Climate change, extreme climatic events and disasters are greatly
influencing water and waste management issues, and researchers and
policy makers can no longer afford to ignore them during project
management and policy formulation. Traversing through the challenges
confronting the water and sanitation sector, Prof. Guéladio Cissé of
the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH),
Switzerland, spoke about management trends, ongoing works, and the
relationship of sanitation and hygiene with the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) in a special lecture on "New trends and challenges in
waste management" organized at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT)
on 12 November 2012.
Prof. Cissé remarked that sanitation and hygiene are inherent within
the MDGs, although they may not be explicitly stated as a millennium
development goal. He mentioned how climate change is influencing water
and waste management projects, since these issues are interconnected.
Every single piece in the water chain is interlinked, he added.
Stressing the need for mainstreaming Disaster Risk Management (DRR),
Prof. Cissé quoted an example from Central Asia of a successful
hospital being washed away by the floods. This illustrates the
importance of including hazards, vulnerability and capacity while
designing projects, he added.
Earlier Dr. Thammarat Koottatep, Coordinator, Environmental
Engineering and Management (EEM) field of study at AIT’s School of
Environment, Resources and Development (SERD) introduced Prof. Cissé
and invited him to deliver the special lecture.
