Putting WASH in the water cycle: climate change, water resources and the future of water, sanitation and hygiene challenges in Pacific Island Countries

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Author(s)
Hadwen, Wade L
Powell, Bronwyn
MacDonald, Morgan C
Elliott, Mark
Chan, Terence
Gernjak, Wolfgang
Aalbersberg, William GL
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2015
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The Pacific region presents some of the lowest water and sanitation coverage figures globally, with some countries showing stagnating or even declining access to improved water and sanitation. In addition, Pacific Island Countries (PICs) are among the most vulnerable countries on the globe to extreme and variable climatic events and sea-level rise caused by climate change. By exploring the state of water and sanitation coverage in PICs and projected climatic variations, we add to the growing case for conserving water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) interventions within a holistic integrated water resource management (IWRM) ...
View more >The Pacific region presents some of the lowest water and sanitation coverage figures globally, with some countries showing stagnating or even declining access to improved water and sanitation. In addition, Pacific Island Countries (PICs) are among the most vulnerable countries on the globe to extreme and variable climatic events and sea-level rise caused by climate change. By exploring the state of water and sanitation coverage in PICs and projected climatic variations, we add to the growing case for conserving water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) interventions within a holistic integrated water resource management (IWRM) framework. PICs face unique challenges of increasing variability in rainfall (leading to drought and flooding), increasing temperatures, likely higher than average sea-level rise, all of which impact on freshwater security. Add to this geographic and economic isolation, and limited human and physical resources, and the challenge of WASH provision increases dramatically. In this setting, there is a stronger case than ever for adopting a holistic systems understanding, as promoted by IWRM frameworks, to WASH interventions so that they consider past and current challenges as well as future scenarios.
View less >
View more >The Pacific region presents some of the lowest water and sanitation coverage figures globally, with some countries showing stagnating or even declining access to improved water and sanitation. In addition, Pacific Island Countries (PICs) are among the most vulnerable countries on the globe to extreme and variable climatic events and sea-level rise caused by climate change. By exploring the state of water and sanitation coverage in PICs and projected climatic variations, we add to the growing case for conserving water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) interventions within a holistic integrated water resource management (IWRM) framework. PICs face unique challenges of increasing variability in rainfall (leading to drought and flooding), increasing temperatures, likely higher than average sea-level rise, all of which impact on freshwater security. Add to this geographic and economic isolation, and limited human and physical resources, and the challenge of WASH provision increases dramatically. In this setting, there is a stronger case than ever for adopting a holistic systems understanding, as promoted by IWRM frameworks, to WASH interventions so that they consider past and current challenges as well as future scenarios.
View less >
Journal Title
Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development
Volume
5
Issue
2
Copyright Statement
© IWA Publishing 2015. This is the author-manuscript version of this paper. The definitive peer-reviewed and edited version of this article is published in Journal of Water and Climate, Vol. 5 (2), pp. 183-191, 2015, http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/washdev.2015.133 and is available at www.iwapublishing.com
Subject
Natural resource management
Pacific Peoples environmental knowledges
Environmental engineering
Urban and regional planning