1J. Macedo, 2M. Souvanhnachit, 3S. Rattanavong, 4B. Maokhamphiou, 4T. Sotoukee, 4P. Pavelic, 1M. ... more 1J. Macedo, 2M. Souvanhnachit, 3S. Rattanavong, 4B. Maokhamphiou, 4T. Sotoukee, 4P. Pavelic, 1M. Sarkis, 1T. Downs 1 Department of International Development, Community, and Environment, Clark University, Worcester, MA. U.S.A. 2 Department of Water Resources Engineering, National University of Laos, Vientiane, Lao PDR 3Independent Consultant, Washington DC, U.S.A. 4 International Water Management Institute Vientiane, Lao PDR. Climate change risks pose significant challenge to smallholder irrigators who rely on rainfed agriculture for their livelihoods. Increased mean surface temperatures, varying rainfall, increasing evaporation and declining soil moistures all serve to impact productivity. Groundwater irrigation poses promising potential for agricultural productivity and the livelihoods of smallholders. Groundwater irrigation for agriculture use requires constant water quality monitoring. This excerpt is part of a field research, which assessed the impacts of biochar and fertili...
This paper draws on observational research conducted in McAllen, Texas, during the summer of 2019... more This paper draws on observational research conducted in McAllen, Texas, during the summer of 2019, of three major stakeholder groups involved in asylum management: Catholic Charities Humanitarian Respite Center (HRC); federal government agencies; and the McAllen community. Each group holds a unique, pluralistic perspective on migration, informing intra-group relations and exposing uneven power dynamics between them. Our analysis is contextualized by a local voice, a former long-term volunteer at the HRC, who speaks of the evolution of the McAllen border in her lifetime, as well as federal authority over McAllen and the HRC to process asylees. We dissect how this power dynamic produces a highly violent, detention-dominant immigration landscape in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV), antithetical to the practiced intersectional culture of voces locales. We reimagine how the US responds to asylum seekers by offering a community action-based framework, where these pluralistic perspectives are e...
Enjoying abundant hydro and solar resources, and relative socio-political stability, Zambia has t... more Enjoying abundant hydro and solar resources, and relative socio-political stability, Zambia has the potential to be fully energy independent with high sustainability. However, in response to frequent power outages, symptomatic of a worsening energy deficit, the Zambian government’s proposed energy strategy seems to offer only short-term fixes, exemplifying the inadequacies of business-as-usual development practice. The assessment/planning process has little stakeholder engagement with civil society, and pays no attention to capacity building on a societal scale. Indeed, globally, while calls for ‘integrative’ approaches are getting louder, operational details are lacking. We suggest alternatives to the proposed strategy and conventional development process, and improvements to operational stages using an integrative collaborative project (ICP) framework, arguing for a capacity building innovation network that scales up or down by linking local and regional projects together. We cons...
Half of U.S. drinking water comes from aquifers, and very shallow ones (<20 feet to water table) ... more Half of U.S. drinking water comes from aquifers, and very shallow ones (<20 feet to water table) are especially vulnerable to anthropogenic contamination. We present the case of Holliston, a Boston, Massachusetts suburb that draws its drinking water from very shallow aquifers, and where metals and solvents have been reported in groundwater. Community concerns focus on water discolored by naturally occurring manganese (Mn), despite reports stating regulatory aesthetic compliance. Epidemiologic studies suggest Mn is a potentially toxic element (PTE) for children exposed by the drinking-water pathway at levels near the regulatory aesthetic level. We designed an integrated, community-based project: five sites were profiled for contaminant releases; service areas for wells were modeled; and the capture zone for one vulnerable well was estimated. Manganese, mercury, and trichloroethylene are among 20 contaminants of interest. Findings show that past and/or current exposures to multiple contaminants in drinking water are plausible, satisfying the criteria for complete exposure pathways. This case questions the adequacy of aquifer protection and monitoring regulations, and highlights the need for integrated assessment of multiple contaminants, associated exposures and health risks. It posits that community-researcher partnerships are essential for understanding and solving complex problems.
AIACC Working Papers, published on-line by Assessments of Impacts and Adaptations to Climate Chan... more AIACC Working Papers, published on-line by Assessments of Impacts and Adaptations to Climate Change (AIACC), is a series of papers and paper abstracts written by researchers participating in the AIACC project. Papers published in AIACC Working Papers have been peer reviewed and accepted for publication in the on-line series as being (i) fundamentally sound in their methods and implementation, (ii) informative about the methods and/or findings of new research, and (iii) clearly written for a broad, multidisciplinary audience. The purpose of the series is to circulate results and descriptions of methodologies from the AIACC project and elicit feedback to the authors.
Cholera epidemics have a recorded history in the eastern Africa region dating to 1836. Cholera is... more Cholera epidemics have a recorded history in the eastern Africa region dating to 1836. Cholera is now endemic in the Lake Victoria basin, a region with one of the poorest and fastest growing populations in the world. Analyses of precipitation, temperatures, and hydrological characteristics of selected stations in the Lake Victoria basin show that cholera epidemics are closely associated with El Niñ o years. Similarly, sustained temperatures high above normal (Tmax) in two consecutive seasons, followed by a slight cooling in the second season, trigger an outbreak of a cholera epidemic. The health and socioeconomic systems that the lake basin communities rely upon are not robust enough to cope with cholera outbreaks, thus rendering them vulnerable to the impact of climate variability and change. Collectively, this report argues that communities living around the Lake Victoria basin are vulnerable to climate-induced cholera that is aggravated by the low socioeconomic status and lack of an adequate health care system. In assessing the communities' adaptive capacity, the report concludes that persistent levels of poverty have made these communities vulnerable to cholera epidemics.
RESUMEN RESUMEN LOS PROCESOS INDUSTRIALES CARECEN EN LA ACTUALIDAD DE LA APUCACIÓN DE LAS APLICAC... more RESUMEN RESUMEN LOS PROCESOS INDUSTRIALES CARECEN EN LA ACTUALIDAD DE LA APUCACIÓN DE LAS APLICACIÓN DE un conocimiento integrado que pernita evaluar los impactos al ambiente dentro y alrededor de las instalaciones de producción, manejar sus riesgos y diseñar estratégica. y económicas que minimicen estos últimos. Esta cadena de cono- cimientos no se en entra disponible a causa de barreras existentes entre las disciplina de la ingeniería, las ciencias ambientales, la economía y la política industriales También su falta se debe a la rigidez en las ideologías académicas tradicionales, que deberían responder a las necesidades crecientes de la industria y la' sociedad que la academia y la industria no se hablan, asunto paradójico, dado que ésta se compone de los egresados de la academia. El propósito del artículo es empezar a derrumbar estas barreras, con la perspectiva de una maestría para profesionales del nuevo milenio, de enfoque interdisciplinario, que permita la formación de re...
The paper argues health risk management in Developing Countries cannot be sustainable unless it i... more The paper argues health risk management in Developing Countries cannot be sustainable unless it is conceived, planned, implemented and maintained by community-led multi-stakeholder groups using an integrated capacity building process with five components: (1) education and awareness raising; (2) strengthening information resources and decision making; (3) strengthening regulations and compliance; (4) improving basic sanitation infrastructure; and (5) stimulating the market for support products and services for health and environment sectors. Occupational and environmental health professionals with cross-disciplinary understanding are uniquely qualified to build much-needed bridges between stakeholders, risk science and policy. They should adopt a cost-effective mentality, adapting models/methods used in developed countries to developing country contexts, negotiating political obstacles and understanding cultural differences in risk sources, exposures and perceptions. Stakeholders -health professionals, community representatives, officials, NGOs/advocacy groups, industries, and providers of products/services -collaborate to detect needs, mobilize resources, design, develop, implement, consolidate and maintain interventions to priority problems. Field experience in Mexico supports the argument. This sustainability process is adaptable to other keystone development sectors like soil and water resources stewardship, biodiversity conservation, agriculture and energy.
ABSTRACT Complex relationships exist between human nature and needs, cultural evolution and ecolo... more ABSTRACT Complex relationships exist between human nature and needs, cultural evolution and ecological dynamics. The purpose of this paper is to present a working hypothesis that explores how we may reverse worsening underdevelopment, poverty and unsustainability trends world-wide. Empirical evidence from cultural history and contemporary project experience are used to suggest a development process that combines three critical dimensions: ethics, productive social interaction and knowledge integration. Logic dictates that the process should be applied in any given country to mobilize investment in supplies of natural, human and economic capital, principally biodiversity, soil and water conservation, education and public health. A sociopolitical theory of underdevelopment is presented to suggest that unethical virtual cartels control social interaction, knowledge integration and resource mobilization, precipitating negative feedback effects on human development, ecological stability and, ultimately, cultural evolution. The hypothesis was formulated using observations over 5 years in Mexico and case-study experience to initiate an alternative process of water resource conservation.
Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 09640560120060948, Aug 3, 2010
ABSTRACT Empirical understanding of sustainable development is improved by appreciating its depen... more ABSTRACT Empirical understanding of sustainable development is improved by appreciating its dependence on integrated capacity building that can link sectors, social groups and disciplines together. An interdisciplinary team has been gaining practical experience of how to improve the socio-economic and institutional capacity of the urban water supply and sanitation sector in Mexico, a country with problems common to many rapidly-developing countries. Carried out with multi-stakeholder working groups, strategic capacities were identified to strengthen six components: (1) political and financial support; (2) human resources; (3) information resources; (4) regulations and compliance; (5) basic infrastructure; and (6) the market for support products and services. Three pilot cities were used to test the process under diverse geophysical and cultural conditions. Results of the conceptualization, diagnosis and planning stages are presented, and are being used to guide implementation. The process is adaptable to other countries, and to other natural resource and development sectors, such as soil and biodiversity conservation, energy and agriculture.
... system consists of eight stages (9): (1) intake, (2) pretreatment (eg, screening, neutralizat... more ... system consists of eight stages (9): (1) intake, (2) pretreatment (eg, screening, neutralization, aeration); (3 ... and also one of poor service quality: Why should a person pay for water ... of agricultural chemicals (fertilizers containing nutrients and pesticides such as DDT) and industrial ...
Proceedings of the ICE - Engineering Sustainability, 2008
ABSTRACT Sustainable development and poverty eradication are global challenges that require a sys... more ABSTRACT Sustainable development and poverty eradication are global challenges that require a systematic, transformative approach for action on the ground, with enhanced environmental impact assessment (EIA) at its core. Traditional EIA has been criticised for being a top-down regulatory method biased in favour of the sponsor of a development action. The purposes of this paper are to describe how to transform EIA into a process that enables sustainable development and poverty eradication, and to stimulate much-needed dialogue among engineers, scientists and policy makers. The paper argues for the synthesis of four components to create a new approach: (a) an adaptive social learning process at the core for multi-stakeholder assessment, planning, implementation and monitoring; (b) a trans-disciplinary, knowledge-partnership, systems-based approach to assessment that identifies priority problems and drivers using risk and vulnerability theory; (c) multi-criteria sustainability assessment of alternative solutions that makes socio-political, cultural, economic and ecological trade-offs transparent; and (d) integrated capacity building to sustain the target solution. Deductive reasoning based on empirical evidence from case studies and a literature review supports the argument.
Poverty reduction and sustainable development programmes lack a systematic, integrated approach t... more Poverty reduction and sustainable development programmes lack a systematic, integrated approach that serves to frame issues, simplify complexity and guide action. Responding to five common challenges yields such an approach: 1) How diverse groups can work together effectively, mitigating power inequities and corruption; 2) How to prioritize problems more objectively; 3) How to build sufficient contextual understanding of problems; 4) How to compare alternative solutions for relative sustainability; and 5) How to build sufficient societal capacity to sustain solutions. The approach weaves together five strands: Social learning theory and participatory methods to build collaboration; Vulnerability theory to prioritize problems; Systems thinking to understand context; Sustainability assessment to compare alternative solutions; and integrated capacity building to sustain the preferred solution: SVSSC for short. Existing projects often fail to recognize several of these strands and synergy is not exploited, undermining progress. Globally, the approach seeks to strengthen Agenda 21 and Millennium Project plans that are prescriptive. The literature foundation is complemented by case study applications: urban industrial poverty and health risks in Massachusetts, USA (design and implementation using SVSSC); malaria in the Lake Victoria Region, East Africa (framing and design); and watershed stress in Central Mexico (framing and design). The SVSSC model can strengthen governance, can be scaled up or down, applied across different sectors, tailored to existing contexts yet remain adaptive to change.
Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 2001
Empirical understanding of sustainable development is improved by appreciating its dependence on ... more Empirical understanding of sustainable development is improved by appreciating its dependence on integrated capacity building that can link sectors, social groups and disciplines together. An interdisciplinary team has been gaining practical experience of how to improve the socio-economic and institutional capacity of the urban water supply and sanitation sector in Mexico, a country with problems common to many rapidly-developing countries.
1J. Macedo, 2M. Souvanhnachit, 3S. Rattanavong, 4B. Maokhamphiou, 4T. Sotoukee, 4P. Pavelic, 1M. ... more 1J. Macedo, 2M. Souvanhnachit, 3S. Rattanavong, 4B. Maokhamphiou, 4T. Sotoukee, 4P. Pavelic, 1M. Sarkis, 1T. Downs 1 Department of International Development, Community, and Environment, Clark University, Worcester, MA. U.S.A. 2 Department of Water Resources Engineering, National University of Laos, Vientiane, Lao PDR 3Independent Consultant, Washington DC, U.S.A. 4 International Water Management Institute Vientiane, Lao PDR. Climate change risks pose significant challenge to smallholder irrigators who rely on rainfed agriculture for their livelihoods. Increased mean surface temperatures, varying rainfall, increasing evaporation and declining soil moistures all serve to impact productivity. Groundwater irrigation poses promising potential for agricultural productivity and the livelihoods of smallholders. Groundwater irrigation for agriculture use requires constant water quality monitoring. This excerpt is part of a field research, which assessed the impacts of biochar and fertili...
This paper draws on observational research conducted in McAllen, Texas, during the summer of 2019... more This paper draws on observational research conducted in McAllen, Texas, during the summer of 2019, of three major stakeholder groups involved in asylum management: Catholic Charities Humanitarian Respite Center (HRC); federal government agencies; and the McAllen community. Each group holds a unique, pluralistic perspective on migration, informing intra-group relations and exposing uneven power dynamics between them. Our analysis is contextualized by a local voice, a former long-term volunteer at the HRC, who speaks of the evolution of the McAllen border in her lifetime, as well as federal authority over McAllen and the HRC to process asylees. We dissect how this power dynamic produces a highly violent, detention-dominant immigration landscape in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV), antithetical to the practiced intersectional culture of voces locales. We reimagine how the US responds to asylum seekers by offering a community action-based framework, where these pluralistic perspectives are e...
Enjoying abundant hydro and solar resources, and relative socio-political stability, Zambia has t... more Enjoying abundant hydro and solar resources, and relative socio-political stability, Zambia has the potential to be fully energy independent with high sustainability. However, in response to frequent power outages, symptomatic of a worsening energy deficit, the Zambian government’s proposed energy strategy seems to offer only short-term fixes, exemplifying the inadequacies of business-as-usual development practice. The assessment/planning process has little stakeholder engagement with civil society, and pays no attention to capacity building on a societal scale. Indeed, globally, while calls for ‘integrative’ approaches are getting louder, operational details are lacking. We suggest alternatives to the proposed strategy and conventional development process, and improvements to operational stages using an integrative collaborative project (ICP) framework, arguing for a capacity building innovation network that scales up or down by linking local and regional projects together. We cons...
Half of U.S. drinking water comes from aquifers, and very shallow ones (<20 feet to water table) ... more Half of U.S. drinking water comes from aquifers, and very shallow ones (<20 feet to water table) are especially vulnerable to anthropogenic contamination. We present the case of Holliston, a Boston, Massachusetts suburb that draws its drinking water from very shallow aquifers, and where metals and solvents have been reported in groundwater. Community concerns focus on water discolored by naturally occurring manganese (Mn), despite reports stating regulatory aesthetic compliance. Epidemiologic studies suggest Mn is a potentially toxic element (PTE) for children exposed by the drinking-water pathway at levels near the regulatory aesthetic level. We designed an integrated, community-based project: five sites were profiled for contaminant releases; service areas for wells were modeled; and the capture zone for one vulnerable well was estimated. Manganese, mercury, and trichloroethylene are among 20 contaminants of interest. Findings show that past and/or current exposures to multiple contaminants in drinking water are plausible, satisfying the criteria for complete exposure pathways. This case questions the adequacy of aquifer protection and monitoring regulations, and highlights the need for integrated assessment of multiple contaminants, associated exposures and health risks. It posits that community-researcher partnerships are essential for understanding and solving complex problems.
AIACC Working Papers, published on-line by Assessments of Impacts and Adaptations to Climate Chan... more AIACC Working Papers, published on-line by Assessments of Impacts and Adaptations to Climate Change (AIACC), is a series of papers and paper abstracts written by researchers participating in the AIACC project. Papers published in AIACC Working Papers have been peer reviewed and accepted for publication in the on-line series as being (i) fundamentally sound in their methods and implementation, (ii) informative about the methods and/or findings of new research, and (iii) clearly written for a broad, multidisciplinary audience. The purpose of the series is to circulate results and descriptions of methodologies from the AIACC project and elicit feedback to the authors.
Cholera epidemics have a recorded history in the eastern Africa region dating to 1836. Cholera is... more Cholera epidemics have a recorded history in the eastern Africa region dating to 1836. Cholera is now endemic in the Lake Victoria basin, a region with one of the poorest and fastest growing populations in the world. Analyses of precipitation, temperatures, and hydrological characteristics of selected stations in the Lake Victoria basin show that cholera epidemics are closely associated with El Niñ o years. Similarly, sustained temperatures high above normal (Tmax) in two consecutive seasons, followed by a slight cooling in the second season, trigger an outbreak of a cholera epidemic. The health and socioeconomic systems that the lake basin communities rely upon are not robust enough to cope with cholera outbreaks, thus rendering them vulnerable to the impact of climate variability and change. Collectively, this report argues that communities living around the Lake Victoria basin are vulnerable to climate-induced cholera that is aggravated by the low socioeconomic status and lack of an adequate health care system. In assessing the communities' adaptive capacity, the report concludes that persistent levels of poverty have made these communities vulnerable to cholera epidemics.
RESUMEN RESUMEN LOS PROCESOS INDUSTRIALES CARECEN EN LA ACTUALIDAD DE LA APUCACIÓN DE LAS APLICAC... more RESUMEN RESUMEN LOS PROCESOS INDUSTRIALES CARECEN EN LA ACTUALIDAD DE LA APUCACIÓN DE LAS APLICACIÓN DE un conocimiento integrado que pernita evaluar los impactos al ambiente dentro y alrededor de las instalaciones de producción, manejar sus riesgos y diseñar estratégica. y económicas que minimicen estos últimos. Esta cadena de cono- cimientos no se en entra disponible a causa de barreras existentes entre las disciplina de la ingeniería, las ciencias ambientales, la economía y la política industriales También su falta se debe a la rigidez en las ideologías académicas tradicionales, que deberían responder a las necesidades crecientes de la industria y la' sociedad que la academia y la industria no se hablan, asunto paradójico, dado que ésta se compone de los egresados de la academia. El propósito del artículo es empezar a derrumbar estas barreras, con la perspectiva de una maestría para profesionales del nuevo milenio, de enfoque interdisciplinario, que permita la formación de re...
The paper argues health risk management in Developing Countries cannot be sustainable unless it i... more The paper argues health risk management in Developing Countries cannot be sustainable unless it is conceived, planned, implemented and maintained by community-led multi-stakeholder groups using an integrated capacity building process with five components: (1) education and awareness raising; (2) strengthening information resources and decision making; (3) strengthening regulations and compliance; (4) improving basic sanitation infrastructure; and (5) stimulating the market for support products and services for health and environment sectors. Occupational and environmental health professionals with cross-disciplinary understanding are uniquely qualified to build much-needed bridges between stakeholders, risk science and policy. They should adopt a cost-effective mentality, adapting models/methods used in developed countries to developing country contexts, negotiating political obstacles and understanding cultural differences in risk sources, exposures and perceptions. Stakeholders -health professionals, community representatives, officials, NGOs/advocacy groups, industries, and providers of products/services -collaborate to detect needs, mobilize resources, design, develop, implement, consolidate and maintain interventions to priority problems. Field experience in Mexico supports the argument. This sustainability process is adaptable to other keystone development sectors like soil and water resources stewardship, biodiversity conservation, agriculture and energy.
ABSTRACT Complex relationships exist between human nature and needs, cultural evolution and ecolo... more ABSTRACT Complex relationships exist between human nature and needs, cultural evolution and ecological dynamics. The purpose of this paper is to present a working hypothesis that explores how we may reverse worsening underdevelopment, poverty and unsustainability trends world-wide. Empirical evidence from cultural history and contemporary project experience are used to suggest a development process that combines three critical dimensions: ethics, productive social interaction and knowledge integration. Logic dictates that the process should be applied in any given country to mobilize investment in supplies of natural, human and economic capital, principally biodiversity, soil and water conservation, education and public health. A sociopolitical theory of underdevelopment is presented to suggest that unethical virtual cartels control social interaction, knowledge integration and resource mobilization, precipitating negative feedback effects on human development, ecological stability and, ultimately, cultural evolution. The hypothesis was formulated using observations over 5 years in Mexico and case-study experience to initiate an alternative process of water resource conservation.
Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 09640560120060948, Aug 3, 2010
ABSTRACT Empirical understanding of sustainable development is improved by appreciating its depen... more ABSTRACT Empirical understanding of sustainable development is improved by appreciating its dependence on integrated capacity building that can link sectors, social groups and disciplines together. An interdisciplinary team has been gaining practical experience of how to improve the socio-economic and institutional capacity of the urban water supply and sanitation sector in Mexico, a country with problems common to many rapidly-developing countries. Carried out with multi-stakeholder working groups, strategic capacities were identified to strengthen six components: (1) political and financial support; (2) human resources; (3) information resources; (4) regulations and compliance; (5) basic infrastructure; and (6) the market for support products and services. Three pilot cities were used to test the process under diverse geophysical and cultural conditions. Results of the conceptualization, diagnosis and planning stages are presented, and are being used to guide implementation. The process is adaptable to other countries, and to other natural resource and development sectors, such as soil and biodiversity conservation, energy and agriculture.
... system consists of eight stages (9): (1) intake, (2) pretreatment (eg, screening, neutralizat... more ... system consists of eight stages (9): (1) intake, (2) pretreatment (eg, screening, neutralization, aeration); (3 ... and also one of poor service quality: Why should a person pay for water ... of agricultural chemicals (fertilizers containing nutrients and pesticides such as DDT) and industrial ...
Proceedings of the ICE - Engineering Sustainability, 2008
ABSTRACT Sustainable development and poverty eradication are global challenges that require a sys... more ABSTRACT Sustainable development and poverty eradication are global challenges that require a systematic, transformative approach for action on the ground, with enhanced environmental impact assessment (EIA) at its core. Traditional EIA has been criticised for being a top-down regulatory method biased in favour of the sponsor of a development action. The purposes of this paper are to describe how to transform EIA into a process that enables sustainable development and poverty eradication, and to stimulate much-needed dialogue among engineers, scientists and policy makers. The paper argues for the synthesis of four components to create a new approach: (a) an adaptive social learning process at the core for multi-stakeholder assessment, planning, implementation and monitoring; (b) a trans-disciplinary, knowledge-partnership, systems-based approach to assessment that identifies priority problems and drivers using risk and vulnerability theory; (c) multi-criteria sustainability assessment of alternative solutions that makes socio-political, cultural, economic and ecological trade-offs transparent; and (d) integrated capacity building to sustain the target solution. Deductive reasoning based on empirical evidence from case studies and a literature review supports the argument.
Poverty reduction and sustainable development programmes lack a systematic, integrated approach t... more Poverty reduction and sustainable development programmes lack a systematic, integrated approach that serves to frame issues, simplify complexity and guide action. Responding to five common challenges yields such an approach: 1) How diverse groups can work together effectively, mitigating power inequities and corruption; 2) How to prioritize problems more objectively; 3) How to build sufficient contextual understanding of problems; 4) How to compare alternative solutions for relative sustainability; and 5) How to build sufficient societal capacity to sustain solutions. The approach weaves together five strands: Social learning theory and participatory methods to build collaboration; Vulnerability theory to prioritize problems; Systems thinking to understand context; Sustainability assessment to compare alternative solutions; and integrated capacity building to sustain the preferred solution: SVSSC for short. Existing projects often fail to recognize several of these strands and synergy is not exploited, undermining progress. Globally, the approach seeks to strengthen Agenda 21 and Millennium Project plans that are prescriptive. The literature foundation is complemented by case study applications: urban industrial poverty and health risks in Massachusetts, USA (design and implementation using SVSSC); malaria in the Lake Victoria Region, East Africa (framing and design); and watershed stress in Central Mexico (framing and design). The SVSSC model can strengthen governance, can be scaled up or down, applied across different sectors, tailored to existing contexts yet remain adaptive to change.
Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 2001
Empirical understanding of sustainable development is improved by appreciating its dependence on ... more Empirical understanding of sustainable development is improved by appreciating its dependence on integrated capacity building that can link sectors, social groups and disciplines together. An interdisciplinary team has been gaining practical experience of how to improve the socio-economic and institutional capacity of the urban water supply and sanitation sector in Mexico, a country with problems common to many rapidly-developing countries.
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Papers by Timothy Downs