The significant challenge of achieving safe, reliable and continuous service delivery has been a focus of the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector in recent years, with less attention given to other important sustainability considerations such as environmental sustainability. The agenda set by the Sustainable Development Goals prompts a wider lens, bringing water resource management and ecosystem conservation together with water and sanitation access targets in one integrated goal. As we grapple with our approach to this new agenda, it is timely to reflect on how we, as a sector, engage with environmental sustainability. This paper reviews recent literature at the intersection of WASH and environmental sustainability to identify current themes and future directions. Analysis of academic and non-academic sources was undertaken and then situated with reference to the planetary boundaries framework as a useful lens to ground the socio-ecological systems and processes upon which environmental sustainability depends. Findings point to both opportunities and gaps within current sector thinking, which can drive leadership from knowledge and research institutions towards better integration of access and environmental sustainability imperatives.
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Review Article|
March 22 2017
Environmentally sustainable WASH? Current discourse, planetary boundaries and future directions
Naomi Carrard;
Naomi Carrard
Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney, P.O. Box 123, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia E-mail: naomi.carrard@uts.edu.au
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Juliet Willetts
Juliet Willetts
Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney, P.O. Box 123, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia E-mail: naomi.carrard@uts.edu.au
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Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development (2017) 7 (2): 209–228.
Article history
Received:
September 09 2016
Accepted:
February 22 2017
Citation
Naomi Carrard, Juliet Willetts; Environmentally sustainable WASH? Current discourse, planetary boundaries and future directions. Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development 1 June 2017; 7 (2): 209–228. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/washdev.2017.130
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