Where do you shit? In developing countries, the answer to this question may determine whether you live or die. Around 2.6 billion people defecate in the open.

Supplies of good clean water where, and when we need it – this is taken for granted by some, and is a pipedream for others. For most it depends in part on what people are doing up in the hills. The land in the hills may be used in ways that reduce the quantity and quality of water we get downstream. To get the water we want, we have traditionally relied on regulation, exhortation, cooperation or just keeping our fingers crossed.

The provision of water and sanitation services in deprived urban settlements is a challenge faced by many countries in the South. The growth of towns and cities together with the rapid increase in urban populations has meant that peri-urban areas are growing much more quickly than formal urban centres.

Benefits to people from water ecosystems like rivers, swamps, floodplains and groundwater systems are central to human well-being. But ecosystems are in trouble and the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, the Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have each shown that freshwater ecosystem services are particularly vulnerable. 

The aim of this study report is to highlight the importance of mapping and documentation, for effective relationship building and advocacy.

This report shares field experience and lessons in developing incentive-based mechanisms for watershed protection services and improved livelihoods at micro- and macro-scales at three locations in Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The process, progress and problems in the three sites, and the initial findings, are presented. Key lessons are discussed and specific recommendations made

In response to the disappointing results of many regulatory or public investment approaches to watershed management, payments for environmental services has emerged as a new mechanism to maintain socially optimal environmental services by compensating people for the services they provide.

L’étude entend appuyer la réflexion permanente sur la meilleure façon d’aborder les enjeux soulevés par l’interface entre les droits à l’eau et au foncier, aussi bien qu’un processus à plus long terme de débat politique et d’échange d’expériences autour de ces questions au Sahel. Ce processus (le "Groupe d’apprentissage de la gouvernance de l’eau au Sahel") implique tout un éventail d’acteurs qui cherchent à améliorer l’accès à l’eau - décideurs, agents du développement, associations d’usagers et de producteurs, chefs de communauté et autres acteurs de la société civile – et il se penchera sur des façons pratiques de tenir compte des enjeux fonciers dans les programmes hydrauliques. L’étude se concentre sur deux domaines clés de l’interface entre les droits au foncier et à l’eau : l'irrigation et les points d’eau pastoraux. Elle explore également certaines questions clés concernant les liens entre le droit à l’eau, au foncier et aux autres ressources naturelles dans le contexte des zones humides de haute valeur. L’étude se concentre sur le Sahel, en particulier le Sénégal, le Mali, le Burkina Faso et le Niger. Les éléments de preuve et documents pertinents issus d’autres pays sahéliens sont utilisés pour éclairer encore la perspective. Il est également fait référence aux développements intervenus dans d’autres pays d’Afrique sub-saharienne, afin de replacer l’analyse sahélienne dans un contexte plus vaste.

While large private water companies grab the headlines, it is more often small private vendors that bring water to the urban poor in Africa, Asia and Latin America. This working paper looks at how water-vending systems operate, how effective they are in meeting the needs of the urban poor, and how this effectiveness might be improved. The paper concentrates on the small-scale and informal vendors, most of whom work independently with very little capital. Nevertheless, they display enormous diversity and flexibility, and are adept at responding to the needs of all but the very poorest households.