Development Aspects Impressum Editors

Keywords

Green technology
Environmentally sound technologies Sanitation
Decentralized wastewater treatment Water quality
Indonesia Sri Lanka Philippines
Capacity-building Soft technology Technology transfer Local government

1. Introduction

Today, 2.5 billion people still lack improved sanitation. The March 2012 United Na- tions Report, Progress on Drinking Water and Sanitation, showed that the world is still far from meeting the Millennium Development Goal target for sanitation and is unlikely to meet it by 2015 (WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme, 2012). The same report conveys a stark outlook for many communities across the devel- oping world where only 63 per cent of the world population has access to improved sanitation, a figure projected to increase to just 67 per cent by 2015.

In parallel to this need to fulfil the human right to water and sanitation in developing countries, the international community is also pushing for a greener de- velopment paradigm. The United Nations recently published its system-wide per- spective on what characterizes a “Green Economy” at the operational level. In this practical context, the publication defines a Green Economy as “one whose growth in income and employment is driven by investments that: reduce carbon emissions and pollution, enhance energy and resource efficiency, and prevent the lost of biodiversity and ecosystem services” (United Nations Environment Management Group, 2011b). By this more practical concept then, to achieve a Green Economy, communities must ensure their investments in human capital, or soft technology, and hard technologies are oriented along low-carbon and eco-efficiency principles.
Eco-efficient processes and technologies do more with less negative impact than traditional technologies and are, by default, low carbon. As defined by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), eco-efficiency is essentially a management philosophy “achieved by the delivery of competitively- priced goods and services that satisfy human needs and bring quality of life, while progressively reducing ecological impacts and resource intensity throughout the life-cycle” (World Business Council for Sustainable Development, 2000).

While countries are now beginning to develop Green Economy road maps in accordance with the tenets that govern eco-efficiency at the national level, prac- tical application of these requires a localized and community-driven approach. These “investments” and advancements towards eco-efficiency are, as an end- game, implemented and sustained at the local level. Equally, the progress made towards a national Green Economy can most easily be measured by how exten- sively new green technologies, services and practices are executed locally (at the state, municipal or even town levels), to ensure that there is observable bottom-up change towards a greener model overall.

Under the framework of the 2008 International Year of Sanitation and as an outcome of a training workshop on sanitation for local governments, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) applied Agenda 21 and other frameworks within a technology transfer project between Asian cities, utilizing the technological expertise from a regional private enterprise. The UNITAR project took place in partnership with CITYNET and other stakeholders from 2008 to 2011 with the objective of researching the sustainable transfer of ecological technolo- gies for wastewater treatment or ecological sanitation (Eco-San) to three differ- ent communities in Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the Philippines. The project showed that once Eco-Tank technology* was transferred successfully, local governments, such as San Fernando, manifested their willingness to replicate the project and procure Eco-Tanks for other city locations. As the process for procuring, installing and maintaining Eco-Tanks or similar technologies becomes more commonplace for these and neighbouring cities, the possibility of acquiring new and innovative green technologies will ensure developing country cities can make informed and concrete steps towards becoming greener cities. Based on project documents from UNITAR and CITYNET, the case study herein outlines the project’s findings and les- sons learned in developing a practical checklist for local green technology transfer in developing country communities.

2.