Past Event

Realising safely managed urban sanitation: the potential of ‘brown gold’

19 September 2024 11:30–13:00

Sanitation is one of the most off-track Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with the WHO and UNICEF reporting that 3.8 billion people still lacking access to safely managed sanitation.

A photo of green bushes, grass and small trees growing in a small plto of land. There is a large wall on the right hand side. Two people in the distance, on the left of the photo, are bending over and tending to the plants. The sky is bright but cloudy.
An example of reuse in Mekelle, Ethiopia, where ornamental trees are being grown on an old dumping site. Credit: Kifle Woldearegay

In many low- and middle-income countries, centralised and capital-intensive sanitation and waste management systems are largely restricted to mega-cities. Rapidly urbanising areas in towns and growing cities are disconnected from networked sewage systems making urban sanitation a compelling global challenge.

To shed more light on this, the ‘Towards Brown Gold’ research initiative set out to understand the potential for the reuse of faecal waste in rapidly urbanising areas and unpack how marginalised communities experience sanitation. This event launched our new policy brief ‘Towards Brown Gold? The challenges and opportunities of reuse in realising universal sanitation in rapidly urbanising areas’ and shared findings and recommendations from the project.

The panel includes key stakeholders from practitioners, donors, academics, and the Towards Brown Gold team, who shared their reflections on the policy brief and insights from their work.

Speakers

  • Mariam Zaqout, Research Fellow, The Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction at University College London (UCL)
  • Sam Drabble, Head of Evaluation, Research and Learning, Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP)
  • Paul Deverill, Senior WASH Adviser, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO)
  • Andrés Hueso González, Senior Policy Analyst – Sanitation, WaterAid
  • Lyla Mehta, Professorial Fellow, IDS and Visiting Professor at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences

Chair

  • Alan Nicol, Strategic Program Director – Water, Growth and Inclusion, International Water Management Institute (IWMI) – Chair

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