Search results

115 results
A man carries buckets filled with water from a water tanker in Retiro, a shanty town in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Basic service provision shouldn’t just be a money maker
… US $28 each month by the city council for water, sanitation and waste disposal. The water doesn’t run in the pipes and the waste isn’t collected– but even if the services did exist, these costs … without even beginning to cover their other essential costs, such as food and rent.   In Walvis Bay, Namibia I met residents who are being …
Insight, 08 October 2012
A water tap in Rwanda. Measuring sustainability of investments in water and sanitation makes more sense than focusing on annual freshwater withdrawal and access to improved water and sanitation (Photo: A'Melody Lee/World Bank, Creative Commons, via Flickr)
Making World Bank aid sustainable
… by classes of, among others, forestry enterprise size (SDG 2.3.1).   Food and agriculture: the current indicators give little sense of how … and define sustainability in terms of how it contributes to food security and farmers’ livelihoods over time, alongside an indicator … percentage with access to piped drinking water and with urban solid waste regularly collected. It is also important that the World Bank …
Insight, 10 October 2016
Buy me a river
… traditionally provided vital water for washing, bathing, irrigating, food and transport. Today it still underpins the livelihoods of … brought on by rising populations, tourism, deforestation and waste. Many farmers downstream no longer have enough water for their … particular, to restore parts of the river, increase awareness to halt waste disposal into the river, control gravel mining, promote …
Insight, 25 October 2010
Postcard from Durban: Greener football and tree-preneurs
… tree-preneurs receive vouchers that they can exchange for things like food, building materials and school fees for their children’s education. … with regards maintaining the forest,” he says. “There will also be waste-preneur opportunities — collection of recyclable waste and selling back to us. And we hope to stimulate eco-tourism in …
Insight, 08 December 2011
We must protect the world in which we live (Photo: Steve Guzzardi, Creative Commons, via Flickr)
Best of 2017: blogs
… to advocate for more sustainable, diverse and healthy diets. The Food Change Lab is a dialogue convened by Hivos and IIED to look at issues in Zambia's food systems and generate ideas for change.  Stop listing 'vulnerable … water, and good-quality sanitation, electricity, healthcare and waste collection). In a related blog Satterthwaite looked at three …
Article, 22 December 2017
The Multidimensional Poverty Index only has one indicator to assess housing quality – whether floors are made of dirt, sand or dung. So these houses in Manila would not be classified as sub-standard (Photo: Mark Edwards/IIED)
The Multidimensional Poverty Index: Another underestimate of urban poverty
… People in urban centres generally have to pay for water, fuel and food. Many also must pay to use a toilet and washing facilities. This is … toilets, and sewage. The importance of household solid and liquid waste collection also increases in urban areas, as there is nowhere close by to dispose of household waste.  So it doesn't make sense to use the same definitions for what …
Insight, 18 June 2014
Closeup of the flame of a small oil lamp.
Energy equity: can the UN Sustainable Energy for All initiative make a difference?
… Ghana and Liberia, raises concerns about local land-use conflict and food security. Countries such as Nigeria are locked into oil and gas … may be unviable. Biomass energy (derived from wood or agricultural waste) is seen as a fuel of the future in Europe, but not in some of the … : A key challenge is designing resilient local energy, food, water and waste systems with communities , and fostering …
Insight, 29 March 2012
A toilet block in Mumbai, India, where people living in different informal settlements experience distinct forms of inadequate sanitation (Photo: Renu Desai)
Sanitation in informal settlements: a networked problem
… wastes, and includes the vital role of land and housing security, food and nutrition, livelihood and education, religion and caste, gender … to operate across places and sectors from water and sanitation to food and nutrition, housing, land, education and employment. Sites of …
Insight, 26 August 2015
A girl studies under the light of a rechargeable solar lamp
Improving people’s access to sustainable energy
… in toxic smoke created when burning charcoal, wood, coal or animal waste to cook their food. IIED researches the potential of initiatives to improve people’s … Ghana and Liberia, raises concerns about land-use conflict and food security. IIED is exploring the impacts of the biofuels boom on …
Project, 26 October 2012
Raipur in Central India is developing into a major urban centre, but the infrastructure in the city's expanding informal settlements is poor (Photo: India Water Portal, Creative Commons via Flickr)
Addressing the needs of vulnerable groups in urban areas
… to the discrimination they face – within the household in tasks and food allocations, in labour markets, in access to land for housing and … water, and good-quality sanitation, electricity, healthcare and waste collection).  Upgrading informal settlements should reduce or …
Insight, 26 April 2017