a sustainability index using distributed zoning model in order to identify proper management policies for this watershed. The results indicate that downstream users demand cannot be fully met by solely considering inter-basin water transfer and agricultural development projects. The sustainable and integrated management of the whole system ties into enhancement in both infrastructure systems and the operation of the whole system. It is expected that the sustainability of the basin improves if a water market schema exists and the gained money would be used to enhance the efficiency of existing irrigation networks.

     

Crossing technology and sustainability in cities’ development

This paper deals with sustainability in cities and the role technology plays in furthering sustainable results. Recently, many interventions have been implemented in cities to propose paths and models promoting the sustainability of cities from an overall perspective. Technologies are favouring the achievement of aims recalling the three spheres of sustainability as proposed by Arcadis (2017), namely “planet”, “profit”, and “people”. The ties between technology and the three spheres are investigated through a content analysis of reports issued by the 10 cities with the most significant advances in terms of becoming sustainable cities, as indicated in the Arcadis Report 2016. The results highlight technology as an element crossing sustainability, as processes and models in cities management and service provisions to citizens are significantly changing. New tools are innovating the processes addressing environmental issues, thus leading to cost efficiency and better economic conditions. Parallel to this, new models for city management and the provision of public services are addressing the need for a better quality of life for citizens and cities’ other stakeholders. Technology itself is thought of as sustainable because it should lead to efficiency and being efficient itself. A qualitative cluster analysis and a focus on excerpts from reports are proposed to highlight the ties between technologies and the elements representing key issues in managing and leading a city towards more sustainable conditions.     

Pathways of rural change: an integrated assessment of metabolic patterns in emerging ruralities

While rural transformations are nothing new in human history, current processes of rural change occur under multiple forces at an unprecedented pace, involving profound and unexpected changes in land use and users, and rapid transformations in the metabolic patterns of rural systems. The present special section aims to shed light on current drivers and pathways of rural change by analyzing, under a common conceptual and theoretical framework, examples of new ruralities that are emerging as responses across different world regions. Within this context, this introduction presents: (1) common research questions of the six presented cases of rural change; (2) the general theoretical and methodological framework of integrated assessment of societal metabolism adopted to analyze rural systems and (3) the main contributions and conclusions that could be drawn from six context-specific case studies from Asia, Latin America and Europe.     

Knowledge and awareness of eco-sanitation in central Nepal: a questionnaire survey

This study is based on a visual inspection and a questionnaire survey about sanitation in central Nepal. A total of 201 people from different groups were asked about their knowledge about eco-toilets, the fertilizer value of human urine and wood ash. Farmers were the least educated and least aware of most of the topics asked. Although the majority of educated people were aware about urine fertilizer, 68% of them were not interested in its use in their home, and 39% of them said that it might be not accepted. The visual inspection revealed that environmental hygiene depends on education. It is concluded that farmers need to receive practical demonstrations about the use of eco-toilets and wood ash to appreciate the direct benefits. It can be assumed that since urine fertilizer is a bonus obtained from eco-toilets, this could encourage even poor people to construct these kinds of facilities.     

城市发展质量的综合评价--以江苏省13个省辖市为例

在城市发展质量评价指标体系构建的基础上,依据一定的规则确定各评价指标的目标值,根据综合评价方法,对江苏省13个省辖市2000-2002年各城市发展质量进行综合分析.提出测算城市质量系统间协调发展程度的一般计量模型,根据此模型及城市发展质量综合评价的结论,分别研究了13个城市在近三年的城市化进程中,城市质量系统发展的协调性.