The synthesis report highlights the untapped potential of wastewater as a resource, drawing on several decades of knowledge and experience in the Swedish context. Beyond water reuse, wastewater can provide energy, nutrients, and organic carbon that can be utilized by industries, agriculture, and even urban systems. The findings emphasize the need for a societal shift in viewing wastewater as a valuable resource rather than as waste. Advanced treatment technologies are identified as critical enablers, reducing contaminants and making reuse safer and more viable. Moreover, the research identifies key barriers, including regulatory uncertainties, limited guidance, and challenges in public acceptance, and calls for a collaborative approach among authorities, utilities, and industries to overcome these obstacles and better valorize the knowledge and experience gained to scale resource recovery applications in the country.

Together with my colleague Linus Dagerskog at SEI, we contributed to the report by co-authoring a chapter on decision support tools in one of the sub-syntheses in the report which focused on acceptance and risks of resource recovery as well as tools (Chapter 4c in Delsyntes 4: Acceptans, risker och verktyg). Our work in this chapter focused on tools for decision-making that can support the implementation of resource recovery from wastewater, and drew from some of our earlier research on decision support tools for resource recovery in sanitation. Specifically, we explored evaluation frameworks for identifying the environmental, social, and economic benefits and risks of wastewater reuse, tools for planning and system implementation, and approaches to assess potential health and environmental risks. By incorporating these tools into decision-making, policymakers and practitioners can develop more targeted and effective strategies for resource recovery.

Upcoming webinar on the report

To delve deeper into the findings and discuss the way forward, the Swedish EPA (Naturvårdsverket) will host a webinar next week, in Swedish.

Avloppsvatten som resurs – resultat från två forskningssynteser 📅 24th January 2025 ⏰ 09:30–11:15 (CET)

This event will present insights from two synthesis reports, including Återvinning och återanvändning av resurser från avlopp and Att återanvända eller inte: är renat avloppsvatten en giftfri och hållbar resurs för framtiden? (REASSURE). There will also be a dialogue featuring guests from Water Wise Society and Svenskt Vatten, along with a Q&A session.

If you are interested in joining the webinar, you can register at this link To learn more about the synthesis report and to download a copy, use this link: Återvinning och återanvändning av resurser från avlopp

Sanitation and climate change: Spotlight in Francetvinfo

In a recent article published by Francetvinfo, journalist Marie-Adélaïde Scigacz explores the significant yet often ignored greenhouse gas emissions from sanitation systems. Highlighting insights from some of our work at SEI, the article underscores that sanitation contributes approximately 1.3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, comparable to the aviation sector.

The piece sheds light on methane and nitrous oxide emissions from sanitation systems, emphasizing how inadequate wastewater management exacerbates climate challenges if not addressed urgently. It also highlights practical solutions we’ve explored, such as biogas recovery and more frequent emptying of septic tanks and pit latrines in rapidly urbanizing regions like Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, which offer pathways to both mitigation and resource recovery.

The role of sanitation in methane reduction: Featured in Aktuell Hållbarhet

Closer to home, Swedish publication Aktuell Hållbarhet recently featured a discussion on the potential for sanitation to play a pivotal role in methane reduction. Methane, with its 80 times greater warming potential than CO₂ over 20 years, is often described as a “climate emergency brake.” This powerful greenhouse gas has been the focus of a lot of discussions so far during the UN CLimate Conference COP 29 in Baku, including during a press conference by the UNEP-hosted Climate and Clean Air Coalition. So amongst other sectors that also have significant impact on methane emissions, the article, by journalist Pernilla Strid, highlighted the emission reductions that could be harnessed through interventions in sanitation systems. By improving wastewater treatment systems and integrating methane capture technologies, we can align sanitation initiatives with global methane reduction goals, such as those outlined in the Global Methane Pledge.

Sanitation and climate resilience: why World Toilet Day matters

Both articles highlight a key message for World Toilet Day: toilets (and the wider infrastructure systems they are connected to) bring peace by reducing public health disparities and fostering a more equitable world. However, are not just a health intervention — they are a climate intervention too. Tackling the methane emissions linked to sanitation and wastewater management is essential to meeting the Paris Agreement goals. On the other hand, ensuring the resilience of sanitation systems to the impacts of climate change can strengthen their role in upholding public health systems, hence contributing to broader climate resilience. As the global community gathers for COP29, these sanitation-climate linkages are becoming clearer than ever.

Happy World Toilet Day!

Link to the articles:

• Francetvinfo - Journée mondiale des toilettes : pourquoi il est temps de se pencher sur les grosses émissions de gaz à effet de serre de nos petits coins
• Aktuell Hålbarhet - Unepchefen: Metan ”nödbroms” för klimatet

Link to the article: Advancing climate finance for climate-resilient sanitation

The Guidelines will be launched at the 2024 UN Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan in an event at the Climate Funds joint pavilion on Monday 11th November at 15:15-16:45 Baku time. More details about the event are available here: Launch of the water sector guide for sanitation

Highlighting sanitation in climate action

On Monday, 14th October, I presented at a session led by WaterAid, titled “WASH in climate action – a cornerstone for a climate-resilient Africa.” In this session, I emphasized the importance of integrating sanitation and climate policies to build resilient WASH systems that are vital for Africa’s adaptation strategies. Drawing from SEI’s recent research, I shared insights on how African countries are incorporating WASH considerations in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs). The session provided a platform to exchange lessons from countries like Zambia, Mozambique, and Ethiopia, and highlighted gender-responsive approaches essential for inclusive WASH and climate resilience.

Wastewater as a climate solution

On Tuesday morning, I joined a UNEP-led panel in a session on “Achieving sustainable wastewater management and sanitation provision in Africa.” Here, I discussed wastewater as an untapped resource for climate mitigation and energy generation, advocating for accelerated investment in climate-friendly wastewater management practices. My presentation highlighted sanitation’s substantial methane emissions, underscoring its potential in contributing to progress on the Global Methane Pledge. We discussed scalable, integrated approaches to wastewater management that contribute to climate resilience, mitigate environmental impact, and support the energy needs of African communities.

Operationalizing the Water-Energy-Food nexus

Later that day, I presented in a session organized by my colleagues at SEI Africa, “Leveraging Hydrological Data for Integrated Water-Energy-Food Nexus Solutions.” My focus was on how resource recovery from sanitation and other organic waste streams can drive the WEF nexus forward. I introduced the Resource Recovery Toolbox, a digital platform that SEI is developing to collate tools and resources for stakeholders interested in planning and implementing resource recovery projects. With over 100 tools already gathered, the Toolbox is set to launch in early 2025 and will support more effective decision-making in resource recovery and more sustainable natural resource management.

Strengthening partnerships and exploring collaborations

In addition to the sessions, Africa Water Week provided a valuable opportunity to connect with partners from across the water and environmental sectors. I met with colleagues from organizations such as UNEP’s Global Wastewater Initiative, IUCN, the Water Sector Trust Fund in Kenya, UNICEF, the African Development Bank, the Green Climate Fund, WaterAid, and others. These meetings allowed us to explore ongoing initiatives, potential collaborations, and shared objectives in water, sanitation, and climate resilience.

As usual, World Water Week for many of us started off with the SuSanA (Sustainable Sanitation Alliance) meeting, which was once again hosted at the Stockholm Environment Institute offices. The meeting consisted of a series of sessions, including the annual SuSanA General Assembly, a thematic session on the linkages between sanitation and climate change, a thematic session on resource recovery, as well as a thematic session on South-to-South dialogue. I had the opportunity to share insights from our team’s ongoing work on sanitation and climate change, including presenting highlights from our recently released report on methods for measuring greenhouse gas emissions in sanitation and wastewater management systems. During the resource recovery thematic session, we also provided updates on the ongoing resource recovery toolbox project. The day culminated in a social gathering at the Sjöcafét restaurant in the evening.

On Sunday, 25th August, GIZ and SuSanA, together with SEI, organized a special screening of the documentary film Holy Shit by the director Rubén Abruña at the Zita movie theatre in Stockholm. I had the opportunity to be part of a panel discussion after the screening of the film, along with Dorothee Spuhler, Elisabeth Kvarnström and Lotte Kristoferitsch, to discuss the film’s main themes as well as the implications for sanitation and the environment issues globally. The film is a really interesting documentary that follows how human excreta is managed through the entire value chain and it’s really helpful for people to understand what exactly happens to human excreta, how we manage it and how that affects our everyday life and the environment around us. It is also a search for insights into what we can do in the future and what changes we can make in how excreta is managed globally for us to better achieve different sustainability objectives, including health and environmental conservation, among others. During the panel discussion, we discussed, among others, questions like what exactly circular sanitation or sustainable sanitation means, and the potential for a human excreta to be used as a derivative to make valuable fertilizer and plug. Fertilizer availability gaps, issues around heavy metals and other chemical contaminants that are available in wastewater and in sludge, and how to manage them, as well as what technical, governance and other solutions could be available to improve how a human excreta is managed in society.

On Tuesday 27th August, together with other colleagues from organizations that are part of the Climate Resilient Sanitation Coalition, we held a panel discussion at the Water for Women Fund booth to discuss the call to action for climate resilient sanitation. This panel was moderated by our colleague Sam Drabble from Water and Sanitation for the urban poor. During the discussion, I had the opportunity to share insights from our ongoing research at SEI about the linkages between sanitation and climate mitigation and the potential that interventions within sanitation systems can contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and hence enable progress towards the Global Methane Pledge. We also discussed about why it’s really crucial to invest in research on emissions sources and quantities covering the entire sanitation value chain, and the available climate mitigation solutions therein.

On Wednesday, 28th August, I had the opportunity to be part of a panel discussion in a session that was organized by Xylem for the finalists in this year’s Junior Water Prize, Stockholm Junior Water Prize. This panel consisted of a number of experts in the water and sanitation sector, each of them talking about their background and how they came to work on water and sanitation related issues, their unique career journey and the challenges and opportunities they have faced. We also had reflections on mentorship and sponsorship, and what that implies for young people that will be working in the water and sanitation sector in the future. The panel included Dr. Lara B. Fowler, who is the Chief Sustainability Officer at Penn State University in the USA, Hanna Albåge, who is the Director for Business Development at Xylem, Brooke Yamakoshi, who is the Regional Water Sanitation and Hygiene Manager at UNICEF in the East Asia and Pacific Regional Office, and it was moderated by Cecilia Chatterjee-Martisen, who is the International Program Director at Save the Children in Sweden. Apart from the panel discussion, we also had breakout sessions in smaller groups where we got to interact with the Stockholm Junior Water Prize Laureates and discuss topics such as gender parity, the role of male allies, how to build a network, and the importance of mentorship in career development.

Later in the day, I participated in a session that was organized by the World Bank and the University of Technology, Sydney, as well as UNICEF on circular, resilient and inclusive sanitation service systems. The session included an extensive discussion of how circular economy principles can be applied in the water and sanitation sector, an overview of tools that can be used for implementing circular economy principles in the wash sector, including the World Bank’s WICER tool, as well as the Circle WASH 8Rs framework that has been developed at the University of Technology Sydney. As part of the session, I participated in a panel discussion along with Dr. Dihn Van Dano from the Vietnam Academy of Water Resources, Sophie Tremolet, who is the Water Team Lead at the OECD, and my long-time colleague, Amadou Gueye who is affiliated with the Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation in Senegal. During the panel discussion, we responded to audience questions, but also more broadly discussed how circular economy principles can be applied in the water and sanitation sector and the tools that are available for planning and implementing such initiatives like those showcased in our ongoing Resource Recovery Toolbox project at SEI.

The conference was also an opportunity to gather colleagues working on water and sanitation issues from across various Stockholm Environment Institute offices together. We had colleagues from the US, Asia and Latin America centers, as well as the HQ in Stockholm and it was nice to hang out together and catch up in person.

Group photo with colleagues from various SEI centers at World Water Week 2024. Photo: Thanapon Piman

Nat Paynter from UNICEF moderated the webinar and introduced the overall objectives of the event. He also pointed out that tackling the impacts of climate change on sanitation systems and addressing the contribution of sanitation systems to greenhouse gas emissions are equally important objectives. Kate Medlicott from the World Health Organization (WHO) followed with an insightful introduction to why climate change matters in the discourse about sanitation systems and vice versa. She provided an overview of some of the implications of the impacts of climate change on sanitation, such as what happens to sanitation systems when there is water scarcity or flooding, as well as how much sanitation systems contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. She also pointed out implications of these inter-linkages on human health and wellbeing, on the health of freshwater and marine ecosystems, and on overall societal resilience to shocks. She concluded with short history of the Climate Resilient Sanitation Coalition, its work and membership so far, as well as the Call to Action released at COP27 in 2022.

Kate’s presentation was followed by Jose Gesti from Sanitation and Water for All, who focused on sharing the emerging evidence and actionable strategies to enhance climate resilience in the sanitation sector. He pointed out that the focus of the work of the coalition is on people living in high-risk climate impacted areas who either have insufficient access to sanitation services and hence they need new resilient infrastructure and associated services to be established, as well as those who already have access to sanitation services but their infrastructure needs to be retrofitted to align with climate smart objectives. Jose emphasized that climate-resilient sanitation has become a global priority, aligning with the Paris Agreement’s global goal on adaptation. He outlined the new global framework adopted at COP28, which aims to reduce vulnerability and enhance resilience across various sectors including water, food, health, ecosystems, infrastructure, livelihoods, and cultural heritage, all of which have linkages to sanitation. He highlighted ongoing efforts to develop a definition and indicators for measuring climate resilience in sanitation systems, as well as the efforts to revise Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the opportunity therein to align mitigation initiatives in sanitation with the Global Methane Pledge. He also pointed out that there is need for increased climate finance to support these initiatives in the sanitation sector and to this end, the CRS Coalition is actively working with the Green Climate Fund to develop guidelines for designing climate resilient sanitation projects, as an annex to the GCF’s Water Security Sectoral Guide.

The panel discussion which followed Jose’s presentation was moderated by me. It featured insights from Amelia Wenger of the Wildlife Conservation Society who informed us about the critical role that freshwater and marine ecosystems play in sequestering carbon and why sanitation systems should be designed with conservation objectives in mind so as not to endanger the important contribution of these ecosystems to climate mitigation. Sanyu Lutalo of the World Bank shared with us emerging insights from the bank’s analytical work on climate resilient sanitation initiatives in various cities around the world, from Lusaka to Los Angeles to Singapore and many other cities. Meera Mehta of CEPT University provided an overview of an ongoing project in India to integrate climate considerations in the sanitation work of three cities, including using solar energy for powering WASH operations, scheduled desludging using electric trucks, urban forests as carbon sink units at wastewater and faecal sludge treatment facilities, as well as safety training and sensitization for sanitation workers. Finally, Juliet Willetts from the University of Technology Sydney shared about the challenges of monitoring climate resilience in sanitation systems, and the ongoing work to develop indicators for this that can be integrated in the JMP and GLAAS processes.

The session ended with a Q&A segment, where panelists addressed questions from the audience, reinforcing the collaborative effort required to tackle the complex challenges posed by climate change on sanitation systems. It was a nice way to get an overview of the emerging evidence from various research initiatives about the sanitation-climate change linkages, and how this evidence is being applied in policy processes and practice at global and sub-national levels. Of course, one can only cover so much in a webinar of 75 minutes but with so many ongoing initiatives covering various aspects of mitigation and adaptation in sanitation systems, there is a lot of new insights to look out for on these topics in upcoming events and engagements e.g. at World Water Week, the annual SuSanA meeting, the WEDC conference etc.

More info about the webinar, the slides from the presentation and the recording will be available here.

So throughout this week, I have been in Nairobi to meet with the Hand in Hand Eastern Africa team and to conduct a strategy development workshop, together with my colleagues from the SEI Africa office in Nairobi - Alphayo Lutta, Anderson Kehbila, Cynthia Sitati and Pauline Macharia.

The workshop had two main aims. One was to share and discuss some of the findings from our initial scoping study which kicked off the strategy development process. The other aim was to, together, deliberate about what the key problem the strategy aims to achieve, the root causes of the problem and the outcomes and impact that the Hand in Hand team seeks to eventually achieve as a result of implementing the strategy. This is because we would like the strategy to respond to the actual problems on the ground and their root causes, rather than make assumptions that are not valid.

The workshop had a sizeable number of participants, about 20 altogether from the Hand in Hand team, in addition to four of us from SEI. And in what turned out to demonstrate a high level of executive support for the process, we had the Hand in Hand Eastern Africa CEO with us for the whole first day and part of the second day while the chairperson of their Board joined us for the whole second day.

We designed the workshop to use problem-driven and back-casting approaches, adapting techniques from the USAID theory of change development process and the Harvard PDIA toolkit. Our colleague Carla Liera has been facilitating us to use these techniques in several of our ongoing projects and initiatives at SEI. While some aspects of our workshop design were content-heavy and we needed to modify and simply some aspects mid-way through the workshop process, the participants altogether found the process quite valuable. A lot of the discussions focused on making explicit and challenging the assumptions we make about the problems we are trying to solve and our beliefs about the likelihood of particular interventions to bring about the desired outcomes. It was interesting to witness the debates within various group exercises, with some participants wondering if certain assumptions in other program areas should also be revisited in light inf the insights from the current discussions. The back-casting approach was also pointed out as a useful approach for getting down to the details about what the desired future change actually is in real terms, whether qualitative or quantitative. We also had quite some interesting discussions about different types of possible desirable impacts that can result from interventions, based on the six models for understanding impact by Liz Ruedy.

After a tiresome two days, our team now looks forward to engaging in the tough but stimulating process of consolidating and synthesizing outputs from the workshop into the draft strategy document that will then be discussed with Hand in Hand prior to iterations and generating a final draft. We also look forward to engaging in other collaborations with Hand in Hand, building on the work we have done together thus far.

The rest of the week was spent in meetings with my colleagues at the SEI Africa office, as well as engagements with partners and colleagues in the sanitation and waste management sector in Kenya where I shared about our ongoing work on the Resource Recovery Toolbox. This also provided good opportunities to gather feedback and input into the development of the toolbox.

Some photos from the workshop are shown below.

Photos: All by Pauline Gitiri Macharia/SEI except the last one which is by Daniel Ddiba/SEI

More about the previous work we have done with Hand in Hand:

• Seminar and mingle about plastic waste management in October 2023

• Plastic waste management and recycling in Mombasa, Kenya: A scoping study of the value chain and its institutional, policy and regulatory frameworks

• Analysis of the Plastic Waste Value Chain in India: A Scoping Study

On 18 March 2024, policymakers, industry leaders and scientists will gather in Geneva, Switzerland, for the Global Methane Forum. The purpose is to take stock of progress on methane mitigation strategies and to mobilize ambitious action, in line with the Global Methane Pledge.

Much has happened since the pledge was launched in 2021. At that time, the international community was just starting to understand that the Paris Agreement’s goal to keep global warming below 1.5°C can only be met through fast reductions in methane emissions. Since then, 155 countries have signed the Global Methane Pledge, which aims to cut global methane emissions by at least 30% by 2030, relative to 2020 levels. We have also achieved a better understanding of methane emissions, thanks to more research and better data from new satellite technologies.

At the same time, it is striking how many countries lack either concrete plans for how to achieve the necessary cuts in methane emissions or sufficient data on current emissions. This may not be strange given how fast our understanding of methane is growing, but it is worrying, nevertheless.

We are especially concerned that the issue of methane emissions from sanitation systems is not on the radar of the climate community and is only starting to get the attention of the sanitation sector. Ahead of the Global Methane Forum, we want to draw attention to key barriers for action, and the measures we should take to address them.

Sanitation emissions are greater than assumed

Anthropogenic methane emissions are commonly characterized as originating primarily from three sectors: fossil fuel production; agriculture; and waste. Sanitation and wastewater management systems fall within the “waste” sector. Methane emissions from wastewater management (primarily those systems using water-borne sewers) are estimated to account for 7% of global methane emissions, and the rest of sanitation for another 5%, according to recent research. However, existing greenhouse gas (GHG) emission inventories likely underestimate methane emissions from the sanitation sector due to limited empirical data on the scale of emissions from sanitation systems that do not utilize sewers (i.e., pit latrines, septic tanks, etc.), as well as on other aspects of sanitation systems, including the emptying and transport services and disposal of sewage sludge.

Even for well-researched aspects of the sanitation system like wastewater treatment plants, studies indicate that methane emissions could be as much as double the estimates made using Tier 1 and Tier 2 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) guidelines for emissions inventories. Moreover, none of the current methodologies take into account the full sanitation system – from the point of production to end-point reuse or disposal of waste products.

Sanitation systems that do not utilize sewers are of particular concern since the problem could grow fast if we don’t take action. This is because they are predominant in the low-income countries (LICs) and middle-income countries (MICs) where we will see most of the population growth and where the 1.5 billion people without access to basic sanitation services typically live. For instance, in many cities in sub-Saharan Africa, well over 70% of urban residents are unable or unwilling to connect to sewers.

Efforts to achieve SDG 6.2 (universal safely managed sanitation coverage) could result in a 60% increase in methane emissions from sanitation systems in sub-Saharan Africa and maybe even more in India. This calls for investments in climate-smart sanitation, especially since this would also make vulnerable populations more resilient to the impacts of climate change while using technologies that also don’t lead to massive methane emissions.

Unlike other sectors like energy production or aviation, emissions from sanitation cannot be solved through substitution. Excreta will always be produced. We need to find and promote ways to manage it which optimize both public health, environmental, and climate objectives.

Sanitation is missing in NDCs and methane action plans

Despite the significant contribution of sanitation systems to methane emissions, the sanitation sector has to date largely been a blind spot in methane reduction policies and plans. The same goes for Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement on climate change. A recent analysis of 168 NDCs received as of December 2022 revealed a total of 476 actions focused on methane. Methane mitigation from sanitation systems was only covered in 59 NDCs (35% of countries) and in most of these, the focus is on capturing biogas from centralized wastewater treatment plants, ignoring the rest of the sanitation system such as pit latrines and septic tanks.

Actions for methane mitigation in the sanitation sector

So, why don’t we see greater interest in mitigating methane emissions from sanitation services? It is not due to a lack of solutions – on the contrary.

For example, emissions can be reduced immediately and significantly by adding methane capture to existing and planned wastewater and fecal sludge treatment plants, with the collected biogas used as an energy source. The use of treated sludge in agriculture can also have net positive impacts on carbon retention in soils and can substitute out a fraction of chemical soil conditioners and fertilizers. Active management of pits and tanks through regular desludging, and the deployment of aerobic treatment technologies (especially those that do not require electricity inputs) can also have positive impacts.

Three barriers for action prevent us from scaling up these solutions:

1. The range of methane emissions from sanitation systems and the scope for their reduction are under-estimated or not evaluated.
2. Sanitation-related emissions are hidden within the wider waste sector and may be ignored or deprioritized.
3. The available solutions are not fully exploited and may be underfunded by implementing parties.

Ahead of the Global Methane Forum, we call on three constituents to help remove these barriers:

• Scientists and researchers: There is a need for more empirical data from sanitation systems in more contexts and for more types of technologies, to better understand which approaches are most promising and provide the most cost-effective means for methane abatement. Empirical data and, subsequently, improved emission models can ensure that national GHG inventories accurately account for methane emissions from sanitation systems and hence can guide effective mitigation strategies.
• Policymakers: It is imperative for planners and policymakers in governments to align sanitation policies and strategies with climate commitments and vice versa. This involves the inclusion of climate-smart sanitation strategies in NDCs and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), as well as in Methane Action Plans and National Methane Roadmaps.
• Funders and investors: Dedicated allocation of funds for research into emissions assessment, the development of innovative abatement technologies, and the scaling of existing mitigation solutions within the sanitation sector as well as their operation and maintenance, are crucial. Finance can also be leveraged to incentivize concerted action in the sanitation sector through the incorporation of specific criteria that evaluate the potential of projects to reduce methane emissions.

Methane emissions from the sanitation sector are not hard-to-abate, but historically they have been easy to ignore. Now we have the solutions at hand and know they make a real impact. We cannot afford to wait to take full advantage of this opportunity.¹

Link to the article: Turning wastewater into a resource: a key to food security and climate action

The article was inspired by work that I did together with many other colleagues from around the world throughout 2022 and 2023 to contribute to a UNEP report that was launched at World Water Week 2023 - “Wastewater - Turning Problem to Solution”.

I was invited to give a short talk on the scale and impacts of plastic pollution in the Global South and how this intersects with the wider waste management system, focusing on the cases of Kenya and India, where I have been involved in research and policy projects. I also shared some insights on the challenges and opportunities for governance and collaboration in the plastics value chain, involving different stakeholders from public, private, and civil society sectors. I highlighted the need to reduce plastic consumption, improve waste management, and promote circular economy solutions.

After my talk, I joined a panel discussion with Anna Lindstedt, Ambassador for the Oceans at the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Helen Klint, Policy advisor at the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, and Eva Blidberg - Marine litter expert at Håll Sverige Rent. We answered questions from the audience on various topics related to plastic pollution and poverty, such as the role of consumers, producers, and governments, the potential of innovation and technology, and the importance of education and awareness. The panel was moderated by Mikael Drackner from Håll Sverige Rent.

I really enjoyed the event and learned a lot from the other speakers and panellists about their work on global policy processes on the blue economy and ocean health, about the ongoing negotiations for a plastics treaty at the UN and about the impacts of plastic waste on marine biodiversity. It was also great to meet Japheth Muli from Hand in Hand Eastern Africa again, who shared his experience from the Waves of Change project, which aims to empower coastal communities in Kenya and India to tackle plastic pollution and poverty. I had earlier interacted with Japheth in Mombasa, Kenya where my colleague George Njoroge and I conducted a training workshop on waste management for his team at Hand in Hand Eastern Africa back in April 2022 so it was really nice to meet again. The event ended with a mingle session, where I had the chance to network with other participants and exchange ideas on how to address these global challenges of plastic pollution and poverty eradication.

Photos: Lisa Possne

More about the studies we did in Kenya and India within the Waves of Change project:

• Plastic waste management and recycling in Mombasa, Kenya: A scoping study of the value chain and its institutional, policy and regulatory frameworks

• Analysis of the Plastic Waste Value Chain in India: A Scoping Study