Urbanisation and emerging economies: issues and potential solutions for water and food security

Urbanisation will be one of the 21st century's most transformative trends. By 2050, it will increase from 55% to 68%, more than doubling the urban population in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Urbanisation has multifarious (positive as well as negative) impacts on the wellbeing of humans and the...

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Main Authors: Kookana, R.S., Drechsel, Pay, Jamwal, P., Vanderzalm, J.
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Elsevier 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/108298
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author Kookana, R.S.
Drechsel, Pay
Jamwal, P.
Vanderzalm, J.
author_browse Drechsel, Pay
Jamwal, P.
Kookana, R.S.
Vanderzalm, J.
author_facet Kookana, R.S.
Drechsel, Pay
Jamwal, P.
Vanderzalm, J.
author_sort Kookana, R.S.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Urbanisation will be one of the 21st century's most transformative trends. By 2050, it will increase from 55% to 68%, more than doubling the urban population in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Urbanisation has multifarious (positive as well as negative) impacts on the wellbeing of humans and the environment. The 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) form the blueprint to achieve a sustainable future for all. Clean Water and Sanitation is a specific goal (SDG 6) within the suite of 17 interconnected goals. Here we provide an overview of some of the challenges that urbanisation poses in relation to SDG 6, especially in developing economies. Worldwide, several cities are on the verge of water crisis. Water distribution to informal settlements or slums in megacities (e.g. N50% population in the megacities of India) is essentially non-existent and limits access to adequate safe water supply. Besides due to poor sewer connectivity in the emerging economies, there is a heavy reliance on septic tanks, and other on-site sanitation (OSS) system and by 2030, 4.9 billion people are expected to rely on OSS. About 62–93% of the urban population in Vietnam, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Indonesia rely on septic tanks, where septage treatment is rare. Globally, over 80% of wastewater is released to the environment without adequate treatment. About 11% of all irrigated croplands is irrigated with such untreated or poorly treated wastewater. In addition to acute and chronic health effects, this also results in significant pollution of often-limited surface and groundwater resources in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Direct and indirect water reuse plays a key role in global water and food security. Here we offer several suggestions to mitigate water and food insecurity in emerging economies.
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spelling CGSpace1082982024-05-01T08:17:26Z Urbanisation and emerging economies: issues and potential solutions for water and food security Kookana, R.S. Drechsel, Pay Jamwal, P. Vanderzalm, J. behavioural changes urbanization economic development water security food security waste management waste treatment wastewater treatment costs septic tanks sanitation water reuse public health health hazards water quality monitoring indicators water supply water scarcity wastewater irrigation suburban agriculture environmental health ecosystems aquifers groundwater recharge rural urban relations sustainable development goals Urbanisation will be one of the 21st century's most transformative trends. By 2050, it will increase from 55% to 68%, more than doubling the urban population in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Urbanisation has multifarious (positive as well as negative) impacts on the wellbeing of humans and the environment. The 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) form the blueprint to achieve a sustainable future for all. Clean Water and Sanitation is a specific goal (SDG 6) within the suite of 17 interconnected goals. Here we provide an overview of some of the challenges that urbanisation poses in relation to SDG 6, especially in developing economies. Worldwide, several cities are on the verge of water crisis. Water distribution to informal settlements or slums in megacities (e.g. N50% population in the megacities of India) is essentially non-existent and limits access to adequate safe water supply. Besides due to poor sewer connectivity in the emerging economies, there is a heavy reliance on septic tanks, and other on-site sanitation (OSS) system and by 2030, 4.9 billion people are expected to rely on OSS. About 62–93% of the urban population in Vietnam, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Indonesia rely on septic tanks, where septage treatment is rare. Globally, over 80% of wastewater is released to the environment without adequate treatment. About 11% of all irrigated croplands is irrigated with such untreated or poorly treated wastewater. In addition to acute and chronic health effects, this also results in significant pollution of often-limited surface and groundwater resources in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Direct and indirect water reuse plays a key role in global water and food security. Here we offer several suggestions to mitigate water and food insecurity in emerging economies. 2020-08 2020-05-22T11:29:03Z 2020-05-22T11:29:03Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/108298 en Open Access Elsevier Kookana, R. S.; Drechsel, Pay; Jamwal, P.; Vanderzalm, J. 2020. Urbanisation and emerging economies: issues and potential solutions for water and food security. Science of the Total Environment, 732:139057. [doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139057]
spellingShingle behavioural changes
urbanization
economic development
water security
food security
waste management
waste treatment
wastewater treatment
costs
septic tanks
sanitation
water reuse
public health
health hazards
water quality
monitoring
indicators
water supply
water scarcity
wastewater irrigation
suburban agriculture
environmental health
ecosystems
aquifers
groundwater recharge
rural urban relations
sustainable development goals
Kookana, R.S.
Drechsel, Pay
Jamwal, P.
Vanderzalm, J.
Urbanisation and emerging economies: issues and potential solutions for water and food security
title Urbanisation and emerging economies: issues and potential solutions for water and food security
title_full Urbanisation and emerging economies: issues and potential solutions for water and food security
title_fullStr Urbanisation and emerging economies: issues and potential solutions for water and food security
title_full_unstemmed Urbanisation and emerging economies: issues and potential solutions for water and food security
title_short Urbanisation and emerging economies: issues and potential solutions for water and food security
title_sort urbanisation and emerging economies issues and potential solutions for water and food security
topic behavioural changes
urbanization
economic development
water security
food security
waste management
waste treatment
wastewater treatment
costs
septic tanks
sanitation
water reuse
public health
health hazards
water quality
monitoring
indicators
water supply
water scarcity
wastewater irrigation
suburban agriculture
environmental health
ecosystems
aquifers
groundwater recharge
rural urban relations
sustainable development goals
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/108298
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AT vanderzalmj urbanisationandemergingeconomiesissuesandpotentialsolutionsforwaterandfoodsecurity