Accelerating change for #SanitAction - World Toilet Day 2023

An elderly woman stands in front of her accessible outdoor toilet shelter in Manufahi, Timor-Leste. She is wearing a bright pink wrap skirt. Her left hand rests on timber railing that is located on both sides of a ramped concrete pathway to the entry. The shelter is made from timber and corrugated iron and lush vegetation surrounds it in the background.

In Timor-Leste, WaterAid's Water for Women project is supporting improved universal access to clean water, safe sanitation and hygiene to help ensure that no one is left behind (WaterAid Timor-Leste)

 

It’s time to accelerate #SanitAction!

Today on World Toilet Day, we reiterate the critical connection of sanitation and climate resilience and call for increased and sustained investments by governments, private sector and civil society to bolster global progress on Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG6), to “ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all by 2030.” With just seven years left to achieve this cornerstone SDG, time is running out and the world is far off track.

It is a sad fact that today, some 3.5 billion people globally are still living without safely managed sanitation and some 419 million still practise open defecation, because they have no other choice. In these situations, life threatening diseases like cholera, diarrhoea and typhoid spread. Gravely, unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) remain responsible for the deaths of 1,000 children under-five years of age every day and 1 million people annually from diarrhoeal disease.

This global sanitation crisis poses to everyone’s health, but none more than women, girls, people with disabilities, people from sexual and gender minority and other marginalised groups, who are disproportionately affected. Concerningly, the impacts of climate change are further exacerbating their disadvantage.

 

We must accelerate action on SDG6

At current rates, in 2030 2.8 billion people worldwide still won’t have access to safely managed sanitation at home, 2 billion won’t have safe drinking water and 1.9 billion won’t be able to practice basic hand hygiene. With just seven years left to achieve SDG6 on time, the clock it is ticking, and the world is far off track. Urgent acceleration on action is needed to realise this cornerstone SDG that all other SDGs rely on. Action must be accelerated sixfold for drinking water, fivefold for sanitation and threefold for hygiene.

 

Getting sanitation back on the (global) agenda

Read this World Toilet Day article from the Climate Resilient Sanitation Coalition

 

Safely managed sanitation can be a powerful climate solution

The good news is that adaptation and mitigation go hand-in-hand for sanitation. Accelerating safely managed sanitation services and systems can also be a powerful climate solution —both reducing methane emissions from wastewater, which accounts for around 5% of global methane emissions annually, and protecting the health and well-being of people and the planet, including the vital water sources and ecosystems we all rely on.

 

Sanitation is not only about toilets

This animation illustrates how investing in safely managed sanitation is taking climate action.

 

Stick with sanitation

This year’s World Toilet Day campaign draws on the commitments made to the Water Action Agenda, announced at the UN 2023 Water Conference in March this year, which is a collection of more than 800 existing and new institutional commitments to make rapid change on sanitation and water, including Australia’s commitments through Water for Women.

Throughout Asia and the Pacific, Water for Women is prioritising locally-led solutions that are context-specific and harness the knowledge and diverse lived experience within communities – including of women and girls, people with disabilities, and marginalised groups.

In close collaboration with governments, sector stakeholders and communities, our partners are working to improve universal access to clean water, safe sanitation and hygiene, while also strengthening the systems that underpin these to build climate resilience and ensure the benefits are lasting and equitable. 

You can explore some of our latest project updates from across the region below.

 

Explore our work

 

Two partially constructed toilet shelters with corrugated iron roofs and walls painted pale pink are situated in an outdoor tropical island environment in Papua New Guinea. A beach and water can be seen in the background and some Papua New Guinean workers in high visibility vests in the foreground discussing the build.

Safe sanition for Saposa

On a small island in Papua New Guinea, students can finally access safe sanitation during school, including essential menstrual hygiene facilities. Through their Water for Women project, Plan International and Live and Learn Environmental Education supported the constrcution of new, separate flush toilets and showers for boys and girls, which utilise a septic roto-mould system that safely contains and treats wastewater, protecting the vital groundwater wells in this low-lying, high water table environment. 

 


 

A Cambodian man stands in an industrial work yard in rural Siem Reap with his left elbow resting on top of a cylindrical concrete latrine component and smiling at the camera. He is surrounded by large upright concrete cylinders and green shrubs and trees and a pile of sand can be seen in the background.

Sanitation innovations safeguarding healthy homes and livelihoods on Lake Tonle Sap

Latrine business owners like Mr. Khut Khon are helping to safeguard the health of communities and the environment around Lake Tonle Sap in Siem Reap, Cambodia, an area at high risk of flooding. As an iDE sanitation entrepreneur, supported by iDE through their Water for Women project, Mr. Khon provides affordable, aspirational and climate-resilient sanitation solutions for households in this climate change challenged environment.

 


 

A woman in a red sari and head scarf walking by six back-to-back concrete toilet cubicles in an outdoor urban environment in Jaipur, India. The wide, green-coloured door of one cubicle can be seen to the right and green railing along the walkway in the foreground, which leads to a ramp at the left and steps at the right. They are community toilets that are gender-inclusive, accessible and safely managed.

Securing access to safe sanitation in Jaipur

Safely managed, gender-inclusive and accessible community toilets are providing safe sanitation in Jawahar Nagar slum area, Tila no. 7, in Jaipur. The Centre for Advocacy and Research (CFAR), India, suppported the design and construction of the toilets as part of their Water for Women project, which included diverse community input. As a result, the toilets feature grab bars, railings, western toilet seats, tactile flooring, menstrual hygiene facilities, a baby change room and toilets segregated for women/trans-women, men/trans-men and children.

 


 

A man and woman stand on either side of a door to an outdoor latrine at their home Champhone District, Lao PDR. They are pointing to the high water line left on the timber door as a result of previous flooding.

Integrating preventative and responsive sanitation action in Savannakhet

In the absence of climate-resilient design, latrines like this, situated in a rural village of Champone, Lao PDR, can be rendered dysfunctional, inaccessible and contribute to contamination of waterways and the environment during climate-related events. These residents are pointing out the high watermark left after recent flooding, when the latrine was indundated. Through their Water for Women project, SNV is partnering with governments and communities in the districts of Champhone, Atsaphone and Phalanxay in Savannakhet Province, to integrate preventative and responsive actions that help protect people’s access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) during climate-related events, and at all times.

 


 

November 19th is World Toilet Day and this year's theme, 'Accelerating change' reflects the urgency of sanitation action to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 - safe water and sanitation for all - and all other SDGs by 2030.

The global sanitation crisis poses a threat to nature and everyone’s health, but especially women, girls, people with disabilities, people from sexual and gender minority and other marginalised groups, who are disproportionately affected by unsafe sanitation and climate change.

Adaptation and mitigation go hand-in-hand for sanitation. Safe sanitation has the power to significantly reduce methane emissions and protect the health and well-being of people and ecosystems.

The time is now for sanitation action!

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