Water-related challenges in nexus governance for sustainable development: Insights from the city of Arequipa, Peru

A review of spatial characteristics influencing circular economy in the built environment

Industrialization, population growth, and urbanization are all trends driving the explosive growth of the construction industry. Creating buildings to house people and operate industry, together with building infrastructure to provide public services, requires prodigious quantities of energy and materials. Most of these virgin materials are non-renewable, and resource shortages caused by the development of the built environment are becoming increasingly inevitable. The gradually evolved circular economy (CE) is considered a way to ease the depletion of resources by extending service life, increasing efficiency, and converting waste into resources. However, the circularity of construction materials shows heavy regional distinctness due to the difference in spatial contexts in the geographical sense, resulting in the same CE business models (CEBMs) not being adapted to all regions. To optimize resource loops and formulate effective CEBMs, it is essential to understand the relationship between space and CE in the built environment. This paper reviews existing publications to summarize the research trends, examine how spatial features are reflected in the circularity of materials, and identify connections between spatial and CE clues. We found that the majority of contributors in this interdisciplinary field are from countries with middle to high levels of urbanization. Further, the case analysis details the material dynamics in different spatial contexts and links space and material cycles. The results indicate that the spatial characteristics can indeed influence the circularity of materials through varying resource cycling patterns. By utilizing spatial information wisely can help design locally adapted CEBMs and maximize the value chain of construction materials.

Introducing environmental decision-making criteria to foster Green Public Procurement in Peru

Governments in the Global South have recently started to align their public procurement regulations considering Green Public Procurement (GPP) guidelines to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 12. In this context, it is important to establish environmental criteria to help decision making after analyzing the variety of options available in the market. Thus, using as examples two of the most acquired products in public procurement in Peru: Medium-density particleboard melamine furniture and paper offset, the aim of this paper is to determine the main environmental hotspots and therefore show the path to foster GPP in Peru. To achieve this goal, a Life Cycle Assessment was carried out considering it is a suitable environmental management tool to quantify environmental impacts. For this, a set of scenarios were modeled and compared for each of the two products selected, covering different geographical and technological options that are currently purchased by the Peruvian government. Results demonstrated that it is possible to attain considerable reductions in the environmental impact of the products analyzed if the main critical stages throughout their life cycle are identified and adequate solutions are applied to avoid burden shifting. Moreover, we argue that it is important for developing countries to carry out case-specific life-cycle inventories as they provide higher-quality information based on the particular characteristics of regional or local industries, allowing the determination of more realistic environmental impact mitigation benchmarks. Nevertheless, the inclusion of lifecycle-based criteria in GPP must be performed cautiously, avoiding command and control regulations, as numerous challenges remain in terms of capacity building, environmental awareness, and environmental information, and transparency in emerging and developing economies. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2022;18:1206-1220. © 2021 SETAC.

Attainment of water and sanitation goals: a review and agenda for research

One-fourth of the global population is without basic drinking water and half of the global population lacks sanitation facilities. The attainment of water and sanitation targets is difficult due to administrative, operational, political, transborder, technical, and policy challenges. Conducted after 5 years from the adoption of sustainable development goals by the United Nations reviews the initiatives for improving access, quality, and affordability of water and sanitation. The bibliometric and thematic analyses are conducted to consolidate the outcomes of scientific papers on sustainable development goal 6 (SDG 6). Africa is struggling in relation with water and sanitation goals, having 17 countries with less than 40% basic drinking water facilities and 16 countries with less than 40% basic sanitation facilities. Globally, the attainment of water and sanitation goals will be depended on economic development, the development of revolutionary measures for wastewater treatment, and creating awareness related to water usage, water recycling, water harvesting, hygiene, and sanitation. Behavioral changes are also required for a new water culture and the attainment of water and sanitation goals by 2030.

Sustainability in Peri-Urban Informal Settlements: A Review

The study of peri-urbanization attracted attention in the final quarter of the 20th century, due to the pace it acquired worldwide and the implication that urbanization and overall settlement patterns have on social sustainability and development. Theoretical and conceptual achievements are remarkable. Multi-country collaboration has produced a growing body of research on sustainability and peri-urban settlements. There is a lack, however, of a review of the practices of peri-urban informal settlements, the predominant mode of urban expansion, mainly in developing and rapidly urbanizing regions of the world. The purpose is, then, to systematize, from recent literature, the knowledge of the context, challenges, and practices, as well as their impacts and potential courses of action, to ensure sustainability in human–natural complex of the territory beyond urban cores, suburbs, or slums. A systematic review approach was adopted, for articles published in reputable journals, with support of previous reviews, books, and reports. A pragmatist combination of content analysis and critical review identified core topics and highlighted contrasting views. An analytical framework is proposed. Four categories—drivers, challenges and practices, impact, and future trends—are proposed as an adequate approach to systematizing the literature. The review finds that the practices focus on service and resource provision, on regulations to approximate informal to formal institutions, and on an economy founded on the resource base and service provision. This review provides insights on future trends and research topics.

A New Low-Cost Technology Based on Pump as Turbines for Energy Recovery in Peripheral Water Networks Branches

The recovery of excess energy in water supply networks has been a topic of paramount importance in recent literature. In pressurized systems, a pump used in inverse mode (Pump As Turbine, PAT) demonstrated to be a very economical and reliable solution, compared to traditional energy production devices (EPDs). Due to the large variability of flow rate and head drop within water distribution networks, the operation of PATs could be performed by a series-parallel regulation system based on an electronic or a hydraulic principle. Despite the low cost of the PATs and of regulation and control systems, a great barrier to the diffusion of a small hydro power plant in water distribution is represented by the necessity of additional civil works to host the whole plant. Based on laboratory and numerical experiments, the present paper proposes a new low-cost technology, overcoming most of the limitations of the present technologies when low energy is available and high discharge variation occurs. The operating conditions of the plant are properly optimized with reference to the working conditions of a case study. Despite the laboratory prototype having exhibited a significantly low efficiency (i.e., 16%), due to the use of small centrifugal pumps suitable for the analyzed case study, in larger power plants relying on more efficient semi-axial submersed pumps, the energy conversion ratio can increase up to 40%. The results of this research could be useful for network managers and technicians interested in increasing the energy efficiency of the network and in recovering energy in the peripheral branches of the network were a large variability of small flow rates are present.

Developing an Indicator System to Monitor City’s Sustainability Integrated Local Governance: A Case Study in Zhangjiakou

Indicator-based evaluation systems are critical for guiding and monitoring cities’ sustainable development. Zhangjiakou city is the national renewable energy demonstration zone in China, and is gaining more attention (being the co-host city of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games). It needs to seize the opportunities for its long-term sustainable development. An indicator system was developed to monitor the city’s sustainability. Local governance was integrated into an extended three-pillar evaluation model as the fourth dimension through the involvement of over 30 local government departments. Based on the interpretation of local demands, 118 assessment tools were reviewed and an international indicator inventory of 224 indicators was established. By analyzing the local relevance, 95 indicators were selected and categorized into eight modules (energy and carbon emission, resources and environment, harmony and well-being, economics and inclusion, key industries, innovation and smart, governance and efficiency, and internationalization). However, only 67 indicators were confirmed for value assignments after applicability assessment. Basic performance values (BPVs) were given as achievable goals during the 14th Five-Year Plan (FYP), and the excellent performance values (EPVs) were given towards carbon neutrality. All of the values were peer-reviewed and agreed by the local government while discrepancy still exists on carbon emission.

Environmental footprint of critical agro-export products in the Peruvian hyper-arid coast: A case study for green asparagus and avocado

Peru has become one of the world's main agricultural hubs for a wide range of fruits and vegetables. Two of these products, avocado and green asparagus, have raised attention in recent years in the international scene from an environmental perspective due to the high amounts of water they require, as well as the long air and marine freighting distances to export these products to Europe, Asia or the US. Consequently, the aim of the current study was to perform an environmental assessment of these two products using two life-cycle methods: carbon and water footprint. For the latter, water scarcity, acidification, eco-toxicity and eutrophication impact categories have been selected for assessment. Inventory data were gathered from six different companies located in different regions of the hyper-arid Peruvian coast. The results report that the products are not carbon intensive and are in line with other similar plant-based products. Conversely, the hyper-arid conditions of the cultivation sites require a large volume of groundwater to fulfill the needs of the crops. Interestingly, even though this may lead to overexploitation of groundwater resources in the absence of appropriate management policies, the low mobility of pollutants, namely pesticides, constitutes a natural barrier to protect the degradation of natural water bodies. Similarly, highly technified irrigation systems have allowed minimizing the amounts of water used per hectare. In conclusion, results from this study may be useful in more concise environmental assessment studies on food products and diets, considering the consumption of these Peruvian products in many countries in the world. Furthermore, results are also important at regional level since they depict the carbon and water performance of these products and can also be accompanied by cross-cutting certification schemes, including Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules Guidance.

Pathways for collaboratively strengthening water and sanitation systems

Collaborative approaches are seen as a promising way to strengthen Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) service delivery systems when challenges exceed the mandates and capabilities of any single entity. While collaborative approaches are well studied in high-income country contexts, current understanding of their application to international development contexts is limited. This paper uses fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis to assess what conditions and pathways drove or impeded progress within eleven collaborative approaches for WASH service delivery in Eastern Africa. Evidence supported three main findings: (1) Government uptake of recommendations is necessary for progress but cannot be guaranteed solely by government participation in the collaboration, (2) different forms of problem identification are possible; problem scopes are often predefined to align with funders and partner government agendas, but flexible scopes that foster collective problem identification can reap benefits, and (3) hub convening power can be critical and convening power can be gained in different ways. Political dynamics, shifting priorities, and turnover undermine collaborative efforts, but collaborative approaches can still make progress in spite of turnover if funds are available for implementation of activities (i.e. in addition to funds for meetings and hub roles) and program implementers either facilitate collective problem identification or establish a hub with convening power. Yet even these tactics are vulnerable to instability, thus in highly unstable contexts, stakeholders and funders should be realistic from the outset about what they may be able to achieve. Building on existing theories of collaborative approaches, this work revealed that there is no single best design for collaborative approaches in WASH, rather, core elements worked together in different ways depending on the context.

The Human Right to Water and Sanitation: Using Natural Language Processing to Uncover Patterns in Academic Publishing

After years of advocacy and international negotiation, the General Assembly of the United Nations voted to officially recognize a stand-alone human right to water and sanitation on 28 July 2010. Since, academic scholarship has continued to grow in an effort to understand the implications of the codification of this human right. Yet, with this growth, it has become impractical if not impossible for scholars to keep up with the advancement of academic knowledge or to make sense of it in a systematic way. In short, to date, we know very little about the trends in the literature as they have unfolded over the past thirty years and the topics to which scholars have devoted significant attention within the broader field, particularly over time. This is an important area of inquiry, as developing a comprehensive understanding of where prior literature has focused and where it appears to be going offers scholars an opportunity to identify areas in need of refinement and/or increased attention. Given the practicalities of reading thousands of research papers each year, this project utilizes natural language processing (NLP) to identify topics and trends in academic literature on the human right to water and sanitation (HRtWS). NLP provides the opportunity to digest large quantities of text data through machine learning, culminating with descriptive information on trends and topics in the field since 1990. The results of this exercise show that the research related to the human right to water and sanitation has grown exponentially, particularly over the last decade, illustrates the multidisciplinary nature of the literature, and demonstrates the diversity of topics in the field.

Wastewater treatment decentralization: Is this the right direction for megacities in the Global South?

The centralization-decentralization dichotomy in wastewater treatment management has been a recurrent topic of discussion in the urban context. The escalation of environmental hazards linked to increasing mismanaged wastewater flows in emerging or developing cities has vivified this conundrum. It is argued that there is a wide range of parameters to identify the optimal level of centralization-decentralization that must be implemented. In many cases, this prevents decision-makers from having a clear picture of the most appropriate management choices that must be undertaken. Hence, the main objective of the current discussion consists of an in-depth comparison between centralized wastewater treatment systems and decentralized systems with source separation in urban environments of the Global South. Moreover, a set of actions that should be considered in order to upgrade wastewater treatment systems amidst the existence of numerous economic, social and environmental constraints are analyzed. Considering the constraints of megacentralization as a preferred option, we argue that decision-makers should restrain from entering a centralization-decentralization dichotomy, seeing the process as a gradient between the two concepts. In fact, we advocate combining the benefits of each of the two perspectives to generate an adaptive management, site-specific solution for urban environments. For this, the inclusion of quantitative management tools, such as life-cycle environmental or cost management methodologies, in multi-objective optimization models, constitutes an interesting path forward towards fostering comprehensive policy support.

Perceptions of Teachers in Training on Water Issues and Their Relationship to the SDGs

Water conservation is essential for any activity, as well as for the survival of both human and other living beings. It is commonly associated with access to clean water and sanitation, or even to unsustainable production and consumption, or sustainable cities and communities. However, there is increasing awareness of emerging issues related to water resources and their impact or relationship with other issues, such as climate change, access to food, health and well-being, or biodiversity (marine and terrestrial). Therefore, this study is aimed at understanding the perception of students of the Degrees in Early Childhood Education and Primary Education concerning water issues and their relationship Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs; number 2,3,6,11,12,13,14 and 15) in a coastal urban context. The study used a qualitative design, in which 59 student teachers were interviewed. The instrument was validated by 12 experts. The content analysis indicates that student teachers understand that there is an environmental problem in relation to water caused by human behaviour, and that its effects have an impact on other areas that are related to the SDGs included in the 2030 Agenda.