Paper examining strategies to improve water, sanitation and hygiene provision and resilience, in developing urban contexts.
One of the largest risks to people living in urban areas in the developing world is a lack of improved water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) provision. Access to water and sanitation is an important factor in determining social vulnerability to natural hazards, not only for meeting immediate needs, but also for the wider application of relevant disaster prevention. The aim of this paper, published in the International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, is to enhance understanding of how the resilience of WASH systems to hazards can be improved, and therefore help inform different strategies for public and private partnerships. So as to acknowledge the multi-levelled nature of resilience, risk at various relevant levels are taken into account: regional/river basin, urban area, and individual.
For each of these levels, the authors first describe the different components of risk, vulnerability and resilience of the WASH system that influence people׳s exposure to hazards, before illustrating these components using examples from case studies in the literature. Using a social learning lens - a crucial ingredient of resilience - opportunities for reducing risks through improving public–private engagement are then examined These are presented as strategies which could guide investment decisions; as pressures from climate change and development add up, businesses must become aware of the risks involved in operating and investing without considering ecosystem health, both in terms of the services they provide for mitigating floods and droughts, as well as in terms of the development approaches that define how ecosystems are managed.
The paper concludes that there is a need to develop an institutional culture that strives towards greener and more resilient urban environments with the help of various quality assurance methods. Partnerships must reach the poorer customer base, encourage informal small entrepreneurs, and boost financial mechanisms, e.g. micro-insurance, to support the most vulnerable in society. Other business strategies recommended to reduce vulnerability to water-related hazards in urban areas include integrating social and technical programmes that incorporate flood preparedness, and building micro-financial opportunities which can enable vulnerable people to transition into new livelihoods.
[adapted from source]