'This is surely the most impressive and important publication to come out of the UN system for many years.' Peter Adamson, founder, New Internationalist, and author and researcher of UNICEF's The State of the World's Children from 1980 to 1995 The world's governments agreed at the Millennium Summit to halve, by 2015, the number of people who lack access to safe water. With rapidly growing urban populations the challenge is immense. Water and Sanitation in the World's Cities is a comprehensive and authoritative assessment of the problems and how they can be addressed. This influential publication by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) sets out in detail the scale of inadequate provision of water and sanitation. It describes the impacts on health and economic performance, showing the potential gains of remedial action; it analyses the proximate and underlying causes of poor provision and identifies information gaps affecting resource allocation; it outlines the consequences of further deterioration; and it explains how resources and institutional capacities - public, private and community - can be used to deliver proper services through integrated water resource management.

This book highlights the value of sustainability science in newly emerging and innovative approaches to research, education, capacity building and practice in order to transform rhetoric into impact sustainability. Presenting case studies from various industries, sectors and geographical contexts targeting the seventeen (Sustainable development Goals (SDGs) outlined in the 2030 Agenda, it provides insightful recommendations to create sustainable impact while at the same time achieving the global goals. The book addresses the fundamental question of how sustainability rehtoric can be transformed into impact sustainability research, education and capacity building and as a result, how existing approaches in science, curricula and practice are mitigating the demands emerging from addressing global sustainable development in an impactful and innovative manner. Providing recommendations for impact sustainability in science, curriculum on how to address pressing sustainability issues and contribute toward achieving the SDGs, this book is an essential reference for both academics and professionals.

Half of the world's people live in urban areas, and roughly a third of these live in desperate poverty without access to basic amenities. Taking on the themes of UN-HABITAT's Water and Sanitation in the World's Cities (2003), this new volume focuses on the deficiencies in the provision of water and sanitation where most of the populations of the developing world live: in towns and small cities. Drawing on extensive unpublished research and 15 commissioned papers from experts involved in designing and implementing innovative projects around the world, this is the first major study of the problems facing the smaller urban centres that are recognized to be of enormous importance by governments, international agencies, NGOs and service providers. Tackling these problems is a crucial part of development and of good governance, and critical to meeting the Millennium Development Goals. The volume will be essential reading for all professionals and researchers in the relevant fields and a valuable resource for teachers and students of urban development.

Benefits to people from water ecosystems like rivers, swamps, floodplains and groundwater systems are central to human well-being. This report seeks to highlight some of the critical issues facing water ecosystem services in Africa, South Asia and Latin America and makes recommendations on the research that is needed to fill the gaps in knowledge.

Biodiversity and ecosystem services are being degraded faster than at any other time in human history.

Provides a pan-African synthesis of community-based natural resource management (CBNRM), drawing on multiple authors and a wide range of documented experiences from Southern, Eastern, Western and Central Africa. This title discusses the degree to which CBNRM has met poverty alleviation, economic development and nature conservation objectives.