Background of this rally was the fact that the UN declared 2008 the “International Year of Sanitation”. Themed “100.000 sustainable toilets for schools” German NGOs of the forum “environment and development” handed a policy document over to Erich Stather, the secretary of the BMZ, which requested the German government to take action in achieving the millennium development goals of sanitation. The goal was set to cut the number of people without sanitation in half by the year 2015.
But achieving this aim has never been as difficult as today: 2.5 billion people (about 38% of the world’s population) live without appropriate sanitation. This is why every year countless tons of wastewater are flowing into the environment. Every day 5.000 people die because they drank water that was contaminated by faecal. “However, there are a lot experiences about the fact, which social and technical components build up reliably solutions that have been proven even under extreme circumstances”, states Stefan Reuter of BORDA. That sanitation is also a problem in Europe is proven by the fact that about 20 million people in the EU states are lacking hygienic toilets.
When the position paper was handed over to Mr. Erich Stather, he assured that the suggestions and demands will be included in the work of the BMZ. He also highlighted the importance of sanitation for the German development cooperation. Sanitation concepts are seen as sustainable if they take agricultural, water-economical and energy-related aspects into consideration. Themed “100.000 sustainable toilets for schools” the forum for environment and development suggested on their rally:
- To construct 100.000 sustainable sanitation facilities in schools and comparable institutions that have a role-model function.
- To initiate a national and international research-, development- and education push about ecological sanitation and cycle-orientated sanitation concepts.
- To implement legal regulations for the promotion of cycle-orientated sanitation systems, the handling and utilization of urine and faecal as organic fertilizer and the usage of treated wastewater in the agriculture.
Tim Cordsen, BORDA Germany
