Serendipity strikes again! This time it's a publication that may help me fathom the elusive 'IWRM - WASH Nexus'. The complete title:Freshwater Conservation and Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Integration Guidelines: A Framework for Implementation in sub-Saharan Africa.
Download Freshwater_Conservation_WASH_Integration-Guidelines
Below are the Executive Summary and Introduction.
Executive Summary
Water, poverty and environmental quality are deeply connected. The poor are most vulnerable to environmental risk factors such as unsafe water and climate change. Human communities livingin remote areas with high biodiversity value are often impoverished with little to no access to improved water sources and sanitation facilities. The sustainability of freshwater resources and safe drinking water projects depend on the appropriate conservation of the broader watershed. Preserving free-flowing river systems, intact wetlands, and groundwater recharge areas is essential for maintaining ecosystem resilience and protecting Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) infrastructure against the impacts of natural disasters and climate variability.
Humans are integrally linked to their environment. WASH activities associated with conservation integrate health objectives with watershed management approaches, and link rural and urban water supply and sanitation. These linkages reduce the impact of pollution on the watershed and the ecosystem goods and services that it provides. Conservation efforts more traditionally intersect with WASH at the rural or community level. However, the rapid growth of towns and cities, increased water variability related to climate change, and water stress such as aquifer over-exploitation, saline intrusion, and eutrophication, have increased attention on the upstream watersheds that filter and regulate urban water supplies.
Recognizing the need to better link freshwater conservation and WASH initiatives, the US Agency for International Development Bureau for Africa-supported Africa Biodiversity Collaborative Group (ABCG) and its member organizations came together with development non-governmental organizations, academics and USAID and other donors, to produce these guidelines for integrated programming in sub-Saharan Africa. Their purpose is to provide guidance to health, development, and conservation professionals in sub-Saharan Africa on how to plan, coordinate, develop and achieve mutually supported WASH and freshwater conservation outcomes.
A set of core guiding principles are included as critical elements to consider before developing and implementing integrated projects:
A) WASH projects should protect or enhance ecosystem health and water-related ecosystem services, such as sustainable water quantity and quality.
B) Conservation projects should incorporate/consider WASH goals that provide social/environmental benefits in conjunction with conservation goals.
C) WASH and conservation programs should promote resilience to future changes in water use, availability, and climate patterns through adaptive management of both natural and built infrastructure.
D) Climate-smart siting, design and operation of built infrastructure should be utilized to conserve and protect the broader watershed for sustainable WASH services.
E) WASH projects should use natural infrastructure to complement built infrastructure in planning and implementation.
F) Multi-level, multi-stakeholder engagement should be included for the adoption and long-term sustainable management of integrated WASH and conservation programs.
G) Stakeholder efforts to integrate freshwater conservation and improved WASH services should include gender sensitivity and a comprehensive approach to increase equitable access, participation and benefits among men and women, youth, elderly, and vulnerable groups.
The guidelines include the primary steps needed to design integrated WASH and freshwater conservation interventions, using the core principles as their foundation. The steps are:
1) Setting a common vision
2) Gathering information
3) Design
4) Implementation
5) Monitoring and Evaluating.
Finally, this document includes recommended resources for each step and additional information for implementers.
Introduction
The purpose of this document is to provide guidance to health, development, and conservation professionals in sub-Saharan Africa on how to plan, coordinate, develop, and achieve mutually supported WASH and freshwater conservation outcomes. It was designed to provide an overall framework to consider when working across sectors. It is not intended to be a training or implementation manual. These guidelines draw on input from the Africa Biodiversity Collaborative Group (ABCG) hosted workshop and the evidence base and lessons learned from integrated projects referenced in the 2012 ABCG publication Linking Biodiversity Conservation and Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene: Experiences from sub-Saharan Africa.The ABCG is comprised of seven international conservation Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). Member organizations are the African Wildlife Foundation, Conservation International (CI), the Jane Goodall Institute, The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Wildlife Conservation Society, World Resources Institute, and World Wildlife Fund (WWF). ABCG’s mission is to tackle complex and changing conservation challenges by catalyzing and strengthening collaboration, and bringing the best resources from across a continuum of conservation organizations to effectively and efficiently work towards a vision of an African continent where natural resources and biodiversity are securely conserved in balance with sustained human livelihoods. ABCG and its activities are currently funded by its members and by a collaborative agreement with USAID.
Several development and conservation organizations have committed to working together to promote policies, plans and projects that integrate access to water supply and sanitation with the conservation and sustainable management of freshwater resources. Their commitment was articulated in a Joint Statement on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and Freshwater Ecosystem Conservation issued by a coalition of NGOs1. The Joint Statement can be found in Appendix A.
In June 2012, ABCG issued a report titled, Linking Biodiversity Conservation and Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene: Experiences from sub-Saharan Africa which identified numerous organizations and projects in sub-Saharan Africa integrating WASH and biodiversity conservation on an ad-hoc basis. Building from that study, ABCG hosted a workshop for WASH and conservation NGOs and USAID to increase awareness and understanding of the value of integrated programs, and to gather input for developing these Freshwater Conservation and WASH Guidelines. This effort, led by ABCG members Janet Edmond and Colleen Sorto (CI) and Sarah Davidson (TNC), was supported by a working group made up of coalition and ABCG members.
I'll be reading this - soon!
Enjoy!
“Sometimes serendipity is just intention unmasked.” - Elizabeth Berg
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