Full-value or -cost pricing and conservation pricing as demand-side management tools are examined along with the benefits of maintaining responsive and transparent government and the benefits ...realized as a result of such practices.
Technical and social performances of an arsenic-removal technology—the sono arsenic filter—in rural areas of Bangladesh were investigated. Results of arsenic field-test showed that filtered water met ...the Bangladesh standard (<50 μg/L) after two years of continuous use. A questionnaire was administrated among 198 sono arsenic filter-user and 230 non-user families. Seventy-two percent of filters (n=198) were working at the time of the survey. Another 28% of the filters were abandoned due to breakage. The abandonment percentage (28%) was lower than other mitigation options currently implemented in Bangladesh. Households were reluctant to repair the broken filters on their own. High cost, problems with maintenance of filters, weak sludge-disposal guidance, and slow flow rate were the other demerits of the filter. These results indicate that the implementation approaches of the sono arsenic filter suffered from lack of ownership and long-term sustainability. Continuous use of arsenic-contaminated tubewells by the non-user households demonstrated the lack of alternative water supply in the survey area. Willingness of households to pay (about 30%) and preference of household filter (50%) suggest the need to develop a low-cost household arsenic filter. Development of community-based organization would be also necessary to implement a long-term, sustainable plan for household-based technology.
Simplifying the Water Poverty Index Cho, Danny I; Ogwang, Tomson; Opio, Christopher
Social indicators research,
06/2010, Volume:
97, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
In this paper, principal components methodology is used to derive simplified and cost effective indexes of water poverty. Using a well known data set for 147 countries from which an earlier ...five-component water poverty index comprising of Resources, Access, Capacity, Use and Environment was constructed, we find that a simplified three-component composite index comprising of Access, Capacity, and Environment, with unequal weights, or its two-component counterpart comprising of Capacity and Environment with equal weights, would be more cost-effective to construct without much loss of information. These simplified indexes have high positive and negative correlations with the Human Development Index and the Human Poverty Index, respectively.
Human rights-based approaches (HRBAs) promise greater alignment of development efforts with universal norms, as well as a focus on the root causes of poverty. While HRBAs have been widely adopted ...across the development sector, there is little systematic evidence about the actual impact of this strategic shift. Evaluating the effectiveness of HRBAs is challenging because various non-governmental and other organizations have developed very different understandings of how to apply a rights-based framework in the development context. This essay takes a step toward the rigorous evaluation of HRBAs by offering a comprehensive review of rights-based programming implemented by Plan International, a child-centered organization. It shows that Plan's adoption of HRBA-inspired strategies has transformed its interactions with local communities and added an explicit focus on the state as the primary duty bearer. There is evidence for a systematic increase in individual rights awareness, greater ownership exercised by community organizations, and the application of evidence-based advocacy aimed at scaling up proven program activities. But Plan's peculiar brand of HRBA neglects collaboration with domestic social movements and civil society, largely avoids a more confrontational approach towards the state, and has yet to produce evidence for regular successful rights claims by disadvantaged communities against governmental representatives at local, regional, or national levels. The study also reveals a limited ability of Plan to address disparities and discrimination within local communities, as well as a need to define clearly the organization's own accountability and duties deriving from its presence in local communities across more than fifty developing nations.
Water is fundamental to the health of the biosphere, strong economic growth and human social well-being. Despite its relative scarcity and absolute importance to life on earth, fresh water resources ...are often used inefficiently or polluted unnecessarily. Policymakers must work towards developing approaches to balance human demands for water with the water requirements of ecosystems. The European Water Framework Directive, which aims to encourage the sustainable management and protection of freshwater resources, brings this agenda into sharp focus in Europe. Land use change and environmental quality are closely related, and the nature and location of development can significantly influence both the generation and resolution of environmental problems. This places spatial planning, which provides a framework for regulating the development and use of land, in a strong position to affect water quantity and quality issues and thus to aid the achievement of the Directive's goals. In particular, spatial planning has an important function in integrating the use and management of land and water more closely than is presently the case. This paper explores the potential and actual role of spatial planning in addressing challenges associated with the water environment. This enables an assessment to be made of the extent to which spatial planning can help to meet the goals of the Water Framework Directive.
In times of increasing uncertainty because of climate and socioeconomic changes, the ability to deal with uncertainty and surprise is an essential requirement for the sustainability of alpine water ...governance. This article aims to contribute to the understanding of the adaptive capacity of water governance arrangements in the Swiss Alps and to propose options for reforms. To this purpose, we evaluated the current arrangements and the ways the actors have dealt with water shortages in the past, based on qualitative interviews and a document review. The research revealed that the adaptive capacity of the investigated arrangements is rather high with regard to reactive ways of responding to water shortage problems. However, there is limited capacity to proactively anticipate possible changes and to find prospective solutions on a regional scale. We conclude that with increased environmental and social pressures, forms of proactive water resource governance should be introduced, taking into account the welfare of people in both upstream and downstream areas.
This paper explores a political-ecological perspective on the relationship between urbanization, sustainability, and the production and distribution of urban water. The focus is on the ...interrelationship between social, economic, political, and environmental processes as they are expressed in the way urban water systems are organized. The first part summarizes the main components of a political-ecological perspective, with particular reference to questions of urban socio-environmental sustainability. In the second part, the critical moments with respect to the contemporary organization, management, and dynamics of the urban water cycle are explored, with particular reference to the findings of five case studies. The final part will tease out some conclusions with respect to urban sustainability.
Participatory irrigation management (PIM) was adopted in Thailand in 2004 to encourage the sustainable use of water in the agricultural sector. The research presented in this paper sought to ...understand the relationships between public participation, learning, and the implementation of more sustainable water practices through PIM in Thailand. Data was collected through document reviews, observation, informal meetings, and a total of 55 semi‐structured face‐to‐face interviews of local irrigators from two case study regions around the Krasiew Reservoir. Results showed that participating in PIM activities facilitated both instrumental (e.g., water supply and demand data, benefits of on‐time water delivery) and communicative (e.g., reasons for past PIM failure, expectations of fellow farmers) learning among PIM participants. Findings also revealed that social action is fostered through the recognition of human dignity and compassionate communication that instils a sense of ownership and solidarity among irrigators. Sustainable water practices among local farmers were spurred further through learning that the reservoir is a finite water source.
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