Global Dialogue on Nanotechnology and the Poor ... - Nanowerk

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nanotechnology, water, & development Annex 1: Sustainable Water Resources Management and Planning The sustainable water resources management and planning (SWAMP) approach has been proposed to provide an integrated framework for coordination of water resource investment planning and pricing, policy analysis and formulation, as well as policy implementation and management. In many developing countries, spending in the water sector constitutes 10% of all public sector investments, or around 0.5% of total GDP.Thus, even small improvements in the efficiency of water resource development and use would provide major benefits. SWAMP is a key component of a national sustainable development strategy, and therefore the two should be closely integrated. Effective management of water to achieve desired national sustainable development objectives must be accomplished through an integrated framework because of the many economic and environmental interactions between the water resources sector and other elements of the economy. An integrated approach that includes the three elements of planning, policy analysis, and management will help decisionmakers in formulating policies and providing market signals and information to economic agents that encourage more efficient development and use of water resources.The following figure summarizes the SWAMP concept. The first two columns of the figure underline the complications facing decisionmakers due to multiple actors and multiple goals.The core of SWAMP is the integrated multilevel analytical framework shown in the middle column, consisting of the following levels: global, national, sector, subsector, and project. It is at the project level that most of the detailed formulation, planning, and implementation of water supply projects and schemes is carried out. Source: adapted from Munasinghe 134 134 Munasinghe, Environmental, op. cit. 41
nanotechnology, water, & development SWAMP should result in the development of a flexible sustainable water resource strategy, which may be implemented through water supply and demand policies and programs that make effective use of decentralized market forces and incentives.The figure shows a variety of policy instruments available for implementing SWAMP as well as the most important impediments that limit effective policy formulation and implementation. Figure 5 shows how a simple sari-based water purification method may be assessed quite simply within the SWAMP framework using MCA. Outward movements along the axes trace improvements in the three sustainable development indicators: economic efficiency (net monetary benefits), social equity (improved benefits for the poor), and environmental protection (reduced water pollution). Figure 5: Analyzing the Sustainability of Improved Water Quality Using SWAMP and MCA. The policy options may be analyzed as follows. First, triangle ABC describes the existing situation.Waterborne diseases increase both morbidity and mortality rates, thereby causing great economic harm (e.g., loss of earnings, medical expenditures, etc.). Social equity is also low because the poor and disadvantaged are most affected, and overall environmental pollution is bad. Next, triangle DEF indicates a “win-win” future option with the simplified sari filtration technique, in which all three indices improve. Economic losses due to sickness are reduced overall. Social gains accrue to the rural poor, especially women and children.The environmental benefits arise from reduced pollution of water sources. After realizing such “win-win” gains, the introduction of other options may require trade-offs.Triangle GHI suggests that further environmental and social gains are attainable only at the expense of sharply increasing costs.Thus, more advanced water supply and purification methods (e.g., wells and surface water sources with purification plants and pipe borne supply, or nanotechnology-based techniques) may yield further environmental and social benefits but with increased economic costs. In sharp contrast to the “win-win” move from ABC to DEF, which is unambiguously desirable, a policymaker may not wish to make a further shift from DEF to GHI without knowing the relative weights that society places on the three indices. Such preferences are often difficult to determine explicitly but it is possible to narrow the options. Suppose a small economic cost, FL, yields the full social gain, DG (e.g., by targeting poor households), while a large economic cost, LI, is required to realize the environmental benefit, EH (e.g., widespread water supply and sanitation). Here, the social gain may better justify the economic sacrifice. Further, if purely budgetary constraints limit cost increases to less than FK, then sufficient funds exist only to pay for the social benefits, and the environmental improvements will have to be deferred. Source: adapted from Munasinghe 135 135 Munasinghe, Water, op. cit.; and Munasinghe, Sustainomics, op. cit. 42
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Global Dialogue on Nanotechnology and the Poor ... - Nanowerk

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