CRITICAL SCIENTIFIC and TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES NEEDED for SUSTAINABLE GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT © 2019 Institute for Transformative Technologies (ITT)
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CRITICAL SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES NEEDED FOR SUSTAINABLE GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT © 2019 Institute for Transformative Technologies (ITT). All Rights Reserved. Rights and permissions This work may be reproduced, in whole or in part, without permission, with attribution. Attribution Please cite this work as follows: “Institute for Transformative Technologies (ITT), 2019. 50 Breakthroughs: Critical Scientific and Technological Advances Needed for Sustainable Global Development.” For more information www.50breakthroughs.org | www.transformativetechnologies.org This is a section of the 50 Breakthroughs report The full report is available at www.50breakthroughs.org CONTENTS OVERVIEW 1 OVERVIEW 148 EDUCATION 374 GENDER EQUITY 412 HUMAN RIGHTS 464 PHYSICAL WATER 16 IRRIGATION 163 SCARCITY SOIL HEALTH AND 191 WATER QUALITY 58 NUTRITION ECONOMIC WATER 114 BIOTIC STRESSES 220 SCARCITY POST-HARVEST 235 HANDLING & STORAGE EXTENSION SERVICES 257 LIVESTOCK 270 FISHERIES & 304 AQUACULTURE AGRICULTURAL 319 SUSTAINABILITY OVERVIEW 489 DIGITAL INCLUSION 735 OVERVIEW 775 RESILIENCE TO 865 EMERGING 943 GLOBAL CHANGE TECHNOLOGIES HIV/AIDS 499 ACCESS TO 786 ELECTRICITY PULMONARY 526 TUBERCULOSIS CLEAN COOKING 826 MALARIA 554 MATERNAL AND 578 NEONATAL HEALTH PNEUMONIA AND 593 LOWER RESPIRATORY INFECTIONS DIARRHEAL DISEASES 621 NON-COMMUNICABLE 647 DISEASES NUTRITIONAL 669 DEFICIENCIES DIAGNOSTICS 687 HEALTHCARE 715 DELIVERY WATER QUALITY 58 WATER QUALITY Introduction Core Facts Key Challenges Breakthroughs INTRODUCTION Clean water is essential for healthy Five technology breakthroughs can significantly living, but is hard to obtain in many reduce the burden of poor water quality: regions of the world. Breakthrough 1. A low-cost system for precision application of agricultural inputs, ideally Much water is unsuitable for use because it contains combining water and fertilizer contaminants, either natural minerals like salt or arsenic, or pollutants like sewage or chemical waste. Breakthrough 2. A very low-cost scalable technique for desalinating brackish water The overwhelming majority of water on Earth is saline, in the oceans and seas, and cannot be directly Breakthrough 3. Network of low-cost distributed used by households or farms. The size and ubiquity monitoring sensors to measure and map air and of the resource, however, suggests that effective water quality techniques for desalination are critical to overcome water constraints. Breakthrough 4. Sustainable, affordable, household-level fecal waste management system In addition, groundwater in some parts of the world, such as Bangladesh, naturally contains dangerous Breakthrough 5. Medium to large-scale sewage levels of arsenic, which must be removed prior to treatment process with recovery of water (and safe consumption. ideally nutrients and energy) By using rivers, lakes and oceans as a dumping ground for inorganic pollutants and biological wastes such as sewage, human society has significantly changed the quality of water. Discharge of untreated sewage into rivers is common in urban areas. Water contamination by fecal pathogens causes diarrhea and other diseases, resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths annually, primarily among children. Other important water quality challenges include exposure to diverse waterborne toxins from industrial effluent and agricultural run-off of fertilizers and pesticides. Water pollution is typically an unintended consequence of other activities; people do not intend to cause pollution, but disposing of waste products into a nearby water body is often the most expedient and inexpensive form of disposal. The traditional approach to waste disposal considered that “the solution to pollution is dilution”, which was effective when the amount of waste was small relative to the capacity of the environment to assimilate it. However, this approach is ineffective at larger scale, when the huge quantities of waste overwhelm natural processes and leave water bodies polluted. 59 WATER QUALITY Introduction Core Facts Key Challenges Breakthroughs CORE FACTS AND ANALYSIS 1. Fecal contamination of water Continued exposure to fecal contamination can lead to chronic conditions, such as malnutrition bodies causes severe health and and stunting in children due to environmental environmental impacts enteropathy, in which the body uses much of the energy and nutrients from food to fight off ingested Human fecal matter can contain a range of harmful fecal pathogens rather than absorbing them for pathogens, including viruses, bacteria, protozoa, and growth and development (Harris, et al., 2017). helminths (see Exhibit 1). These pathogens cause diarrhea and other diseases. Almost 1.7 million Stunted height indicates that vital organs, such as people die each year due to diarrheal diseases, the brain and kidneys, are not developing properly primarily children (GHDX, 2018). and has been associated with a lower intelligence quotient (IQ) and a higher risk of developing diseases The vast majority of diarrheal deaths occur in later in life (Schmidt, 2014). South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa (see Exhibit 2). Diarrheal disease burden is highly concentrated Fecal contamination of water bodies imposes great in a small number of countries, with 78 percent of economic cost on societies, mainly from healthcare deaths occurring in just 10 countries, including India, expenses and health-related opportunity costs. Nigeria, DR Congo and Ethiopia. Human fecal matter also spreads soil-transmitted helminths (STH), which affect roughly 1.5 billion people globally. In addition to mortality, the indirect burden of diarrheal disease and STHs is significant; they are a major contributor to malnutrition, which in turn is believed to underlie 45 percent of all childhood deaths. 60 WATER QUALITY Introduction Core Facts Key Challenges Breakthroughs Exhibit 1: Fecal waste contains four major types of pathogens: viruses, bacteria, protozoa and helminths. (Source: ITT, 2018) Global deaths due to diarrhea, by region sub-Saharan Africa 37 East Asia & Pacific 5 Latin America & Caribbean 2 Middle East & North Africa 1 Europe & Central Asia 1 North America 1 South Asia 53 Exhibit 2: Of the 1.7 million deaths per year due to diarrheal disease, more than half occur in South Asia and another third are in sub-Saharan Africa. (Source: GHDX, 2018) 61 WATER QUALITY Introduction Core Facts Key Challenges Breakthroughs People typically become infected by ingesting the From the point of defecation, the fecal pathogens pathogens, thus fecal contamination of surface and may come into contact with another person via groundwater significantly increases the likelihood of several transfer pathways, including surface and infection. groundwater, flies, crops and the soil—from where they then enter the body through drinking water, Fecal pathogens colonize the human gut, where food or via dirty hands (see Exhibit 3). they then grow and replicate. Their transmission begins when the individual carrying the pathogen(s) defecates. 'FDBMPSBMQBUIPHFOáPXNPEFM Exhibit 3: Fecal-oral pathogen flow model, showing multiple pathways for infection by fecal pathogens. 62 WATER QUALITY Introduction Core Facts Key Challenges Breakthroughs Globally, the incidence rates of diarrhea have decreased since the 1990s (see Exhibit 4). Incidence rate of diarrhea among children Diarrhea among children under five (episodes per child per year) 01234567 Chad Niger Nigeria Afghanistan Somalia Angola Mozambique DR Congo Uganda Pakistan Congo Ethiopia Liberia Tanzania Kenya Eritrea Ghana Madagascar Zimbabwe South Africa India Bangladesh Myanmar Indonesia Thailand - 1990 - 2010 Exhibit 4: The rate of incidence of diarrhea in children under 5 has been declining in the world since 1990. (Source: Fischer-Walker, et al., 2012) The high organic and nutrient loads placed on rivers These environmental impacts are discussed in more due to sewage disposal are increasing, resulting in detail in the sections on agricultural runoff and significant ecological disruption. The high organic industrial effluent. load of fecal waste and other domestic effluents leads to a high biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) of the water. The high nutrient load (primarily nitrogen and phosphorus) in the sewage results in eutrophication of water bodies, which is ecologically destructive and leads to anoxia and dead zones. 63 WATER QUALITY Introduction Core Facts Key Challenges Breakthroughs 2. Global scale-up of improved The number of people with improved sanitation facilities is increasing in all countries. However, sanitation remains elusive in some countries the number of people without improved sanitation is also increasing (Exhibit 6). Key sanitation indicators show positive long-term In these countries, which include Kenya, DR Congo, trends in most developing countries, such as Ethiopia and Nigeria, the population growth rate is increasing access to improved sanitation facilities faster than the sanitation improvement rate. and decreasing rates of open defecation. Much effort has been made in recent decades to improve sanitary conditions. Still, there are large population segments that lack adequate sanitation facilities, particularly in rural areas (JMP, 2018) (see Exhibit 5). Percent 0 102030405060708090100 South Africa Ghana Bangladesh Nigeria India DR Congo Kenya Sudan Tanzania Mozambique Uganda Ethiopia - Urban Improved - Urban Unimproved - Rural Improved - Rural Unimproved Exhibit 5: Sanitation coverage varies widely among low-income countries. (Source: year 2015 data from JMP, 2017; “Improved”