Towards more sustainable sanitation solutions ows of water supply projects for example, and lim- Introduction ited innovation in the sector. The urgency for action in the sanitation sector is obvious, considering the 2.6 billion people world- wide who remain without access to any kind of im- proved sanitation, and the 2.2 million annual deaths (mostly children under the age of 5) caused mainly by sanitation-related diseases and poor hygienic conditions. The United Nations, during the Millennium Summit in New York in 2000 and the World Summit on Sus- tainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002, developed a series of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) aiming to achieve poverty eradica- tion and sustainable development. The specific tar- get set for the provision of water supply and sanita- tion services is to halve the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water and adequate Motivated by the UN’s decision to declare 2008 as sanitation by 2015. International Year of Sanitation (IYS), a core group of organisations active in the field of sustainable As the Joint Monitoring Programme of sanitation took the initiative to form a task force to WHO/UNICEF and the UNDP Human Development support the IYS. In January 2007, a first meeting Report (2006) have shown, the progress towards resulted in a large number of commitments by the meeting the MDG sanitation target is however participants from various organisations, and in much too slow, with an enormous gap existing be- drawing up a first draft of a “joint road map for the tween the intended coverage and today’s reality promotion of sustainable sanitation within the IYS especially in Sub-Sahara Africa and parts of Asia. 2008”. During a second meeting which took place mid of April, the goal and the objectives of this The reasons for this are numerous. A major issue global competence network were clarified and the is the fact that sanitation rarely benefits from the joint road map was reviewed. political attention given to other topics despite its key importance on many other sectors. Political will In order to have a joint label for the planned activi- has been sorely lacking when it comes to placing ties, and to be able to align with other potential ini- sanitation high on the international development tiatives, the group formed the “Sustainable Sanita- agenda. This has pushed sanitation into the shad- tion Alliance (SuSanA)”. SuSanA Statement – draft 05/2007 Page 1 of 4 the flexibility and adaptability of its technical What is Sustainable Sanitation? elements to the existing infrastructure, to demographic and socio-economic develop- ments and climate change. The main objective of a sanitation system is to pro- tect and promote human health by providing a (4) Financial and economic issues: relate to the clean environment and breaking the cycle of dis- capacity of households and communities to ease. In order to be sustainable a sanitation system pay for sanitation, including the construction, has to be not only economically viable, socially ac- maintenance and depreciation of the system. ceptable and technically and institutionally appro- Besides the evaluation of investment, opera- priate, but it should also protect the environment tion and maintenance costs, the topic also and the natural resources. When improving an ex- takes into account the economic benefits that isting and/or designing a new sanitation system, can be obtained in “productive” sanitation sys- sustainability criteria related to the following as- tems, including benefits from the production of pects should be considered: the recyclables (soil conditioner, fertiliser, en- ergy and reclaimed water), employment crea- (1) Health: includes the risk of exposure to patho- tion, increased productivity through improved gens and hazardous substances that could af- health and the reduction of environmental and fect public health at all points of the sanitation public health costs. system from the toilet via the collection and treatment system to the point of reuse or dis- (5) Socio-cultural and institutional aspects: the posal. The topic also covers aspects such as criteria in this category evaluate the socio- hygiene, nutrition and improvement of liveli- cultural acceptance and appropriateness of the hood achieved by the application of a certain system, convenience, system perceptions, sanitation system, as well as downstream ef- gender issues and impacts on human dignity, fects. the contribution to subsistence economies and food security, and legal and institutional as- (2) Environment and natural resources: in- pects. volves the required energy, water and other natural resources for construction, operation Most sanitation systems have been designed with and maintenance of the system, as well as the these aspects in mind, but in practice they are fail- potential emissions to the environment result- ing far too often because some of the criteria are ing from use. It also includes the degree of re- not met. In fact, there is probably no system which cycling and reuse practiced and the effects of is absolutely sustainable. The concept of sustain- these, for example reusing the wastewater, re- ability is more of a journey rather than a stage to turning nutrients and organic material to agri- reach. Nevertheless, it is crucial, that sanitation culture, and the protecting of other non- systems are evaluated carefully with regard to all renewable resources, for example through the dimensions of sustainability. Since there is no one- production of renewable energies (e.g. biogas for-all sanitation solution which fulfils the sustain- or fuel wood). ability criteria under different circumstances to the same extent, this system evaluation will depend on (3) Technology and operation: incorporates the the local framework and has to take into considera- functionality and the ease with which the sys- tion existing environmental, technical, socio-cultural tem can be constructed, operated and moni- and economic conditions. tored using the available human resources (e.g. the local community, technical team of the Taking into consideration the entire range of local utility etc.). It also concerns the suitability sustainability criteria, it is important to observe to achieve an efficient substance flow man- some basic principles when planning and imple- agement from a technical point of view. Fur- menting a sanitation system. These were already thermore, it evaluates the robustness of the developed some years ago by a group of experts system, its vulnerability towards disasters, and and SuSanA Statement – draft 05/2007 Page 2 of 4 were endorsed by the members of the Water Sup- women, to ensure environmental sustainability, ply and Sanitation Collaborative Council as the to improve livelihood, and to reduce poverty); “Bellagio Principles for Sustainable Sanitation” dur- to show that sanitation projects must be planned ing its 5th Global Forum in November 2000: with participation of all stakeholders at an early stage, must respond to the initiative and prefer- (1) Human dignity, quality of life and environ- ences of the users, and that these need to go mental security at household level should be hand in hand with hygiene promotion and ca- at the centre of any sanitation approach. pacity building activities for sustainable water (2) In line with good governance principles, deci- and wastewater management. sion making should involve participation of all stakeholders, especially the consumers and providers of services. (3) Waste should be considered a resource, and its management should be holistic and form a part of integrated water resources, nutrient flow and waste management processes (4) The domain in which environmental sanitation problems are resolved should be kept to the minimum practicable size (household, com- munity, town, district, catchment, city). Specific activities of the SuSanA are: Goal and objectives of the “Sus- to collect and compile information which will as- tainable Sanitation Alliance” sist decision makers (including the civil society) to assess different sanitation systems and tech- (SuSanA) nologies with regard to the full range of sustain- ability criteria so that informed decisions can be The overall goal of the SuSanA is to contribute to taken; the achievement of the MDGs by promoting sanita- to demonstrate that sanitation systems (which tion systems which are taking into consideration all produce soil conditioner, fertiliser, biogas, en- aspects of sustainability. The MDGs and the UN’s ergy and irrigation water) can contribute to “International Year of Sanitation 2008” are highly reaching the MDGs beyond sanitation, and con- appreciated by the “Sustainable Sanitation Alli- sequently present a change of paradigm from ance” as they help push sanitation high up in the purely disposal oriented to rather reuse oriented political agenda. The main focus of the work of the sanitation; ”Sustainable Sanitation Alliance” will be to promote to give examples of “smart (and less smart) the implementation of sustainable sanitation sys- practice” in sanitation for the “International Year tems in large scale water and sanitation pro- of Sanitation 2008” and beyond; grammes, in line with the strategies proposed e.g. to identify and describe the mechanism to up- by WHO, UNDP-PEP, UNSGAB, and UNESCO. scale implementation of these examples and develop new financing instruments for pro-poor General objectives of the SuSanA are therefore: sanitation provision; to develop global and regional visions of how to raise