Strengthening Inclusive and Climate-Resilient Urban WASH in Melanesia

Author: Rosie Sanderson, Project Officer

Over the past three years, IWC has had the pleasure of working with a diverse multi-institutional team on a 2-phase research project exploring Inclusive and climate-resilient urban WASH in Melanesian informal settlements. The research was led by a partnership of International WaterCentre at Griffith University and The University of the South Pacific in Fiji and Vanuatu, with professionals and academics from the University of Papua New Guinea, WaterAid PNG, and UACS Consulting and supported by the Australian Government’s Water for Women Fund. Together, we aimed to strengthen WASH and interrelated governance systems – particularly, planning support systems such as spatial models, decision-support-schemas, local knowledge and community participation – used to make decisions about which WASH service delivery models (SDMs) will be climate resilient, socially inclusive and suited to the local context.

The overarching research question was “How can the climate resilience and social inclusion of WASH services in urban informal settlements be strengthened with locally adapted climate science and knowledge, planning support systems and champions?”.

This study provides regionally contextualised evidence about the kinds of processes, tools, and systems that could be explored within different urban contexts in Fiji, Vanuatu, and Papua New Guinea (PNG). We used various methods, conducting semi-quantitative household surveys and qualitative social research activities, to understand existing WASH services and preferences, urban planning approaches, and the existing political economy in terms of the provision of urban WASH. Alongside these approaches, we sought to synthesise diverse datasets, including open-sourced, remotely sensed spatial data, participatory GIS mapping information, and water quality monitoring datasets, to form an overall picture of the hazards on a local and regional level. In this way, we sought to use a strengths-based approach to see what works now and what needs to change to improve the resilience of systems.

Amongst the many outcomes from the research, there were three key insights for policymakers and practitioners:

– Engagement needs to be strengthened between urban informal settlement communities, support organisations and water and sanitation service providers, including utilities. Within utilities, there may be a benefit in thinking of urban informal settlement residents as a third kind of customer, neither rural nor urban in the traditional sense, but a customer type that pays bills and assists with onsite water management in their communities, with appropriate advice, support and empowerment. In this way, a utility might best be able to develop service options to meet the needs of these customers.

– The development of climate-resilient water and sanitation services must be tailored to the realities of urban informal settlements. Improving the safety and reliability of water service will require not only improvements to on-site water infrastructure, but also specific attention to reducing local hazards, in particular inadequate waste containment of sanitation facilities, and to mitigating the impacts of climate-related hazards, in particular flooding, which are exacerbating the effects of local hazards and inadequate water infrastructure.

– Urban planning, climate planning, and planning for water and sanitation services must be better integrated in Melanesia urban settings. This integration must be supported by planning support systems that take advantage of the latest technologies, datasets, and methods of integrating diverse information. Urban settlements can be difficult to monitor in real time, especially in terms of growth, and tools such as spatial systems can overcome some of those challenges.

Our insights from this research have been collated into several research outputs designed for different audiences, including journal articles, policy briefs and technical briefs. All outputs are available on our project webpage here: https://watercentre.org/projects/planning-for-climate-resilient-water-sanitation-and-hygiene-in-urban-settlements-in-melanesia/

As the project concludes, we foremost wish to thank the residents of informal settlements who generously shared their time, knowledge, and experiences with our researchers. Without their generosity and partnership, this research would not have been possible. Many individuals and organisations, including the Fijian Government, the Vanuatu Government, and others, provided valuable information and insights. We thank staff from Fiji Roads Authority, Ministry of Health and Medical Services – Environmental Health Department, Department of Water and Sewerage, Suva City Council, Water Authority of Fiji, Ministry of Lands and Mineral Resources, Port Vila Municipal Council, Ministry of Health, Department of Urban Affairs and Planning, Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, Public Works Department, Water PNG, Project Management Unit PNG, and UNICEF for participating in project meetings and stakeholder workshops and interviews. We also acknowledge the contributions of our outstanding research assistance team at USP in Fiji and Vanuatu. Finally, the International WaterCentre team is very grateful to our long-term partners at USP, UACS, and UPNG for the many years of shared investigations, friendships, and envisioning a different world with us.