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SUSTAINABLE URBAN DEVELOPMENT TEXTBOOK
EDITORS
NGAI WENG CHAN HIDEFUMI IMURA AKIHIRO NAKAMURA MASAZUMI AO
Global Cooperation Institute for Sustainable Cities, Yokohama City University Water Watch Penang Penang
2016
Published by Water Watch Penang C/O School of Humanities, Universiti Sains Malaysia 11800 Penang, Malaysia
©
Water Watch Penang in cooperation with Global Cooperation Institute for Sustainable Cities, Yokohama City University, Japan 2016 and Universiti Sains Malaysia
All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced. Stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or recording, without prior written permission from Global Cooperation Institute for Sustainable Cities, Yokohama City University and/or Water Watch Penang.
Global Cooperation Institute for Sustainable Cities, Yokohama City University and Water Watch Penang are not jointly or as separate bodies, responsible for the facts and opinions expressed by editors and or authors in this publication. The publisher makes no representation, express or implied, with regard to the accuracy of the information contained in this publication and cannot accept any legal responsibility or liability for errors or omissions that can be made. First Published 2016 Printed by Redhouse Business Solution (PG0297938-H) Bangunan A04, Rumah Merah PKAP, Universiti Sains Malaysia 11800 Penang, Malaysia
Perpustakaan Negara Malaysia
Cataloguing-in-Publication-Data
Ngai Weng Chan 1954 – Sustainable Urban Development Textbook / Ngai Weng Chan, Hidefumi Imura, Akihiro Nakamura, Masazumi Ao.
ISBN 978-983-41334-3-6 1. Sustainable Urban Development. 3. Urban Environmental Management. 5. Sustainable Communities.
2. Sustainable Urban Management. 4. Sustainable Cities. 6. Environmental Policy.
Contents
Page
Acknowledgements CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Ngai Weng Chan, Hidefumi Imura, Akihiro Nakamura and Masazumi Ao
1
CHAPTER 2: WHAT ARE SUSTAINABLE CITIES? Ngai Weng Chan, Hidefumi Imura, Akihiro Nakamura and Masazumi Ao
14
CHAPTER 3: ECO-CITIES AND LOW CARBON CITIES Lay May Sim
21
CHAPTER 4: RESOURCE BASIS OF OUR LIFE Ngai Weng Chan
27
CHAPTER 5: ECO-SYSTEM SERVICES Asyirah Abdul Rahim
32
CHAPTER 6: ECONOMY AND ENVIRONMENT Lay Mei Sim
36
CHAPTER 7: ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT AND CITIES Ngai Weng Chan, Badaruddin Mohamed and Jabil Mapjabil
42
CHAPTER 8: SUSTAINABILITY Chern Wern Hong
52
CHAPTER 9: RESILIENCY Ngai Weng Chan, Ta Wee Seow and Chun Kiat Chang
58
CHAPTER 10: THE CLIMATE SYSTEM OF THE EARTH Ranjan Roy
63
CHAPTER 11: GLOBAL WARMING Ngai Weng Chan, Ta Wee Seow, David Martin, Kai Chen Goh and Hui Hwang Goh
67
CHAPTER 12: FOSSIL FUELS AND NUCLEAR ENERGY Chern Wern Hong
74
CHAPTER 13: RENEWABLE ENERGY Chern Wern Hong
80
CHAPTER 14: ELECTRICITY Yin San Woo
88
CHAPTER 15: HYDROLOGICAL CYCLE AND CITIES Ngai Weng Chan, Ku Ruhana Ku Mahamud, Mohamad Zaini Karim, Lai Kuan Lee and Charles Hin Joo Bong
95
CHAPTER 16: WATER FOR AGRICULTURE Ranjan Roy
105
CHAPTER 17: WATER MANAGEMENT IN CITIES Ngai Weng Chan, Main Rindam, Radiah Yusof, Masazumi Ao and Keng Yuen Foo
112
CHAPTER 18: WATER BUDGET OF A HOUSEHOLD Ngai Weng Chan, Narimah Samat, Suriati Ghazali, Radiah Yusof and Wai Leng Phang
118
CHAPTER 19: RAIN HARVESTING Ngai Weng Chan, Wan Ruslan Ismail, Abu Talib Ahmad, Chern Wern Hong and Olivier Gervais
126
CHAPTER 20: DRINKING WATER SUPPLY Ngai Weng Chan, Nor Azazi Zakaria, Aminuddin Ab Ghani, Suhaimi Abdul-Talib and Lariyah Mohd-Sidek
137
CHAPTER 21: WASTE WATER Chern Wern Hong and Ngai Weng Chan
147
CHAPTER 22: MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE Chern Wern Hong, Ngai Weng Chan and Ta Wee Seow
154
CHAPTER 23: ORGANIC WASTE Lay Mei Sim
158
CHAPTER 24: FOOD Lay Mei Sim
164
CHAPTER 25: ECO2 CITIES: ECOLOGICAL CITIES AS ECONOMIC CITIES Lay Mei Sim
169
CHAPTER 26: INTEGRATION OF FLOWS AND FORMS IN CITIES Patrick Rulong
173
CHAPTER 27: TRANSIT-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT (TOD) Ngai Weng Chan, Akihiro Nakamura and Hidefumi Imura
177
CHAPTER 28: FINANCING TRANSIT-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT WITH LAND VALUES Ngai Weng Chan, Akihiro Nakamura and Hidefumi Imura
184
CHAPTER 29: PRESERVATION OF HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL HERITAGES Ke Shin Ong
188
CHAPTER 30: LAND USE PLANNING Narimah Samat
193
CHAPTER 31: DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR URBAN PLANNING Ngai Weng Chan, Narimah Samat and Nguyen Minh Hoa
199
CHAPTER 32: INFECTIOUS DISEASES AND PANDEMICS Ngai Weng Chan, Ta Wee Seow and Jabil Mapjabil
204
CHAPTER 33: REDUCING NON-COMMMUNICABLE DISEASES (NCD) RISKS IN URBAN AREAS IN THE PHILIPPINES Maria Socorro Endrina-Ignacio
211
CHAPTER 34: CLIMATE CHANGE AND PUBLIC HEALTH Ngai Weng Chan
220
CHAPTER 35: AIR POLLUTION Ngai Weng Chan, Sulzakimin Hj Mohamed and Mou Leong Tan
226
CHAPTER 36: BIODIVERSITY Anisah Lee Abdullah
235
CHAPTER 37: EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Asyirah Abdul Rahim
243
CHAPTER 38: RIVERS AND CITIES Ngai Weng Chan, Masazumi Ao, Nor Azazi Zakaria and Aminuddin Ab Ghani and Zullyadini A Rahaman
248
CHAPTER 39: SUSTAINABLE URBAN DRAINAGE AND CITIES Nor Azazi Zakaria, Aminuddin Ab Ghani, Ngai Weng Chan and Chun Kiat Chang
259
CHAPTER 40: SUSTAINABLE CITIES & COMMUNITIES IN THE CONTEXT OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS (SDGs) Choe Jiayi, Yi Hong and Nicole Huang Yu Wen
271
CHAPTER 41: ADDRESSING SOME ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS IN HOCHIMINH CITY, VIETNAM: A CASE STUDY FROM URBAN PLANNING PERSPECTIVE Nguyen Minh Hoa
278
CHAPTER 42: HERITAGE CONSERVATION IN CLIMATE CHANGE CONTEXT IN HOCHIMINH CITY Nguyen Phuong Nga
287
CHAPTER 43: CONCLUSION: TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE CITIES Ngai Weng Chan, Hidefumi Imura, Akihiro Nakamura and Masazumi Ao
296
Acknowledgements The Editors and Authors are indebted to many institutions and people for providing the funding and other resources in the publication of this textbook. First of all, acknowledgement in the highest order goes to Yokohama City University (YCU) for the funding provided to the editors and authors for compiling the materials and putting together the textbook. Under YCU is the Global Cooperation Institute for Sustainable Cities, which is responsible for organizing the Sustainable Urban Development Programme (SUDP) as well as instrumental in initiating and promoting the International Academic Consortium for Sustainable Cities (IACSC). The SUDP is a sub-project under the IACSC. We are also indebted to Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) for providing all the support in terms of funding to organize the SUDP in USM (Penang, Malaysia), facilities, technical support and staff and student resources in running the SUDP and contributing to the IACSC and other programmes. We also thank Water Watch Penang (WWP) for facilitating as the Publisher in this textbook and the application of the ISBN number. WWP has also provided facilitators in running the SUDP in Penang, especially in the fieldwork sessions. In terms of people, we would like to thank Professor Yoshinobu Kubota, President of YCU who has generously supported the publication of this textbook as well as all the projects and activities under the IACSC. We would also like to thank Y.Bhg. Dato Professor Omar Osman, Vice-Chancellor of USM for his committed support of the IACSC, SUDP, staff and student exchange programmes and other related projects under the IACSC. This textbook would not have been published without the assistance and inputs of many people. The editors and authors would like to express our sincere thanks to Mr Yoichi Hara, Mr Olivier Gervais, Dr Chern Wern Hong, Dr Ranjan Roy, Ms Lay Mei Sim, Ms Wai Leng Phang, Mr Patrick Rulong, Ms Yi Hong, Ms Choe Jiayi, Ms Nicole Huang Yu Wen, Dr Sek Chuan Ang, Ms Ke Shin Ong, Ms Yin San Woo, Mr Chee Hui Lai, Associate Professor Dr Anisah Lee Abdullah, Professor Dr Narimah Samat, Dr Asyirah Abdul Rahim, Dato’ Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Associate Professor Dr Norizan Md Nor, Dr Ming Chee Ang, Mr Jack Ong, Ms Chooi Ping Lim, Professor Dr Nor Azazi Zakaria, Professor Dr Aminuddin Ab Ghani, Dr Lai Kuan Lee, Professor Dr Suriati Ghazali, Professor Dr Badaruddin Mohamed, Associate Professor Ta Wee Seow, Professor Dr Ma. Socorro Endrina-Ignacio, Professor Dr. Nguyen Minh Hoa, Nguyen Phuong Nguyet Minh, Dr. Arch. Nguyen Phuong Nga, Professor Dr Ku Ruhana Ku Mahamud, Professor Dr Mohamad Zaini Karim, Dr Charles Hin Joo Bong, Mr Chun Kiat Chang, Professor Dr David Martin, Associate Professor Dr Kai Chen Goh, Associate Professor Dr Hui Hwang Goh, Professor Dr Suriati Ghazali, Dr Radiah Yusof, Professor Dr Wan Ruslan Ismail, Professor Dato’ Dr Abu Talib Ahmad, Associate Professor Dr Main Rindam, Dr Keng Yuen Foo, Professor Dr Suhaimi Abdul-Talib, Associate Professor Dr Lariyah Mohd-Sidek, Associate Professor Dr Jabil Mapjabil, Associate Professor Dr Zullyadini A Rahaman, Choe Jiayi, Yi Hong and Nicole Huang Yu Wen and all the past lecturers of the SUDP that have been run in several countries. Our thanks to Mr Meor Ahmad Shukri Zainal Abiddin for designing the book cover. For others who have contributed in one way or another, and whose names have not been mentioned here, we also say “Thank You”. May the textbook be a useful reference for researchers and students of sustainable urban and city development and management.
Ngai Weng Chan, Hidefumi Imura, Akihiro Nakamura and Masazumi Ao
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Ngai Weng Chan, Hidefumi Imura, Akihiro Nakamura and Masazumi Ao Introduction to the History of Urbanization The human population has lived a rural lifestyle through most of history. Historically, the urbanization process began in today‘s developed countries in Europe, Japan and North America. Thomas, et. al. (1956) traces how man changed the surface of the earth, mostly via the process of urbanization. In this book, Mumford (1956) describes the history of urbanization and the emergence of cities as favoured habitats of people. In 1920, it was estimated that probably about 30 % of the developed countries‘ population was urban but by 1950, more than 50 % of their population was living in urban areas. In 2009, the United Nations reported that high levels of urbanization, surpassing 80 % were found in Australia, New Zealand and Northern America. Surprisingly, Europe which had 73 % of its population urban, was the least urbanized of the developed world. By 2050, Australia, New Zealand and Northern America are all expected to have more than 90 % of their populations urban with Europe lower at 84 %. Overall, the world‘s population is quickly becoming urbanized as more and more people prefer to live in cities and more and more rural inhabitants migrate to the cities. In 1950, less than 30% of the world‘s population lived in cities. This number grew to 47% in the year 2000 (2.8 billion people), and it is expected to grow to 60% by the year 2025. According to the United Nations, in the middle of 2009, the number of people living in urban areas (3.42 billion) had surpassed the number living in rural areas (3.41 billion) and since then the world has become more urban than rural (Source: United Nations). As a result of rapid urbanization, both in the developed and developing world, the world‘s urban population is expected to increase to 84 % by 2050, i.e. from the 3.4 billion in 2009 to 6.3 billion in 2050. More interestingly, most of the expected growth in the world population will be concentrated in the urban areas or cities of developing countries. The urban population of developing countries is expected to increase from 2.5 billion in 2009 to 5.2 billion in 2050 whereas their rural population is expected to decline from 3.4 billion to 2.9 billion. Also, in the developed countries, the urban population is projected to increase slightly from 0.9 billion in 2009 to 1.1 billion in 2050 (Source: United Nations). All these means more and more people will be living in urban areas, as more and more people migrate to cities. Chan et. al. (2015) have documented how cities act like magnets attracting people, investments, infrastructures and tourism. The larger the city, the greater is its power of attraction. This is true to a great extent for large megacities such as Tokyo, New York, London, Beijing and Mexico City, to name a few. However, there are not that many megacities in the world, as most urban folks live in cities of varying sizes. In fact, over half of the world‘s 3.4 billion urban dwellers (51.8 %) live in cities or towns with fewer than half a million inhabitants. In developed countries, these small cities account for 53.2 % of the urban population while in the developing countries, they account for 51.3 %. The United Nations reported that cities with fewer than 500,000 inhabitants account for 51.8 % of the urban population. The 21 megacities (cities with at least 10 million inhabitants), however, accounted for only 9.4 % of the world‘s urban population. The number of megacities, however, is projected to increase to 29 in 2025 accounting for 10.3 % of the world urban population then. In the year 2009, megacities had 4.7 % of the world‘s population, implying that just about one in every twenty people on Earth live in megacities (Liotta and Miskel, 2012). Cities are attractive to live in because they have lots of attractions ranging from business opportunities to jobs availability, entertainment, educational opportunities, good healthcare facilities, good transportation, markets, and so on. However, cities also have their fair share of problems in the form of environmental pollution, traffic congestion, poor solid waste management, high costs of living, unemployment, water shortages, inadequate healthcare facilities, lack of skilled labour and so on. Other problems in cities are 1
those associated with providing other necessary services like electricity, sanitation systems to remove solid wastes and human wastes, food supply, child care, and protection from crime (police protection). As urbanization pushes more and more people into the cities, these negative effects will intensify. Furthermore, rapid urbanization and rural-urban as well as transmigration are closely linked to intense poverty of large urban populations living in hazard-prone areas. Almost all cities have slum or squatter areas, areas that landless people build makeshift homes into shanty towns. These are settlements where poverty-stricken, landless and stateless people try to make a living. Not surprisingly, the urbanization process creates a massive urban underclass, mostly in developing countries. Cities, therefore, offers national and city governments some of the world‘s greatest social and economic challenges (http://www.adb.org/de/node/82329 Accessed 6 Aug 2016). With that background, and the fact that cities continue to expand, it is imperative that the management of cities become efficient and effective. More importantly, cities should be sustainable and be sustainably managed failing which sustainable development (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987) cannot be achieved within any country, given the fact that all countries have cities and a majority in the urban population. Cities do not generate their own energy, water or food supplies. Cities depend on their hinterland for all these, and more. Hence, there is a notion that cities cannot be sustainable. Generally, a sustainable city is a city designed with minimal environmental impact, inhabited by environmentally-sensitized people who are committed to sustainable use of energy, water and food, and minimal generation of waste outputs such as garbage, heat, air pollution, wastewater, carbon dioxide and other toxic gases, and water pollution. While there remains no completely universal definition of what a sustainable city should be, many would agree that a sustainable city should be based on the Brundtland 1 definition of sustainable development of ―Meeting the needs of the present without sacrificing the ability of future generations to meet their own needs‖. A sustainable city should encompass not only the physical environment but also the economic, political and cultural spheres. Current science dictates that at the very least, a sustainable city should be able to feed itself with a sustainable reliance on the surrounding countryside, be able to power itself with renewable sources of energy, have the smallest possible ecological footprint, and produce the lowest quantity of pollution possible. Such a city should also be able to maximize its usage of limited land for buildings, housing, agriculture, transportation, recreation and other need. It should also compost used materials, recycle it or convert the wastes to energy, and minimizes its total contribution to climate change. City inhabitants should also live a lifestyle of basic needs rather than on consumerism. Until 1975 there were just three megacities in the world: New York, Tokyo and Mexico City. Since then, their number has increased markedly and most new megacities have arisen in developing countries. Today, Asia has 11 megacities, Latin America has four, and Africa, Europe and Northern America have two each. Eleven of those megacities are capitals of their countries. By 2025, when the number of megacities is expected to reach 29, Asia would have gained another five, Latin America two, and Africa one. 10. Tokyo, the capital of Japan, is today the most populous urban agglomeration. Its population, estimated at 36.5 million in 2009, is higher than that of 196 countries or areas. If it were a country, it would rank 35th in population size, surpassing the populations of Algeria, Canada or Uganda. To reach such a large number of inhabitants, Tokyo, the megacity, is actually an urban agglomeration that comprises not only Tokyo-to but also 87 surrounding cities and towns, including Yokohama, Kawasaki and Chiba, large cities in their own right. Often, megacities arise because of the fusion of several cities or urban localities that are functionally linked and form an urban agglomeration. 11. Following Tokyo, the next largest urban agglomerations are Delhi in India with 22 million inhabitants, São Paulo in Brazil and Bombay in India, each with 20 million inhabitants, and Mexico City in Mexico and New York-Newark in the United States of America, each with about 19 million inhabitants. The smallest megacities are located in Africa and Europe. They include the two megacities in Africa, namely, Cairo in Egypt, with 11 million inhabitants and Lagos in Nigeria, with 10 million, and the two megacities in Europe, namely, Paris in France and Moscow in the Russian Federation, each with about 10.5 million inhabitants. Istanbul in 2
Turkey is also among the group, being the least populous megacity in Asia, with 10.4 million inhabitants. 12. In 2025, Tokyo is projected to remain the world‘s most populous urban agglomeration, with 37 million inhabitants, although its population will scarcely increase. It will be followed by the two major megacities in India: Delhi with 29 million inhabitants and Mumbai with 26 million, both expecting important population gains. São Paulo in Brazil, would come next, with 22 million inhabitants, a modest increase compared to 2009. Dhaka in Bangladesh would follow, with 21 million, implying a 46 per cent increase since 2009. 13. Megacities are experiencing very different rates of population Sustainable Development, Sustainable Cities and the New Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Realising the importance of cities and the huge populations and infrastructures and properties within cities, cities have been given special attention by the United Nations. In September 2015, during a meeting of the Heads of State and Government and High Representatives at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, it was decided to embark on achieving 17 new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (Figure 1.1). Via the SDGs, the UN has adopted a historic decision on a comprehensive, far-reaching and people-centred set of universal and transformative goals and targets which are aimed to be achieved by all nations and people by 2030 (https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld. Accessed 6 Aug 2016). Amongst these 17 SDGs, SDG Number 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities specifically targets cities and urban communities (Figure 1.2). The targets for SDG 11 is therefore focused on sustainable development of cities and their inhabitants. SDG 11 targets by 2030 to ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services and upgrade slums (https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300 Accessed 6 Aug 2016). It also targets to by 2030, to provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all, enhancement of inclusive and sustainable urbanization and capacity for participatory, integrated and sustainable human settlement planning and management in all countries, to strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard cultural and natural heritage of cities, manage disasters in cities and reduce loss of life and other losses focusing on protection of the poor and the vulnerable, reduce the adverse environmental impacts of cities relating to poor air quality and municipal/other wastes, provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces, support positive economic, social and environmental development planning, mitigate climate change via adoption of efficiency, mitigation and adaptation strategies, and support cities in least developed countries through financial and technical assistance.
Figure 1.1: The United Nations‘ 17 Sustainable https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs Accessed 9 Aug 2016) 3
Development
Goals
(Source:
Figure 1.2: The United Nations‘SDGs Number 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities (Source: http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/cities/ Accessed 9 Aug 2016) The United Nations‘ SDG 11 states that by 2030, the world should ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services and slums should be upgraded offering inhabitants a good environment and good quality of life. SDG 11 also states that by 2030, cities need to provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all, improving road safety, notably by expanding public transport, with special attention to the needs of those in vulnerable situations, women, children, persons with disabilities and older persons (https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg11. Accessed 9 Aug 2016). In addition, SDG 11 demands that by 2030, all countries should enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanization and improve capacity for participatory, integrated and sustainable human settlement planning and management in their cities. Cities are cradles of civilization and heritage. Hence, SDG 11 states that efforts should be strengthened to protect and safeguard the world‘s cultural and natural heritage. To achieve SDG 11 by 2030, cities need to significantly reduce the number of deaths and the number of people affected and substantially decrease the direct economic losses relative to global gross domestic product caused by disasters, including water-related disasters, with a focus on protecting the poor and people in vulnerable situations. SDG 11 also states that by 2030, cities must reduce the adverse per capita environmental impact of cities, including by paying special attention to air quality and municipal and other waste management. Also, by 2030, cities must provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces to ensure a good environment and quality of life for all its inhabitants, including especially women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities. SDG 11 also demands that cities must also support positive economic, social and environmental links between urban, per-urban and rural areas by strengthening national and regional development planning. This is where governments at all levels of governance including federal, state and city/municipal councils must by 2020, substantially increase the number of settlements adopting and implementing integrated policies and plans towards inclusion, resource efficiency, mitigation and adaptation to climate change. In order to cope with and combat climate change, cities must increase their resilience to disasters, and develop and implement, in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, holistic disaster risk management at all levels. Finally, SDG 11 decrees that cities in developed countries must support cities in least developed countries, including through financial and technical assistance, in building sustainable and resilient buildings utilizing local materials (https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg11. Accessed 9 Aug 2016).
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Searching for Icons of Sustainable Cities and Communities There are currently many shining examples of sustainable cities in the world for city planners and city managers to follow. Some such as Yokohama, Reykjavik, Curitiba, Vancouver, Malmo, Oslo, Portland, Copenhagen and Stockholm are listed as some of the world‘s greenest cities. On the other hand, there are an equal, if not more, unsustainable cities such as Delhi, Karachi, Phoenix, Tehran, Dhaka and Lagos, to name a few. It would make sense. This section introduces some of the most sustainable cities in the world that other less sustainable cities should emulate. Perhaps there is not one city that can be considered as the perfect example of a model sustainable city in which all its programmes need to be followed by others. What is hoped for in this section is to present all the relevant examples and programmes of different sustainable cities that have been successful. Less sustainable cities can then choose the type of programmes that they can implement and follow. In the USA, Portland is arguably one of the country‘s greenest cities. This city has in 2009 aimed to become themost sustainable city in the world. Currently, over half of Portland‘s energy comes from renewable energy. The city has worked hard to replace dirty energy suppliers with cleaner sources, and set up Clean Energy Works, one of the first such programmes in the USA whereby homeowners are given free energy assessments and provides US$2,000 rebates and loans for home retrofitting. The city also started a curbside composting program that has resulted in a 38 %drop in the city‘s trash output. The city also ensures it engages and involves all relevant stakeholders such as city planners and managers, university researchers and teachers, lastly students of urban planning and management. San Francisco is also another US city that is considered sustainable. In 2011, San Francisco instituted a mandatory recycling and composting ordinance, which mandatory required residents to not only separate their recyclables from their trash, but to also separate out compostable food and packaging. By doing do, 80 % of the city‘s waste was recycled and composted, leaving less than 20 % going to landfills. San Francisco is certainly the USA‘s lead city in sustainable waste disposal. Moreover, the San Francisco Bay Area is also home to more than a thousand LEED-certified building projects with hundreds more under development. In Europe, Copenhagen is currently rated as one of the world's most livable green cities. This metropolis of is not a megacity as it only has two million people, but it is well known for its highly advanced environmental policies and planning, with its ultimate goal to be carbon-neutral by 2025. This city has a Cleantech Cluster of more than 500 companies. The city‘s infrastructure is also suitably designed to be highly conducive to bicycling and walking rather than the use of cars, which the city authorities discourage. Amsterdam is another well known sustainable city where almost everyone, minus the tourists, cycles. Bicycles are everywhere in Amsterdam and cycling has become a way of life to the people in this city. Remarkably, the city folks in this city has been doing it for decades. Amsterdam is one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the world. The weather is cold enough to bicycle, the terrain is relatively flat and the city very compact. Amsterdam also has well maintained bicycling infrastructures, including protected paths, racks and adequate parking for bicycles. Not surprisingly, the city has more bicycles than people. One of the downside, however, is that broken or damged bicylcles often end up in the city‘s many canals. Stockholm is another great sustainable city. It was the EU's first city to win the European Green Capital Award. With coordinated environmental planning that began in the ‘70s, ample green space and a goal to be fossil fuel-free by 2050, it's one of the cleanest cities in the world. Over in Asia, despite many bad examples of unsustainmable cities, there are a few sustainable ones. Singapore is one example of a sustainable city. The city has managed to keep three-quarter of its forests as water catchments, achieved sustainable water supply management despits being poor in terms of water resources (it has to import water from neighbour Malaysia), and has managed to significantly reduce air pollution via its efficient and integrated public transport network (and expensive car ownership policy). Laws and enforcement on littering has also made the city a model of a clean city. Singapore is so clean that it is often described a s a ―highly sanitised city‖. Its industrialization policies are also green and effective in addressing pollution. 5
Since 1992, the city via its first Singapore Green Plan 1992 has managed to tackle clean water, clean air and clean land. The city aims to have zero waste in landfills by the mid 21st century. In Japan, on 22 July 2008, the Japanese government announced the selection of Eco Model Cities to lead the way in promoting ambitious cuts in carbon dioxide emissions. Yokohama was one of six ―environmentally friendly model cities‖ chosen from among the 82 applicants (http://ourworld.unu.edu/en/yokohama-an-environmentally-friendly-city Accessed 9 Aug 2016). Yokohama is committed towards protecting not only the city;s immediate environment but also the global environment. In 2003 the city implemented the G30 Plan, which set the goal of reducing waste by 30 %. This target was achieved in 2005, five years ahead of schedule, and prompted the setting of a new goal, as well as the closure of two waste incineration plants. In the fighting against the current threat of climate change, especially global warming, Yokohama‘s subsequent course of action was the development of countermeasures against global warming. In January 2008, the city launched CO-DO30, an action plan that aims to reduce per capita emissions of greenhouse gases by more than 30 % by 2025. These plans are undertaken by the national government and other local governments, aimed at reducing CO 2 emissions through the promotion of energy conservation at public facilities, and by encouraging residents and businesses to adopt lifestyles and practices that reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. Yokohama also adopts green energies to replace fossil fuels. One of the city‘s new energy initiative is the wind power station, nicknamed Hama-Wing, which began operation in April 2007. This facility is expected to produce approximately 3 million kWh of electricity per year, which is enough to cover the annual power consumption of about 860 households in the city. It is calculated that this will result in a reduction of about 1,100 tons of CO2. Over in Brazil, the 2010 Global Sustainable City Award was given to Curitiba. Perhaps the story of Curitiba is one of the holy scriptures of sustainable development (Barth, 2014), This is because many of Curitiba‘s innovative green and sustainabloe programmes are now being replicated by many other ailing metropolises around the globe. According to Barth (2014), Curitiba's eco-city initiatives began long before the current mandate to clean up cities was born, their phenomenal success a product of a political climate with a humble problem-solving approach, rather than the usual grand-standing. The city‘s ultra-efficient transit network is world famous (Photograph 1.1). Firstly, Curitiba's fame in sustainability is based on its efficient bus rapid transit system (BRT) which caters to about 70 to 80 % of the daily trips made by its residents. This results in 25% lower carbon emissions per capita than the average for Brasilian cities. The BRT system also combines with light rail transit making public transport easy, affordable and quick. Secondly, the city empowers its populace to keep Curitiba clean via recycling, composting, use of public transportation and other stragtegies. Thirdly, prudent planning is important. Curitiba‘s plan for city development is probably what has led to its present status as one of the most sustainable cities in the world. It was the election of an architect and planner, Jamie Lerner, as mayor of Curitiba in the late 1960s, that did the trick. The innovative mayor implemented radical plans for urban land use which featured pedestrianization, strict controls on urban sprawl and an affordable and efficient public transport system (Photograph 1.2).
6
Photograph 1.1: Curitiba‘s Tube Bus Stations enable passengers to get on and off very quickly (Source: http://www.greatbuildings.com/cgibin/gbi.cgi/Curitiba_Tube_Stations.html/cid_20050514_kmm_img_2020.html Accessed 9 Aug 2016)
Photograph 1.2: Well planned Curitiba is a model of sustainable development (Source: https://newint.org/books/reference/world-development/case-studies/sustainable-urban-developmentcuritiba/ Accessed 9 Aug 2016). 7
The Objectives of this text book are as follows: Collect and combine materials used in the SUDP classes (in YCU, USM, University of Philippines and University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam) and edit them in a concise and useful way As appropriate, add new materials which are relevant to future SUDP courses (in IACSC member universities and others) Provide very basic but useful information and data on key issues relevant to SUDP, covering causes, impacts and responses Facilitate not thorough but quick understanding about the most important elements of key issues Inspire users‘ intellectual interest and imagination to think about policy measures and their initiatives, and facilitate discussion among participants about solutions Provide common knowledge basis necessary for constructive communication in a SUDP class which is not homogeneous in terms of participants‘ academic and professional background Equip participants with basic and fundamental knowledge on pertinent issues on urban environmental management and development to enable them to move on to higher levels of learning. The Target Users of this textbook are as follows: All participants of SUDP including students and teachers who have good educational background in some special fields but who are not necessarily an expert for all specific topics. Participants of a SUDP class have diverse academic and professional background including natural sciences, social sciences, technology, humanities, medicines, etc. Lecturers in sustainable urban development, urban environmental management, geography, built environment. planning or related fields Government Officers working in city councils, municipalities, town councils, planning departments and related fields Workers in Non-Governmental Organisations Undergraduate and Post-graduate students majoring or minoring in the field of urban, environmental or planning studies, or related fields Interested Citizens The Format of this textbook is as follows: Each Chapter covers Five to Ten pages of text, as necessary, for one selected topic/issue Each Chapter covers one topic/issue involving: A few paragraphs (text) which are very precise to explain the essence of the topic A few (from one to three) visual materials (graphs, charts, tables, photos, etc.) to facilitate user‘s understanding One or two basic questions to make users to think more and deepen their understanding Demonstrate good practices/successful models in Asian cities (e.g. in Japan & Malaysia) Also, as appropriate, simple exercise of calculation or estimate of environmental accounting close to our daily life. For example, water budget: how much water (or energy, food, etc.) do we use and how much money do we pay for it every day, and what are the environmental consequences? Many users have not considered this type of questions seriously. It is very useful to give them an opportunity to think about them through an exercise. The Chapter should be used as a basic reference by the reader to gain basic knowledge and as a stepping stone to move deeper into related topics.
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The Issues Covered in this textbook are as follows: The Issues covered by the textbook are as comprehensive as can be, but may not include all topics in urban environmental management and planning. Hence, the issues can be summarized as follows: Issues or topics relevant to SUDP are very broad: covering not only environment, urban planning and public health, but also economic growth, welfare, infrastructure, education and others. All issues are mutually related to each other, and it is not easy to single out a topic. It is not practical, nor feasible, to present an ideal academic framework of SUDP which can be acceptable for all. A practical as well as constructive approach is that we select key topics and take up topic by topic, but we must always pay attention to how the topic is related to others. The followings illustrate the key issues or topics which could be the core elements of SUDP. We may add issues or topics as appropriate. The order is flexible, and some issues could be merged with others. Some overlaps and redundancies between topics are unavoidable, and they could be even useful if the relevant issues are taken up in several different places and viewed from different angles. Ultimately (after compiling all materials), all topics and items could be tiered and grouped in four or five higher categories. Outline of the Textbook This textbook is first published to be used in the Sustainable Urban Development Programme (SUDP) offered in Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) from 2-5 September 2016. SUDP 2016 is organized jointly by USM and YCU. This course is offered in USM for the third time and is modeled after the SUDP designed and offered by YCU since 2012. Like the YCU course, the USM SUDP will also be conducted in English. This will be a 4-day intensive course held at USM‘s School of Humanities (USM‘s Main Campus) in Penang. Course Outline (i) Title of Course: Sustainable Urban Development Programme 2016 (SUDP 2016) (ii) Brief outline: This course first introduces the participants to a paradigm shift on global environment and cities, emphasizing on how urban planning and environment management can be employed to make cities sustainable and livable in terms of environment, society and economy. The World Bank‘s ―ECO2‖ Concept of sustainable cities is also introduced, with some case studies such as Yokohama City‘s Water, Waste and Energy management. The SUDP 2016 will introduce and focus on the new concept of “ECO2”, or “Ecological Cities as Economic Cities”. By learning from this conceptual framework, students would be able to understand and analyze the actual cases with solid theoretical background. Climate Change is then introduced with focus on how it affects cities and how cities and urban communities can be more resilient. In order to be resilient, cities need effective and efficient management of Urban Environmental Hazards. Some examples of management of hazards in Malaysian Cities are introduced. A case study of Seberang Perai Municipal Council‘s efforts and challenges in Solid Waste Management is also introduced to give participants, many who are foreigners, a good introduction to local environmental problems in Penang. Under the SUDP 2016, students will be provided with historic perspective of municipal experiences as well as current condition of urban development and environmental policies. As land use planning is increasingly important to control urban sprawl and related environmental problems, the participants are then introduced Land Use Change, Urban Spread and Sustainable Urban Development. As more and more cities grow into 9
megacities, urban environmental problems are magnified many folds. To this end, participants are then introduced to environment and development issues in megacities. Following this list of lectures, participants are then required to form small groups to discuss about environmental problems in some of their selected cities. The outcome of this round-table session sees Case Presentation of Urban Environmental Management of Selected Cities by groups of Malaysian, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai and Philippine participants. Group work and discussion allows each group to identify problems, discuss current management strategies and find innovative solutions. The participants are then given a few more lectures. A Case study of Sustainable Urban Communities in George Town is introduced. Heritage Conservation is becoming an important aspect of Urban Development. George Town in Penang was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site on the 7th of July 2008, with the recognition of its outstanding universal value as a "Historic City of the Straits of Malacca". The city is also moving towards a green city via the "Cleaner and Greener Penang Initiative". Hence, participants are given insights into how George Town, as a city, was inscribed and how progressive and innovative projects are successfully implemented to achieve balance between economic growth and environmental considerations. George Town's unique experience as a world heritage site is thus shared and promoted. This example of George Town (Penang) is provided by George Town World Heritage Incorporated. Field Visits are an important aspect of any urban environmental management course, Under the SUDP 2016, a field visit is arranged to visit and learn about the Sustainable Urban Drainage Project in the Engineering Campus of USM. A lecture is provided by the USM‘s High Centre of Excellence (HiCOE) – the River Engineering and Urban Drainage Research Centre (REDAC). This is followed by a cultural visit to a typical Malaysian family whereby participants can experience by themselves how it is like to live with a Malaysian family. On the last day, the overall summary of the course is provided and a course Evaluation Exercise carried out. Certificates are the given out to all participants. Participants are reminded that what they learn at the SUDP 2016 can be applied with their work back in their own countries. They are encouraged to start small urban environmental management projects introduced during the course. Participants are also encouraged to keep their close network of friends made during the course and interact with each other long after the course has ended. (iii) Course Programme: (Day 1: 2 September 2016[Friday]) 8.30am-9.00am: Registration 9.00am-9.15am: Welcome Address by Prof Ngai Weng Chan & Opening Remarks by Prof Narimah Samat, Dean of School of Humanities USM 9.15am-10.15am: Lecture 1 - Introduction: Paradigm Shift of Global Environment and Cities & Lecture 2 - Urban Planning & Environment (Prof Hidefumi Imura, YCU) 10.15am-10.30am: Tea Break 10.30am-11.30am: Lecture 3 - Climate Change and Cities (Prof Ngai Weng Chan, USM) 11.30am-12.30pm: Lecture 4 - The World Bank‘s ―ECO2‖ Concept (Prof Hidefumi Imura, YCU) 12.30pm-1.00pm: Q & A 1.00pm-2.15pm: LUNCH 2.15pm-3.00pm: Lecture 5 - Case Study of Yokohama City: Water, Waste Management, Energy (Prof Hidefumi Imura, YCU) 3.00pm-4.00pm: Lecture 6 - Case Study of Seberang Perai Municipal Council: MPSP‘s Efforts and Challenges on Solid Waste Management (YDP Dato‘ Maimunah Mohd Sharif, President of MPSP) 4.00pm-4.45pm: Lecture 7 - Management of Urban Environmental Hazards in Malaysian Cities (Prof Ngai Weng Chan, USM) 4.45-5.15pm: Q & A (Day 2: 3 September 2016 [Saturday]) 9.00am-10.00am: Lecture 8: Environment and Development Issues in Megacities (Prof Ngai Weng Chan, USM) 10.00am-11.00am: Lecture 9 - Case study of Sustainable Urban Communities in George Town (Associate Professor Norizan Md Nor, USM) 11.00-11.15am: Tea Break 11.15am-12.30pm - Lecture 10 - Land Use Change, Urban Spread and Sustainable Urban Development (Prof Narimah Samat, USM)
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12.30pm-1.00pm: Q & A 1.00pm-2.15pm: LUNCH 2.15pm-3.15pm: Lecture 11 - Heritage Conservation as an Important Aspect of Urban Development: George Town (Penang)‘s Example (Dr. Ming Chee Ang) 3.15-4.15PM: Lecture 12 – Sustainable Urban Tourism (Prof Badaruddin Mohamed) (Day 3: 4 September 2016 [Sunday]) 9.00am-10.00am: Case Discussion & Presentation of City: Malaysia (By Students) 10.00am-11.00am: Case Discussion & Presentation of City: Japan (By Students) 11.00am-11.15am: Tea Break 11.15am-12.30pm: Group work and discussion 12.30pm-1.30pm: LUNCH 1.30pm-2.30pm: Bus Trip to Field Visits on Sustainable Urban Drainage Project in Engineering Campus USM 3.00pm-4.00pm: Lecture 13 - Sustainable Urban Drainage (BIOECODS) as a Key Component of Urban Water Resources Management in Malaysia (Professor Nor Azazi Zakaria, Director of River Engineering & Urban Drainage Research Centre). 4.00pm-5.00pm: Field Visit to the Sustainable Urban Drainage Project in Engineering Campus USM & River Engineering and Urban Drainage Research Centre (REDAC) USM 5.00-7.00pm: Cultural Visit to a Typical Malaysian Family. (Day 4: 5 September 2016 [Monday]) 9.00am-10.00am: Presentation of Learning Experiences by Students 10.00am-11.00am: Summary & Round-up of Course by Professor Ngai Weng Chan (USM) and Prof Hidefumi Imura (YCU) 11.00am-11.15am: Tea Break 11.15am-11.45am: Course Evaluation Exercise 11.45am-12.15pm: Presentation of Course Certificates by Professor Yoshinobu Kubota, President of YCU 12.15pm-12.20pm: GROUP PHOTO 12.20pm-1.00pm: LUNCH
(iv) Who are the Lecturers? The following lecturers will run this course: 1 Professor Dr Hidefumi Imura, YCU 2 Professor Dr Ngai Weng Chan, USM 3 Professor Dr Nor Azazi Zakaria, Director of River Engineering & Urban Drainage Research Centre, USM 4 YDP Dato‘ Maimunah Mohd Sharif, President of Municipal Council of Seberang Perai 5 Professor Dr Narimah Samat, Dean of School of Humanities USM 6 Dr Ang Ming Chee, General Manager of George Town World Heritage Incorporated 7 Associate Professor Dr Norizan Md Nor, USM 8 Professor Dr Badaruddin Mohamed, USM Expected Number of Participants/Students: Between 40-50 Participants/Students Medium of course instruction - English Certificate of Participation: All students will be given a Certificate of Participation The Participants: University Lecturers, Teachers, Researchers, Government Officers, Officers of Municipalities, City Planners, Urban Heritage Workers, Officers of NGOs, Students and Others working in the area of Sustainable Urban Development, Urban Planning, Urban Renewal, Urban Environmental Management and other urban-related fields. Below are photographs of participants in the classroom and field visits during past SUDP courses (Photographs 1.3, 1.4 and 1.5).
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Photograph 1.3: Left – YDP Dato Maimunah, Mayor of MPSP giving her talk while Prof Imura listens attentively. Right – Participants visiting the Air Itam Dam, a main source of water supply for Penang.
Photograph 1.4: Left – Participants enjoying local fruits, including the famous durian. Right – Professor Narimah Samat giving her talk on sustainable land use management with Prof Imura as Chairman.
Photograph 1.5: Left – From Left Ms Dang Nguyen Thien Huong and Prof Hoa Nguyen Minh (University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam) discussing the running of the SUDP 2015 in Universiti Sains Malaysia with Prof Imura (YCU), Prof Chan (USM) and Mr Olivier Gervais (YCU). Right: Participants had the opportunity to visit a local Malaysian family to learn about Malaysian lifestyle, culture and cuisine.
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Summary This SUDP textbook is developed and compiled on a voluntary basis by all the contributors solely for educational purposes. The textbook is a collection of success stories as well as failures in sustainable urban development and management. Students are exposed to both the best management practices as well as the mistakes so that they can learn the good practices and avoid the bad ones. The textbook is distributed free to all participants of the SUDP and is not for sale. The SUDP course is also a non-profit course and course participants who are mostly university students are only charged a nominal fee (to cover incidental expenses) as it is the intention of the organisors to educate and reach as many students as possible. However, only a hundred copies of the textbook are printed. It is the intention of the organisors to upload the textbook online in the near future so that any interested person can download it for free. References Barth, B. (2014) Curitiba: the Greenest city on Earth. The Ecologist 15 th March 2014 (http://www.theecologist.org/green_green_living/2299325/curitiba_the_greenest_city_on_earth.html Accessed 9 Aug 2016). Chan, N.W., Ao, M. and Imura, H. (Editors) (2015) Manual on Sustainable Urban Development and Management. Penang: Water Watch Penang & Global Cooperation Institute for Sustainable Cities http://ourworld.unu.edu/en/yokohama-an-environmentally-friendly-city (Accessed 9 Aug 2016). https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld. (Accessed 6 Aug 2016). https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300 (Accessed 6 Aug 2016). http://www.adb.org/de/node/82329 (Accessed 6 Aug 2016). http://www.greatbuildings.com/cgibin/gbi.cgi/Curitiba_Tube_Stations.html/cid_20050514_kmm_img_2020.html (Accessed 9 Aug 2016)
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs (Accessed 9 Aug 2016) https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg11 (Accessed 9 Aug 2016). http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/cities/ (Accessed 9 Aug 2016). Liotta; P.H. and Miskel, J.F. (2012) The Real Population Bomb: Megacities, Global Security & the Map of the Future. Washington DC: Potomac Books. Mumford, L. (1956) ―The Natural History of Urbanization‖ . In Thomas, W.L., Mumford, L. and Sauer, C.O. (1956) Man's Role in Changing the Face of the Earth Vol I. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Thomas, W.L., Mumford, L. and Sauer, C.O. (1956) Man's Role in Changing the Face of the Earth Vol I. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. World Commission on Environment and Development (1987) Our Common Future. Oxford: Oxford University Press. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ 13
CHAPTER 2
WHAT ARE SUSTAINABLE CITIES?
Ngai Weng Chan, Hidefumi Imura, Akihiro Nakamura and Masazumi Ao Introduction The 21st century is a century for cities as the majority of people now live in urban areas. According to Macomber (2013), the number of people living in cities will more than double from 3.6 billion in 2011 to more than 6 billion in 2050, and this will bring with it a multitude of serious environmental (and other) problems such as overcrowding and shortages of clean water, electricity as well as many other resources necessary to the support of the ever-exploding populations and fragile economies. However, contrary to popular belief, urbanization is essentially a natural process whereby cities grow by virtue of population explosion as well as in-migration. Hence, cities are said to grow at the expense of their surrounding rural areas. Also, the peripheral rural areas surrounding cities can sometimes be gazetted to be included into the existing city boundaries. Hence, making cities bigger in terms of both area and population. Although the process of urbanization brings many benefits such as better facilities and amenities, more jobs and business opportunities, bigger markets, and more government development funds, it also produces many problems that erodes the quality of life that challenges human society. This includes environmental problems (pollution, micro climate, disease epidemics, diminishing green spaces, etc), social problems (over-crowding, lack of affordable housing leading to proliferation of slums and squatter settlements, escalating crime rates, lack of healthcare, etc), and economic problems (unemployment, economic slowdown, poor markets, etc). All these produce ―unsustainable cities (Berger, 2014). Yet, looking on the bright side with proper planning and management, urbanization presents many opportunities for the sustainable governance, sustainable businesses/green businesses (in the private sector), stakeholders‘ involvement (largely via NGOs) towards shaping the future of cities into settlements of sustainable development in terms of the three pillars of economy, social and environment (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987). Figure 2.1 exhibits the main and sub components of Green Urbanism which contribute towards the evolvement of a sustainable city (Source: http://www.ecobusiness.com/opinion/transforming-city-sustainable-design/ Accessed 4 Aug 2015).
Figure 2.1: The Main and Sub Components of Green Urbanism (Source: http://www.ecobusiness.com/opinion/transforming-city-sustainable-design/ Accessed 4 Aug 2015). 14
Berger (2014) maintains that making cities more sustainable is an omnipresent slogan in architecture and urban planning, although cities developed as counterparts to the hinterland and are by their very nature unsustainable. Yet, many cities have proven that cities can be sustainable in their own ways. The Sustainable Cities International (SCI), a registered non-profit based in Vancouver, Canada, works with cities around the world to bring about change towards urban sustainability focusing on building human capacity within cities so that innovation and change can occur. The SCI brings together not only governments but also businesses and academic communities, civil society organizations and other stakeholders to address urban issues with a view towards making cities sustainable. SCI works on projects from large-scale city planning strategies to small scale urban sustainability projects, all in response to the needs of cities (http://www.sustainablecities.net/ Accessed 3 August 2015). The SCI Network currently comprises 40 cities, towns and metropolitan regions around the globe that share the common goal of making their own cities sustainable via mobilizing their communities towards a sustainable future by adopting examples from successful sustainable cities‘ innovative urban sustainability practices both within the SCI Network as well as outside. For its member cities, chasing the sustainable city‘s dream is not an option but a responsibility. Under the SCI, members learn from one another‘s success stories and avoid the failures. For example, long range urban sustainability planning which was originally successfully undertaken in Vancouver was later transferred to Calgary and Durban (South Africa). Currently, such planning is now common place in sustainable cities around the world. Members cities in the SCI network act as ‗urban laboratories‘, whereby cities adopt sustainable technological and social innovations by adapting them into the local contexts. SCI member cities understand that good practices must be well understood, tested and adapted to local conditions before they can be adopted. This is because no one size fits all. The SCI network is a genuine proof that sustainable cities are possible and that any city can be sustainable if one chooses to be so. More and more, researchers have demonstrated that sustainable cities can be achieved through various levels. For example, increasingly, the private sector via corporations (national and multi-national) and investment organisations know that the success of government in managing cities is limited given the fact that governments around the world are financially and/or politically have limited resources to build sustainable cities. As in many areas of management now, government cannot be relied on to singlehandedly manage urbanization or to find solutions to all the urban problems created. More and more, the private sector has taken up the role of building efficient electrification, sustainable public transit, sustainable economic growth and engaging and building sustainable communities. This is because the private sector has the capital resources and know-how to manage all the above efficiently and profitably. In his research, Macomber (2013) has shown that municipal governments, urban planners, corporations, and entrepreneurs in almost all continents have engaged the private sector using business strategies for addressing the urban environmental and urban economic and social challenges posed by rapid urbanization and scarce resources within cities. Businesses have discovered that expanding supply such as provision of more water, more electricity, more roads and more vehicles is not a sustainable solution. The businesses have discovered that creating and claiming value by improving resource efficiency through energy-performance contracting, recycling, waste reduction, efficient public transit and stretching of resources can be equally profitable if not more. More importantly, such sustainable practices make businesses more acceptable to the more and more discerning consumers and this in turn make businesses more profitable and sustainable. Macomber (2013) says that businesses now rest on three pillars of business sustainability, i.e. new business models that generate profits by optimizing the use of resources; financial engineering that encourages investments in efficiency; and careful selection of markets. Eventually, strategic investments in resource efficiency as cities are being built or rebuilt can generate value for companies over the long term while enhancing the cities‘ competitiveness, livability, and environmental performance. Until 1975 there were just three megacities in the world: New York, Tokyo and Mexico City. Since then, the number of megacities has increased markedly and most new megacities have arisen in developing 15
countries. Today, Asia has 11 megacities, Latin America has four, and Africa, Europe and Northern America have two each. Eleven of those megacities are capitals of their countries. By 2025, when the number of megacities is expected to reach 29, Asia would have gained another five, Latin America two, and Africa one. With such numbers, how can one say that cities are unsustainable? Even if some cities were unsustainable, they need to change to become sustainable. If not, unsustainable cities would most certainly collapse in the long run (Diamond, 2005). Tokyo, the capital of Japan, is today the most populous urban agglomeration. Its population, estimated at 36.5 million in 2009, is higher than that of 196 countries or areas. If it were a country, it would rank 35 th in population size, surpassing the populations of Algeria, Canada, Uganda or Malaysia. To reach such a large number of inhabitants, Tokyo, the megacity, is actually an urban agglomeration that comprises not only Tokyo but also 87 surrounding cities and towns, including Yokohama, Kawasaki and Chiba, large cities in their own right. Often, megacities arise because of the fusion of several cities or urban localities that are functionally linked and form an urban agglomeration. Following Tokyo, the next largest urban agglomerations are Delhi in India with 22 million inhabitants, São Paulo in Brazil and Bombay in India, each with 20 million inhabitants, and Mexico City in Mexico and New York-Newark in the United States of America, each with about 19 million inhabitants. The smallest megacities are located in Africa and Europe. They include the two megacities in Africa, namely, Cairo in Egypt, with 11 million inhabitants and Lagos in Nigeria, with 10 million, and the two megacities in Europe, namely, Paris in France and Moscow in the Russian Federation, each with about 10.5 million inhabitants. Istanbul in Turkey is also among the group, being the least populous megacity in Asia, with 10.4 million inhabitants. In 2025, Tokyo is projected to remain the world‘s most populous urban agglomeration, with 37 million inhabitants, although its population will scarcely increase. It will be followed by the two major megacities in India: Delhi with 29 million inhabitants and Mumbai with 26 million, both expecting important population gains. São Paulo (Brazil), would come next with 22 million inhabitants. Dhaka (Bangladesh) would follow with 21 million. Definitions of Sustainable City Although researchers and city managers have often used the term sustainable city, there is no agreed universal definition of the term. Generally, researchers and practictioners go by the Brundlandt (1987) definition of sustainable development by also agreeing that a sustainable city should also meet the needs of the present city folks without sacrificing the ability of future generations of city folks to meet their own needs (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987). Hence, a sustainable city, is often described as a city which has the minimum environmental impact, managed and inhabited by people dedicated to the minimization of required inputs of energy, water and food, and waste output of heat, and minimal pollution. In this context, a sustainable city is often referred to as a eco-city or "ecocity". Register (1987) first coined the term "ecocity" in the book titled Ecocity Berkeley: Building Cities for a Healthy Future (For a deeper discussion on ecocity, please refer to Chapter 3). The leading figures initially envisioned the concept of sustainable city are architect Paul F Downton, and writers/authors Timothy Beatleyand Steffen Lehmann. All three have written extensively on the subject of sustainable city. If the Brundtland (1987) definition is followed, then a sustainable city should encompass all three spheres of social, environment and economics. Increasingly, however, this is expanded upon to include a sustainable way of life across four domains of ecology, economics, politics and culture (the last two are essentially within the social area). Arguably, a sustainable city should firstly be able to feed itself with a sustainable reliance on its surrounding hinterland, at the very least. Secondly, it should be able to generate enough energy. This is often achieved via sources of renewable energy. A sustainable city should generate the smallest possible ecological footprint and to produce the lowest amount of environmental pollution, to efficiently use land; compost used materials, recycle it or convert waste to energy. All these should effectly reduce the city's overall contribution to climate change in terms of greenhouse gases.
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Examples of Sustainable Cities Examples of some of the most sustainable cities are Vancouver (Canada), San Francisco (USA), Oslo (Norway), Curitiba (Brazil) and Copenhagen (Denmark). These cities achieve sustainability from using renewable energy to committed cut-backs on greenhouse gases emissions, and implementing sustainable initiatives (d'Estries, 2011). In the case of Vancouver, it is already considered one of the most livable cities in the world. The city has set a target to become one of the greenest cities in the world by 2020 as well. The city is currently leading the world in hydroelectric power which makes up 90 % of the city‘s power supply. The city is also committed to using other renewable energies such as wind, solar and wave power. To discourage the use of private automobiles in order to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, Vancouver has vastly improved its mass transit public transportation systems, built hundreds of kilometers of bicycle lanes, and promoted car-pooling programs. It has also increased the total area for greenlungs and greenways. All these have resulted in the city having the lowest per capita carbon emissions in North America. The city‘s goal is to decrease emissions by another 33 % towards 2020. It also has very strict green building codes whereby all new developments must be carbon neutral. For existing buildings, they must improve their energy efficiency by 20 %. Another area of sustainable development is the city‘s use of electric vehicles (EVs). The city is targetting EVs to account for 15 % of new vehicle sales by 2020. In the case of San Francisco, already recognized as one of North America‘s greenest cities, it spares no efforts in greater innovations in the area of improving air quality, waste management and commitment to eco-friendly public transportation facilities. The city is consistently recognized as one of the top urban tourism travel destinations in the world as tourists are attracted to the green values of the city. San Francisco is often ranked as the number one green city in North America as it recycles 77 % of its wastes, maintains one-fifth of its land area as parks or green spaces, and has hundreds of certified green buildings. The city is even better than Vancouver in terms of EVs as San Francisco is considered the EV capital of the United States. The city has more than 160 public charging stations for EVs making it very convenient for EV owners. The city does not rests on its laurels but is planning to install hundreds more of such stations. The city even has a 60-car EV taxi fleet. In the year 2012, the city had well over a thousand EVs and 5,000 plug-in hybrid vehicles. San Francisco is certainly a very sustainable city (http://www.sustainable-city.org/ Accessed 25 Aug 2015). Oslo in Norway is another sustainable city (http://ehcitychallenge.org/peopleschoice/city/oslo Accessed 25 Aug 2015). The city has more than two-thirds of its municipality area covered in protected forests, waterways and agriculture land, limiting the urban built-up areas to just one-third. Oslo is considered as one of Europe‘s leading sustainable cities. The city has intelligent lighting that adjusts intensity (and use of energy) depending on traffic conditions and weather conditions. The city reduces its dependence on fossil fuels by using bio-methane from recycled wastes to power mass transit systems and for heating. Like the other sustainable cities, Oslo plans to cut carbon emissions by 50 % by 2030. As Norway (as a country) plans to be carbon neutral by 2050, Oslo has to follow as well. To reduce emissions, Oslo has a large fleet of more than 1,700 EVs and about 400 charging stations, and automobiles and bicycle sharing programs. The number of EVs is ever increasing thanks to the city‘s offer of free parking, toll immunity and access to lanes generally reserved for public transport. Oslo‘s heating system is also largely powered by more than 80 % renewable energy (mainly biomass from residual wastes). The city aims to be using 100 % renewable energy by 2020. The city of Curitiba in Brazil is now famous as one of the greenest cities in the world (http://www.sustainablecitiesnet.com/models/sustainable-city-curitiba-brazil/ Accessed 25 Aug 2015). Curitiba has made a name for itself as a model city for its sustainability and conservation efforts. The city has a long history of sustainability having started a long-term urban sustainability development plan way back in the early 1970s. This plan is bearing fruits now as the city accommodates future growth, encourages green spaces and a clean environment. The city only allows non-polluters to reside within the city boundaries. Its most famous sustainability effort is the planning and implementation of sustainable 17
public transport which is efficiently divided into concentric circles within commercial corridors. Curitiba now has 52 square metres green space per person. In the greening of the city, more than 1.5 million trees have been planted in the city within a network of 28 parks and forests. Commuters are discouraged to drive their own vehicles but instead encouraged to use the city‘s efficient and affordable public transportation system. Currently, more than 2.3 million people a day use the city‘s fast transit system. Curitiba‘s public transportation system is so efficient that it is even adopted by many megacities in the world such as Los Angeles (USA) and Bogota (Colombia). One remarkable characteristic of this city is that the city‘s inhabitants are highly sensitized about sustainability and the environment. More than 90 % of the city‘s folks recycle two-thirds of their garbage daily. The city even allows commuters to exchange trash for transit tokens or fresh produce, leading to significant minimization of litter and wastes. One former mayor of Curitiba Jamie Lerner said: ―There is no endeavor more noble than the attempt to achieve a collective dream. When a city accepts as a mandate its quality of life; when it respects the people who live in it; when it respects the environment; when it prepares for future generations, the people share the responsibility for that mandate, and this shared cause is the only way to achieve that collective dream‖ (d'Estries, 2011). The city of Copenhagen (Denmark) is yet another green and sustainable city (http://denmark.dk/en/greenliving/copenhagen/ Accessed 25 Aug 2015). The city‘s most remarkable achievement is that of bicycling. The city has a few hundred kilometres of specialised bicycle lanes and this has resulted in more than one third of the city‘s 1.2 million population cycling to work in 2011. By this year in 2015, it is estimated that 50 % of its population are cycling. The city plans to close down some major roads to cars and convert them to bicycle lanes as well as building another 100 kilometers of bicycle lanes. Relying on human power (bicycling) has certainly reduced greenhouse gas emissions significantly and weaned the city off reliance on fossil fuels. Copenhagen also has the largest wind turbine industry in the world as Denmark is the lead country in wind production. The city actually supplies about a fifth of the country‘s power needs. A new offshore wind farm in 2013 (featuring 111 turbines) has increased the wind supply by another 4 %. The city is targetting to be the world‘s first carbon neutral capital by 2025. In order to reduce the urban heat island effect and to reduce the need for cooling (in summer) and heating (in winter), the city has a mandatory green roof policy. The city also ensures the availability of green spaces/parks to be built around the city to ensure 90 % of its residents are able to walk to a green space in less than 15 minutes. Yokohama (Japan) is one of the greenest sustainable Asian cities (http://fpcj.jp/en/useful-en/wjn-en/rettoreport-en/p=4815/ Accessed 25 Aug 2015). The city is committed to being a city that is for both people and the environment. The city engages all stakeholders/communities in promoting the development of livable, clean and safe neighbourhoods. To reduce carbon emissions, the city promotes the use of public transport (built around the railway network). The city aims to develop as a sustainable city responding not only to local needs but also to global environmental concerns. The city has also started a campaign to encourage people to become less dependent on their cars and make more use of public transport, as well as walking, cycling and car-pooling. The Yokohama smart city project uses local energy via renewable energy sources towards building a smart grid as a long term measure to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. The city promotes green growth as its focus to balance economic growth and environmental protection. The city has been recognized by the Japanese Government as a ―Futurecity‖(http://future-city.jp/ Accessed 4 Aug 2015). The URBAN21 Conference (Berlin, July 2000) sums up what a sustainable city needs to be: "Improving the quality of life in a city, including ecological, cultural, political, institutional, social and economic components without leaving a burden on the future generations. A burden which is the result of a reduced natural capital and an excessive local debt. Our aim is that the flow principle, that is based on an equilibrium of material and energy and also financial input/output, plays a crucial role in all future decisions upon the development of urban areas." (http://www.urban21.de/ Accessed 4 Aug 2015)
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A "Sustainable City‖ should have the ability to make development choices which encompass the three pillars of sustainable development - economy, environment and society. A sustainable city needs to find that delicate balance between economy, environment and society to ensure its future sustainability and to avoid collapse (Diamond, 2005). Conclusion To be a sustainable city is not simple. It requires a great deal of political will, resources, commitment and perserverance over a long period of time. A sustainable city clearly combines sustainable solutions with sustainable growth to give its inhabitants a high quality of life. The city has to have an ambitious green plan/aim with a clear goal that all the city‘s stakeholders can understand, believe it, buy into and get committed. A sustainable city should aim high to become CO2 neutral, or at the very least reduce its CO2 and other green house gases emissions significantly by 2025. No city can claim to be sustainable if it does not take climate change and climate adaptation into consideration. Hence, the city must have a Climate Adaptation Plan and a climate resilient programme. These include greening the city‘s transportation system via public transportation, bicycle strategy, pedestrain walks, clean enery vehicles, green buildings, banning of hazardous and harmful materials and change the lifestyle of its inhabitants from a consumerist lifestyle to a basic lifestyle. The city must have put in place strategies and programmes to address all the 17 SDGs of the United nations. Similarly, creating a green and sustainable society should become one of the key goals for the city. Although the percentage of renewable energy is relatively low at the moment for most cities, it should be the ultimate goal of a sustainable city is to achieve 100 % complete;y renewable energy by 2050. It should be the policy of sustainable cities to embrace the concepts of participation, dialogue, collaboration, societal responsibility and wealth distribution, viz. all the themes around which the modern sustainability movement is built. Effective legislations on sustainable development in cities and effective enforcement must be implemented. Cities should provide adequate incentives for low-carbon technologies and renewable energy generation whilst severely punishing those continuing to use unsustainable energy sources. Finally, a sustainable city should be a city for people whereby it offers places for interaction, meeting, trading or recreation. To this end, there must be adequate and suitable public spaces for civil society. The sustainable city needs to plan designated streets, parks, green lungs, water spots, public squares, and cultural spots to promote engagement, recreation, pleasure, accessibility and convenience for those who live, work and relax. A sustainable city must see interactions between cities and their residents. The city should no longer be completely managed and governed by elected government, but become a shared responsibility with all stakeholders active in their respective roles towards a people-oriented city. It is only through ownership that city folks become really committed to making their city a better place to work, live and play in. Questions for Discussion (1) With reference to your local city, identify the urban environmental issues and recommend sustainable and innovative ideas of how the city can become sustainable in the long run. (2) Is sustainable development possible in your city? What are the obstacles to sustainable development in your city? How can these obstacles be removed so that SD can be achieved? (3) Describe how your city can be designed to be a more ecologically sustainable city. (4) List some factors that push people and pull people to migrate from rural areas to urban areas, and suggests ways of controlling rural-urban migration. (5) What are the major trends in urbanization and urban growth in your city? (6) What percentage of the population of your country lives in urban areas? (7) How has the quality of urban life changed in your city since 1950? (8) What is urban sprawl? List four factors that have promoted urban sprawl in your country. List the major harmful effects of urban sprawl and suggests ways of controlling it. 19
(9) What is a megalopolis? What are the world's five largest megalopolises? Is there a megapolis in your country? What are the pros and cons of living in a megapolis? (10) Describe the major resource and environmental problems of urban areas in your country relating to (a) sustainability, (b) resource use, (c) biodiversity preservation, (d) land use, (e) microclimate (urban heat islands), (f) water supply and flooding, (g) excessive noise and light. Acknowledgements: The authors would like to acknowledge the funding under the research project titled ―Research & Development for the Writing and Publication of a Textbook of Sustainable Urban Programme Volume 2‖ from Yokohama City University, Duration 1st January 2016 – 31st August 2016. References Berger, M. (2014) The Unsustainable City. Sustainability 2014, 6, 365-374; doi:10.3390/su6010365. Diamond, J. (2005) Collapse: How Societies Choose to fail or Succeed. New York: Viking Press. d'Estries, M. (2011) Top Five Most Sustainable Cities in the World (Available http://www.ecomagination.com/top-five-most-sustainable-cities-in-the-world Accessed 3 Aug 2015).
at
http://denmark.dk/en/green-living/copenhagen/ (Accessed 25 Aug 2015). http://ehcitychallenge.org/peopleschoice/city/oslo (Accessed 25 Aug 2015). http://fpcj.jp/en/useful-en/wjn-en/retto-report-en/p=4815/ (Accessed 25 Aug 2015). http://future-city.jp/ (Accessed 4 Aug 2015). http://www.eco-business.com/opinion/transforming-city-sustainable-design/ (Accessed 4 Aug 2015).
http://www.sustainablecities.net/ (Accessed 3 August 2015). http://www.sustainablecitiesnet.com/models/sustainable-city-curitiba-brazil/ (Accessed 25 Aug 2015). http://www.sustainable-city.org/ (Accessed 25 Aug 2015). http://www.urban21.de/ (Accessed 4 Aug 2015) Macomber, J.D. (2013) Building Sustainable Cities. International Business August 2013 Issue (https://hbr.org/2013/07/building-sustainable-cities/ar/1 Accessed 11 July 2015). Register, R. (1987) Ecocity Berkeley: Building Cities for a Healthy Future. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books. World Commission on Environment and Development (1987) Our Common Future. Oxford: Oxford University Press. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
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CHAPTER 3
ECO-CITIES AND LOW CARBON CITIES
Lay Mei Sim The future will be predominantly urban, and the most immediate environmental concerns of most people will be urban ones (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987) Introduction Cities throughout the world play a decisive role as cities are where the people and buildings are. Cities are the key driving force for economic and social development. According to the United Nations (UN) (2014), an estimated of 3.6 billion out of 7 billion world‘s population today live in cities and the population is growing and projected to exceed 6.7 billion by 2050. How cities can play a crucial role in moving our societies toward a more environmentally sustainable future and environmentally sensitive local politics (Stren et al., 1992)? Governments, public and private organizations, non-governmental organizations, local communities and individuals around the world have an important task to undertake to shape their cities to be more liveable and productive. In short, cities need to become ecocities. An ecocity is an ecologically healthy city. Ecocities share similar basic characteristics analogous to healthy ecosystems and living organisms. Cities, like individual humans, are all different. Each city is unique and there is no one-size-fits-all ecocity model. Basically, an ecocity is described as: An ecologically healthy human settlement modeled on the self-sustaining resilient structure and function of natural ecosystems and living organisms. An entity that includes its inhabitants and their ecological impacts.A subsystem of the ecosystems of which it is part — of its watershed, bioregion, and ultimately, of the planet. A subsystem of the regional, national and world economic system (http://www.ecocitybuilders.org/why-ecocities/ecocity-definition/ Accessed 4 Aug 2015). Types of Eco-cities in the world Rapid growth of cities and populations have invited sudden surge in the greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions, air pollution and aggravate pressure on the wastewater and solid waste management. Global warming and climate change issues have moved from a scientific theory to a reality and due to that, cities want to become eco-cities to deal with the issues. Eco-cities are introduced in 1975 by a group of visionary architects and activists when they formed Urban Ecology (a non-profit organization) to rebuild the cities in balance with the nature. Eco-city is defined based on different focus of priorities such as GHGs, waste, air, water, greenery, etc. The eco-city concept emphasizes on cities with eco-friendly features and practices that are built from scratch or to existing mature cities that adopt eco-friendly features and practices either through expansion or retrofitting of existing projects (Lye, 2014, p.8). According to Wong and Yuen (2011, p.3), the term eco-city refers to an ecological approach to urban design, management and towards a new lifestyle. Bhatnagar (2010, as cited by Dijk, 2011) defines eco-cities as, city accessibly to everyone; in balance with nature; reducing, re-using, recycling waste; and contributing to a close water cycle, integrating to the surrounding region. Kenworthy(2006, p.68) stresses on the transportation role whereas Rombout (2009) highly emphasizes on the importance of greening the cities. Eco-cities are cities that create economic opportunities for their citizens in an inclusive, sustainable, and resource-efficient way, while also protecting and nurturing the local ecology and global public goods, such as the environment, for future generations (World Bank, 2009).
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The Tianjin Eco-city: a Sino-Singapore collaboration Back in 2007, the river in Tianjin were highly polluted and to such an extent that it was not safe to be consumed by the population. Tianjin eco-city project is a collaboration between China and Singapore and partially funded the Global Environment Facility. The total land area of Tianjin eco-city is 30 square kilometres and is planned for a population of 350 000 people. The main features of Tianjin eco-city include energy efficiency and the use of clean, renewable energy, green buildings, green transportation, ecologically friendly water management and waste management (Government of Singapore, 2009) (Figure 3.1).
Figure 3.1: Tianjin Eco-city's Master Plan (Source: http://www.tianjinecocity.gov.sg/bg_masterplan.htm Accessed on 19th September 2014). The master plan of Tianjin in Figure 3.1 can be summarised below (Government of Singapore, 2014): “1 Axis"– this refers to the Eco-valley cutting across the Eco-city, which is the green spine of the city. It links up the City Centre, the 2 sub-centres and the 4 districts in the Eco-city, and provides a scenic trail for pedestrians and cyclists. The tram system, which will be built to meet the Eco-city's transport needs, will run along the Eco-valley. "3 Centres"– this refers to the main City Centre on the promontory on the south bank of the Old Ji Canal and the two sub-centres in the south and the north. "4 Districts"– this refers to the residential districts in the southern, central, northern and northeastern parts of the Eco-city. Each district contains several housing neighbourhoods comprising a variety of housing types, as well as their respective commercial and amenity centres serving their communities.
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Bangalore, India Bangalore is a rapidly growing city that had significant transformation since the last 20 years along with the IT industry development and a growing middle-class. The transformation had significant impacts on their city resources especially energy and water. Due to rapid growth of Bangalore and increasing populations with limited water availability, the Towards Zero Carbon Development (T-Zed) project was initiated by Biodiversity Conversation India Limited (BCIL) to design an alternative which favours the middle-class residents whilst emphasis on living a low carbon lifestyle (Bulkeley et al, 2012). Development of ―zero carbon‖ housing projects in the city include the incorporation of micro-generation technologies, water re-use system, reduction of embodied energy of the building by using the local materials, passive cooling and the novel refrigeration utilization and air-conditioning systems to cut down the energy usage throughout the lifetime development (Bulkeley et al, 2012). Low Carbon cities The rapidly growing of cities in the world play a significant role in the 67–76% of energy use and 71– 76% of energy-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (Edenhofer et al. 2014). According to Edenhofer et al. (2014), due to lack of political will, financial resources and institutional capacities, many established cities are struggling to escape from energy and carbon-intensive development pathways which resulted in negative impacts such as congestion, traffic over-crowding, slums, air pollution, water shortages, high energy consumption and large waste generation. A low carbon city is a city which work for the benefit of the residents and the environment. Leeds City Region in the United Kingdom, Johor Bahru (including Pasir Gudang) in Malaysia, Lima-Callao in Peru, Palembang in Indonesia and Kolkata in India are the five cities that took the initiative to adopt the low-carbon measures to generate economic benefits for the city such as retrofitting public facilities, monitoring energy consumption and CO 2 emission and investments in climate mitigation at the city scale. Even though the low-carbon cities concept refers to the need for carbon reductions and are related to social aspects in the country, the term varies considerably. A low-carbon city is a city that is ecologically innocuous with reduced CO2 emission and urban sustainability and uses energy and environmental technologies to eliminate CO2 emission and thus gains economic benefits which will lead to increased jobs and income (Wang, 2010). According to Dai (2009), a low carbon city emphasizes on the city construction patterns as well as the social development which is aimed to reduce emissions of carbon and changing the ideas and consumption behaviour of the city residents without compromising their overall quality of life.
Skea and Nishioka (2008) proposed that low carbon city should: Take actions that are compatible with the principles of sustainable development, ensuring that the development needs of all groups within society are met Make an equitable contribution toward the global effort to stabilize the atmospheric concentration of CO2 and other GHG at a level that will avoid dangerous climate change, through deep cuts in global emissions Demonstrate a high level of energy efficiency and use low-carbon energy sources and production technologies Adopt patterns of consumption and behavior that are consistent with low levels of GHG emissions. Good Practices in Yokohama (Smart city) There are different definitions of Smart city adopted by different scholars, governments, consulting organizations and research groups. Smart City is a city performing in a forward-looking way in economy, 23
people, governance, mobility, environment, and living, built on the smart combination of endowments and activities of self-decisive independent and aware citizens (Giffinger et al., 2007). Caragliu et al., (2009) stated that, they believe a city to be smart when investments in human and social capital and traditional (transport) and modern (ICT) communication infrastructure fuel sustainable economic growth and a high quality of life, with a wise management of natural resources, through participatory governance. Based on Nam & Pardo (2011)‘s definition, smart city is an innovation and development of urban areas which involves the technology, organization and policy implementation. The smart cities concept requires cities to employ efficient use of technology to develop human-oriented infrastructures. After the disaster of Eastern Japan Earthquake and Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant accident on 11 th March 2011, Japan government has shifted the momentum towards implementation of a Smart City concept of safe and sustainable cities with smaller but many power sources (smart grids) widely dispersed near the consumers (Yusuf Shahid,2013). Since 2011, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) in Japan has invested to increase the numbers of Smart City projects and Yokohama is one of them. Yokohama is the second largest city in Japan after Tokyo, and it has a population of 3.7 million and a GDP of US$150 billion in 2010. Yokohama smart city project covers three different areas which are Minato Mirai 21, Kohoku New Town and the Yokohama Green Valley area, with a total of 165,600 households. Minato Mirai 21 is a highly developed urban centre with high rise apartments and skyscraper business buildings, Kohoku New Town is a sub-urban area with commuter in the hills and commercial facilities around the railway station which were developed since 1970 due to high housing demand in Yokohama. Yokohama Green Valley is an industrial redevelopment area on reclaimed land with increasing aging of the population but declining birth rate (Figure 3.2). Building Energy Management Systems (BEMS) is adopted in each of the skyscraper business buildings in Minato Mirai 21 to visualize the energy usage and optimise the management of energy in the building which includes the heat usage and air-conditioning. In Kohoku New Town, the renewable energy in the public facilities and parks is introduced while in Yokohama Green Town, the emission of GHGs from the estates is reduced through the introduction of renewable energy and cooperation between the stakeholders. Mission of the Yokohama Smart City Project (YSCP) is to be the pioneer towards establishment of the world’s best smart city model in the City of Yokohama which is an advanced city with a population of 3.7 million people. The Yokohama-model solutions will then be exported to cities overseas. The water quality and the sewerage system coverage have improved significantly in Yokohama (ISAP 2014). Conclusion The expanding and growing cities in the world have to grapple with a host of problems such as overcrowding issue, traffic congestion, pollution, water shortages, high energy consumption, CO 2 emission and large generation of industrial and households waste. The Eco-cities and low carbon cities models represent two ideal workable approaches that cities could follow towards a path of sustainability. These models could be adapted by cities world-wide for the benefits of their residents and the environment. In order for cities to become truly sustainable, they must first embark on the eco-city journey. Questions for Discussion 1. With reference to your local city, identify the issues and challenges related to eco-cities and find ways of your city can become an ecocity in the long run. 2. Is being an ecocity possible for your city? What are the obstacles to achieve the ecocity status for your city? How can these obstacles be removed so that your city can become an ecocity? 24
Figure 3.2: Community Energy management System (Source: Yokohama Smart City Project (YSCP) 2011) References Bulkeley, H. and Castán Broto, V. (2012) ―Urban experiments and climate change: securing zero carbon development in Bangalore‖, Contemporary Social Science, Accessed on 27th May 2015, DOI: 10.1080/21582041.2012.692483. Dai, Y. (2009) Analysis on the Necessity and Management Pattern of Emerging Low Carbon City in China. China Population Resource and Environment, March 2009 (in Chinese). Edenhofer, O., Pichs-Madruga, R., Sokona, Y., Farahani, E., Kadner, S., et al., eds (2014). Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change: Contribution of Working Group III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge UK and New York NY USA. http://mitigation2014.org/ (Accessed 5 Aug 2015). Giffinger, R., Fertner, C., Kramar, H., Kalasek, R., Pichler-Milanović, N., & Meijers, E. (2007). Smart Cities: Ranking of European Medium-Sized Cities. Vienna, Austria: Centre of Regional Science (SRF), Vienna University of Technology (http://ign.ku.dk/ansatte/ignansatte/?pure=files%2F37640170%2Fsmart_cities_final_report.pdf (Accessed on 17th May 2015) Government of Singapore (2009). ―Features Sino-Singapore City‖(http://www.tianjinecocity.gov.sg/Features.htm. (Accessed 5 Aug 2015).
Tianjin
Eco-
http://www.city.yokohama.lg.jp/ondan/english/pdf/initiatives/master-plan-of-yscp.pdf (Acc 7th May 2015) http://www.ecocitybuilders.org/why-ecocities/ecocity-definition/ (Accessed 4 Aug 2015). International Forum for Sustainable Asia and the Pacific (ISAP) 2014. (http://www.iges.or.jp/isap/2014/PDF/full_report/e_ISAP_PL11.pdf Accessed on 18th May 2015)
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The Japan Times: Smart-city concept offers solutions to global problems (31 st January 2012) (http://info.japantimes.co.jp/ads/pdf/0131p10-11.pdf Accessed 5 Aug 2015). IPCC (2007). Climate Change 2007 – IPCC Fourth Assessment Report. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. Kenworthy, J.R. (2006) ‗Dimensions for sustainable city development in the Third World‘, Environment Urbanization, 67-86. Lye, L.F. (2014) Towards Eco-cities in Europe and Asia— Sharing of Best Practices and Experiences: An Introduction. Eco-cities: sharing European and Asian best practices and experiences /Singapore: Konrad Adenauer Stiftung : East Asian Institute : European Union Centre in Singapore ; Brussels, Belgium : European Policy Centre, p.7-18. Nam, T. And Pardo, T.A.(2011). Smart City as Urban Innovation: Focusing on Management, Policy and Context. In E. Estevez & M. Janssen (Eds.), Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance (ICEGOV2011). Tallinn, Estonia: ACM Press Rombout, E. (2009) Sustainable architecture, ecologically sound urban planning and biodiversity thoughts about an ecopolis, Plea for a lobe city. In: Bhatnagar (ed., 2010), 99-142 Skea, J., and Nishioka, S. (2008) ―Policies and Practices for a Low-carbon Society.‖ National Institute for Environmental Studies. Climate Policy 8 (2008) S5–S16 (http://www.earthscan.co.uk/Portals/0/Files/Sample%20 Chapters/9781844075942.pdf Acc. 20 Aug 2016). Stren, R., White, R. and Whitney, J. (eds) (1992) Sustainable Cities. Urbanization and the Environment in International Perspective.Boulder, Westview Press. United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2014). World Urbanization Prospects, the 2014 Revision. http://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/CD-ROM/Default.aspx (Accessed 7th May 2015) Wang, K. (2010) A Low-Carbon Green City Project in Korea. Korea Research Institute for Human Settlement (http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/UNGC/UNPAN041663.pdf. Accessed 7th May 2015) Wong, T.C. and Yuen, B. (2011) Eco city planning, Policies, practice and design. Berlin: Springer. World Bank (2009) Eco2 Cities: Ecological Cities as http://preview.tinyurl.com/ecocitiesfullreport (Accessed 5 Aug 2015).
Economic
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World Commission on Environment and Development (1987) Our Common Future. Oxford: Oxford University Press. World Health Organization, Global Health Observatory (2014). Urban population growth (www.who. int/gho/urban_health/situation_trends/urban_population_growth_text/en/Acc 7 May 2015). Yusuf, Shahid (2013) Five Cities Going Green:How are they doing it? The Growth Dialogue, Washington, DC (http://www.growthdialogue.org/sites/default/files/publication/documents/GreenGrowth_web_3_27_13.pdf (Accessed 14th May 2015) @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ 26
CHAPTER 4
RESOURCE BASIS OF OUR LIFE
Ngai Weng Chan While many people would say they can survive with the barest minimum of resources, the very fact is that our lives are very much dependent on resources, whether it be natural, human or otherwise. Humans need resources for survival, growth, development, and progress. A resource is considered a source or supply from which benefits are produced. The resources human use include materials, water, energy, minerals, services, staff, knowledge or others that can be transformed to produce benefits. Resources may be consumed (e.g. water, food or minerals). Resources can be divided into biotic resources (forests) or abiotic resources (nutrients), renewable resources (water) or non-renewable resources (fossil fuels) (Figure 4.1), tangible resources (land) or intangible resources (talent), or natural resources (national park) or human-made (water theme park) resources. There are of course many benefits of resource utilization, including health, increased wealth, meeting needs or wants, proper functioning of a system, or enhanced well-being of society. From a human perspective, a natural resource is a resource obtained from the environment that can be used to satisfy human needs and wants. From a broader biological or ecological perspective, a natural resource satisfies the needs of a living organism. If we consider a city as an ―organism‖, then cities too have needs for resources that are needed to sustain it. Tangible resources include equipment (something that has actual physical existence) but intangible resources is complex and include things like corporate images, brands and patents, and other intellectual property that are abstract in their existence. Generally the economic value of a resource is controlled by supply and demand. Some view this as a narrow perspective on resources because there are many intangibles that cannot be measured in money. Natural resources such as forests and mountains have aesthetic value. Resources also have an ethical value.
Figure 4.1: Classification of resources into renewable or non-renewable resources (Source: Ophardt, 1998) The concept of resources management has been applied in many fields such as geography, economics, biology, ecology, management, computer science and human resources management. The notion of resources is closely linked to the concepts of competition (e.g. opportunity cost), sustainability 27
(sustainability of resource), conservation (natural resource conservation) and stewardship (resource protection). The management of resources in human societies, particularly in cities, involve commercial or non-commercial factors. This in turn requires tricky resource allocation through prudent resource management. Resources have three main characteristics: (i) Utility; (ii) Limited Availability, and (iii) Potential for depletion. Resources have to be carefully planned, allocated, shared, costed/valued, and managed to ensure their long term sustainability. Although cities are limited in terms of size and functions, their resources are varied. Like its inhabitants, cities also survive and thrive on its available resources without which cities will ―collapse‖ (see Diamond, 2005). For ancient cities, Diamond (2005) identifies five factors that contribute to their collapse: climate change, hostile neighbours, collapse of essential trading partners, environmental problems, and failure to adapt to environmental change. All these factors affect the amount of resources (water, fertile soils, food, climate, etc) available to these cities. When resources were depleted, the cities collapse as its inhabitants move elsewhere. Economic Resources as resources of the city The city functions primarily because of economics. People are primarily attracted to cities because of jobs and business opportunities, amongst others. If the economy of a city is not doing well, the city will not prosper. Historically, many cities have collapsed due to poor economy caused either by war, climate change or resource depletion. The classical example of Easter Island is a case of depletion of forest resources. The field of economics is closely related to resources. A resource is defined in economics as a service or an asset used to produce goods and services that meet human needs and wants. Economics itself has been defined as the study of how society manages its scarce resources. Classical economics recognizes three categories of resources, also referred to as factors of production: (i) land; (ii) labour; and (iii) capital. All three are resources found in abundance in the city, although not in direct proportions. Depending on the size and spatial distribution of a city, land resources includes all natural resources (land itself, forests, other vegetation, soils, water, etc). Land is viewed as both the site of production and the source of resources needed for the production process (raw materials). Labour or human resources are plentiful in cities. Whether or not labour is sufficient depends on the type of human resources available in a city. A highly knowledgeable city with highly skilled workers would have no problems dealing with labour resources needed to sustain the economy. All sorts of human resources are added together to provide in the manufacturing of products. Capital resources are also plentiful in cities where all the rich reside. Capital resources in cities are necessary to mobilize other resources such as land and labour to work towards production of human-made goods or means of production (machinery, buildings, and other infrastructures) used in the production of goods and services. The city folks, in turn, consume the goods that are produced and export some of it. In return, goods that are not produced by the city have to be imported. Cities are not totally artificial in that its resources are mostly human-made or unnatural. Many cities do possess a significant amount of natural resources. The natural resources of cities are those resources that are naturally occurring materials/substances that are considered valuable in their relatively unmodified/natural form. Forest, land, soil, minerals and rivers, amongst others, are a city‘s common natural resources. A natural resource‘s value is dependent on its availability in comparison to its demand, i.e. the greater the demand and the lower its availability, the higher its value and vice versa. Of course, the resource‘s value also depends on whether one can find substitutes for that resource. Resources without substitutes, for example water, if available in small quantities, would have a high value. The value of a resource is also determined by its usefulness in general as well as its usefulness to produce other goods. In a city, resources such as water bodies, soils, rocks, beaches, minerals, fishes, wildlife, trees and medicinal plants are considered natural resources while industries associated with them (for e.g. mining industry, 28
fishing industry, forestry and hunting) are considered natural-resource industries. Natural resources can be grouped into (i) renewable resources and (ii) non-renewable resources. Renewable resources are living resources (e.g. trees/forests, fish, wildlife, etc). These living resources, theoretically, are capable of restocking (renewing) themselves if they are not over-exploited or over-used, but used in a sustainable manner. These renewable resources must be consumed at a rate that does not exceed the resources‘ natural rate of replacement. Otherwise, over-usage or over-exploitation will deplete the standing stock resulting in depletion and eventually extinction. Even non-living renewable resources like water and soil must be sustainably used to avoid depletion. The challenge of the city is to find ways of ensuring that the exploitation rate does not exceed the replacement rate of standing stock of any particular resource. Likewise, resources in the city must also not exceed their maximum limits or carrying capacity. For example, too much rainfall and too much water flowing in rivers (e.g. during the wet Monsoon seasons) can cause flooding. On the other hand, too little rainfall and too little water flowing in rivers (e.g. during the dry inter-Monsoon seasons) can cause droughts and water crises Inhabitants of cities depend on natural resources for survival, comfort and recreation/entertainment. Natural resources comprise the useful raw materials that we get from mother Earth. The natural resources occur naturally, which means that humans cannot make or produce natural resources. However, humans can either use natural resources directly in their natural forms, or modify them into products, materials or services that are beneficial to humans. The products and services used as raw materials to produce human-made objects are natural resources and the products and services produced are energy, food, electricity, clothings, etc. Table 4.1 summarises some of the products and services generated out of natural resources. Table 4.1: A summary of some of the products and services generated out of natural resources. Natural Resource
Products or Services
Air
Oxygen, wind energy, tires
Animals
Foods (meat, milk, cheese, eggs), bags, pets, transport, recreation, and clothing (mink cloaks, wool sweaters, silk shirts, leather belts)
Coal
Electricity, fuel for furnace
Minerals
Diamond cutters, coins, knives, cars, wire, steel, aluminum cans, jewelry
Natural gas
Electricity, heating
Oil
Electricity, fuel for cars and airplanes, plastic
Plants
Medicines, roof covers, wood, paper, cotton clothing, fruits, vegetables
Sunlight
Solar power, photosynthesis
Water
Hydroelectric energy, drinking, cleaning
Land
Soil, houses, agriculture
River
Irrigation, transportation, power generation, drainage
Humans
Human resources, labourer, workers
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Another category of resources in cities are classified as ―Flow renewable resources‖. These resources are similar to renewable resources, but they do not need regeneration. Flow renewable resources include renewable energy sources such as renewable power sources like solar, geothermal, biomass, landfill gas, tides and wind. Resources can also be classified on the basis of their origin as biotic and abiotic. Biotic resources are derived from living organisms (e.g. plants, animals, and humans themselves) while abiotic resources are derived from the non-living world (e.g. sunlight, land, water, and air) (Table 4.2). Other abiotic resources comprising non-living things are minerals (e.g. tin, gold, iron, copper, silver) and nutrients (e.g. potassium, sodium, nitrates etc). Mineral and power resources are also abiotic resources some of which are derived from nature. Table 4.2: Classification of Resources into Abiotic and Biotic.
In contrast, a non-renewable resource is a natural resource that exists in a fixed amount on earth. The resource cannot be re-made, re-grown or regenerated as fast as it is consumed and used up. Some nonrenewable resources such as fossil fuels take an extremely long time to renew (e.g. fossil fuels take millions of years to form and are therefore not considered as a ‗renewable resource‘. A city‘s sustainability depends on how well it uses and manages both its renewable and non-renewable resources. A city‘s natural resources often determine its wealth and status in the world economic system. Developed megacities are those which are less dependent on natural resources for wealth, due to their greater reliance on infrastructural capital for production. In recent years, the depletion of natural capital and attempts to move to sustainable city development have been a major focus of city managers. Human beings provide human resources that are needed by the city. Through the labour force, humans provide workers for businesses, factories, the civil service, etc and are considered to be resources. The term human resources, however, is not only limited to the work force. It can also be expanded to include the knowledge, skills, energy, talent, abilities and innovations used for the production of goods or the rendering of services. For example, in a project management context, human resources are those employees responsible for undertaking the activities defined in the project plan. 30
Conclusion
In conclusion, the city and its resources availability and resources use need to be linked to sustainable development if it is to be sustainable. Cities need to juggle between what resources are available and how much is needed by its inhabitants, and how much can be exported (Conroy and Peterson, 2013). Equally, as most cities have greater demands on resources than is available, then it needs to import the shortfalls in resources from its hinterland or beyond. Hence cities need to be innovative in the areas of recycling, cutting down on wastes, turning wastes into resources, and transforming previously non-resources into usable resources. For example, many resources cannot be consumed in their original form, but can be transformed through resource development into something more usable. For example, methane gas from solid wastes and wastewater discharged from houses and buildings can be captured and repiped to houses as heating or cooking gas. Used cooking oil can also be collected and be transformed into biofuel. As the population in cities explode, the demand for all sorts of resources will explode accordingly. Many cities that lacked resources need to find the balance between resource distribution and associated economic inequality between regions within their city boundaries. As cities use much more resources than rural areas, they must embrace sustainable development and sustainable resource management. To achieve sustainable development, the city must find a pattern of resource use that can be justified to meet human needs while preserving the environment. In order to achieve sustainable development, cities need to find solutions and solve various problems relating to the efficient usage of resources such as over-population, excessive demands, environmental degradation, consumerism, resource depletion, etc. Many sustainable cities have shown that many benefits can be derived from the wise usage of resources. These include enhanced economic growth, ethical consumerism, better quality of life, sustainability and greater prosperity. For cities to achieve all that, cities must give equal priorities to both environmental economics and natural resources management (Anderson, 2013). Questions to Ponder (1) With reference to your local city, identify the resources available within and outside the city. (2) Classify the resources available within and outside your city. (3) Discuss sustainable and innovative ideas of how your city can become sustainable in terms of resources use and demand in the long run. (4) Is your city sustainable in terms of its resource availability and use? What are the obstacles to achieve this sustainability and how can they be addressed? (5) Describe how your city can increase its resources availability and decrease its resource demands. Acknowledgements: The author would like to acknowledge the Fundamental Research Grant (FRGS) from Ministry of Education titled ―Effects of Floods on Human Society and the Role of Social Capital in Recovery in Malaysia‖, Account Number 203/PHUMANITI/6711393. References Anderson, D.A. (2013) Environmental Economics and Natural Resource Management. Milton Park: Routledge. Conroy, M.J. and Peterson, J.T. (2013) Decision Making in Natural Resource Management: A Structured, Adaptive Approach. Oxford: John Wiley & Sons. Diamond, J. (2005) Collapse: How Societies Choose to fail or Succeed. New York: Viking Press. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ 31
CHAPTER 5
ECO-SYSTEM SERVICES
Asyirah Abdul Rahim Introduction Ecosystem services are processes that provide resources for human well-being and it is crucial to preserve the services that we derive from ecosystems. Definition of ecosystem services by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, MEA (2005) is ―ecosystem services are the benefits people obtain from ecosystems‖. MEA‘s classification groups the services into four categories: provisioning services, regulating services, cultural services and supporting services. There are many definitions and classifications given for ecosystem services but no matter how ecosystem services are classified, they depend on ecosystem structures and functions (i.e., roles of ecosystems processes) (Wu, 2013). The Economics of Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity (TEEB) provide brief and easy examples of these classifications as given below: Provisioning Services are ecosystem services that describe the material or energy outputs from ecosystems. They include food, water and other resources. Food: Naturally, ecosystem provides us with food from the natural systems such as marine, freshwater and forests systems. Most of our food supply comes from managed agro-ecosystems like wheat, rice, corn etc. Fresh water: Fresh water available for our consumption is the benefit we received from ecosystem processes of global hydrological cycle that regulates the flow and purification of water. At the local scale, vegetation and forests affect the quantity and availability of water. Raw materials: Ecosystems provide a great diversity of materials for construction and fuel including wood, biofuels and plant oils that are directly derived from the wild and cultivated plant species. Medicinal resources: Biodiversity provide many plants used as traditional medicines as well as providing the raw materials for the pharmaceutical industry. Therefore, all ecosystems are a potential source of medicinal resources. Regulating Services are the services that ecosystems provide by acting as regulators. Local climate and air quality: Trees provide shade and cooling affect especially in the urbanized area. In addition, trees also helps in regulating air quality by removing pollutants and acting as buffers by absorbing noise pollutants. At the landscape level, forests influence rainfall and water availability both locally and regionally. Forests also reduce the urban heat island effect. Carbon sequestration and storage: Increase of carbon and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is contributing to global climate change. Ecosystem processes regulate the global climate by storing and sequestering greenhouse gases. As trees and plants grow, they remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and effectively lock it away in their tissues. In this way forest ecosystems are carbon stores. Biodiversity also plays an important role by improving the capacity of ecosystems to adapt to the effects of climate change. Moderation of extreme events: Extreme weather events or natural hazards include floods, storms, tsunamis, avalanches and landslides. The biophysical components of ecosystems create buffers against natural disasters, thereby preventing possible damage. For example,
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wetlands can soak up flood water, riparian vegetation can slow down river water flow and trees can stabilize slopes. Waste-water treatment: Ecosystems such as wetlands filter both human and animal waste and act as a natural buffer to the surrounding environment. Through the biological activity of microorganisms in the soil, most wastes are broken down. Thereby pathogens (disease causing microbes) are eliminated, and the level of nutrients and pollution is reduced. Erosion prevention and maintenance of soil fertility: Soil erosion is a key factor in the process of land degradation. Vegetation cover provides a vital regulating service by preventing soil erosion. Soil fertility is essential for plant growth and agriculture and well-functioning ecosystems supply the soil with nutrients required to support plant growth. Pollination: Insects and wind pollinate plants and trees which is essential for the development of fruits, vegetables and seeds. Animal pollination is an ecosystem service mainly provided by insects but also by some birds and bats. Biological control: Ecosystems are important for regulating pests and vector borne diseases that attack plants, animals and people. Ecosystems regulate pests and diseases through the activities of predators and parasites. Birds, bats, flies, wasps, frogs and fungi all act as natural controls.
Cultural Services are non-material benefits for human well-being such as aesthetic value, recreational, educational, spiritual and sense of place or identity Recreation and mental and physical health: Walking and playing sports in green space is not only a good form of physical exercise but also lets people relax. The role green space plays in maintaining mental and physical health is increasingly recognized, despite difficulties of measurement. Tourism: Ecosystems and biodiversity play an important role for many kinds of tourism which in turn provides considerable economic benefits and is a vital source of income for many countries. Cultural and eco-tourism can also educate people about the importance of biological diversity. Aesthetic appreciation and inspiration for culture, art and design: Language, knowledge and the natural environment have been intimately related throughout human history. Biodiversity, ecosystems and natural landscapes have been the source of inspiration for much of our art, culture and increasingly for science. Spiritual experience and sense of place: In many parts of the world natural features such as specific forests, caves or mountains are considered sacred or have a religious meaning. Nature is a common element of all major religions and traditional knowledge, and associated customs are important for creating a sense of belonging. Supporting Services are the basis for all other ecosystem services and essentially refer to ecosystem processes and services (Wu, 2013). Habitats for species: Habitats provide everything that an individual plant or animal needs to survive: food; water; and shelter. Each ecosystem provides different habitats that can be essential for a species‘ lifecycle. Migratory species including birds, fish, mammals and insects all depend upon different ecosystems during their movements. Maintenance of genetic diversity: Genetic diversity is the variety of genes between and within species populations. Genetic diversity distinguishes different breeds or races from each other thus providing the basis for locally well-adapted cultivars and a gene pool for further developing commercial crops and livestock. Some habitats have an exceptionally high number of species which makes them more genetically diverse than others and are known as ‗biodiversity hotspots‘. More than 50% of the world population live in cities and about 75% of global economic activities are urban. Urban ecosystems can be seen as having three main components namely social, built and 33
biophysical systems. Anthropogenic ecosystems dominate urban areas while natural ecosystems are small and fragmented across the area, thus limiting the functions of ecosystems. We need to understand how human and ecological processes can co-exist in human dominated systems to become more sustainable. Some questions worth pondering are: How these fragmented natural ecosystems and anthropogenic ecosystem contributes to well-being of urban communities? How to enjoy ecosystem services sustainably? What can communities do to enhance their urban ecosystem services? Factors that contribute to the ability of communities to enjoy ecosystem services are ecosystem management and accessibility to ecosystem services (Tim Daw). How we managed the ecosystems give us different bundle of services for humans (refer to Roadside Plants) and accessibility refers to the context of the individual accessibility to certain ecosystem services (refer to Aesthetic Value).
Roadside Plants: a well-designed and properly installed plants along roadside can provide: slow, absorb and clean water that runs off the road, resulting in reduced soil erosion, flood control and cleaner water supply. Native plants can be used for functional purposes, other than aesthetic, because they are durable, long lived plants, best adapted to local climate and growing conditions and able to survive the stresses of road right-of-ways (Trees Forever). So, a managed anthropogenic roadside ecosystem provide us different bundle of services. Aesthetic Value: a beautiful landscape of plants and hardscape of an urban park can provide different benefits to different individuals. For example a person who lives in a bungalow with a home garden of trees, flowers and fish pond in the vicinity of the house can enjoy both the beautiful scenery offered by the home garden and urban park. However, a person living in an apartment in a highly populated residential area with very limited open space also enjoys the same beautiful scenery of the urban park but he does not have access to aesthetic value services of a home garden. Therefore, aesthetic value of urban parks benefits more to well-being of the person living in a high density area.
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Ecosystem services are valued ideally by how much human welfare they can provide. The most convenient measure is dollar, even though that is not always a practical measure. Values for provisioning services are relatively easy to determine. For example, coastal and marine ecosystems support production of fish. The value of this service can be assessed based on revenue, a function of the price and quantity of harvested fish. However, other ecosystem services such as aesthetic, spiritual, recreational value and regulating services lack market price and is difficult to determine the monetary value (Holzman, 2012). Tidball and Krasny (2010) proposed the concept of civic ecology to integrate ecological and social processes in urban environment where ―community makes decisions, organizes and takes action.‖ Changes in the environment as a result of community for example on preserving a forest provides spaces for people to observe and enjoy nature, may eventually lead to changes in human perceptions and attitudes. Civic ecology practices bring together communities to enhance urban social-ecological systems well-being. Some examples of civic ecology practices in cities are community gardens, community rooftop garden, community forests etc. (Krasny et. al., 2015). Conclusion In conclusion, ecosystem services are important for well-being of human especially in urban areas and efforts must be put to enhance management and accessibility to ecosystem services to achieve sustainable city goals. Cities need to conserve a substantial proportion of its land under natural areas for ecosystem services. Parks, rivers, wetlands and greenlungs within the city are some of the biodiversity targets. Questions to Ponder (1) With reference to your local city, identify the types of ecosystem services available within and outside the city. How important are the types of ecosystem services to your city? (2) Discuss sustainable and innovative ideas of how your city can become sustainable in terms of ecosystem services. Suggest plans and ideas as to how your city can enhance ecosystem services. References Holzman, D.C. (2012) Accounting for Nature‘s Benefits: The Dollar Value of Ecosystem Services. Environ Health Perspect 120(4):a152-a157 doi: 10.1289/ehp.120-a152 Krasny, M.E., P. Silva, C. Barr,Z. Golshani, E. Lee, R. Ligas, E. Mosher, and A. Reynosa (2015) Civic Ecology practices: insights from practice theory. Ecology and Society 20(2):12 http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-07345-200212 The Economics of Ecosystems & Biodiversity. Ecosystem www.teebweb.org/resources/ecosystem-services/ accessed June 30th, 2015
Services
(TEEB).
Tidball, K.G. and Krasny, M.E. (2010). Urban environmental education from a social-ecological perspective: conceptual framework for civic ecology education. Cities and the Environment, 3(1) Tim Daw. Ecosystem services and human well-being. Stockholm Resilience Centre: Sustainability Science for Biosphere Stewardship from http://www.stockholmresilience.org/21/news--events/seminarand-events/whiteboard-seminars/7-2-2011-ecosystem-services-and-human-well-being.html Trees Forever. Benefits of Roadside Plantings. www.treesforever.org/Roadside_Benefits (Accessed 2.7.15) Wu, J. (2013). Landscape sustainability science: ecosystem services and human well-being in changing landscapes. Landscape ecology 28:999-1023. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ 35
CHAPTER 6
ECONOMY AND ENVIRONMENT
Lay Mei Sim ―We do so much to prepare our children for the future, but are we doing enough to prepare the future for our children?‖ --Larry Chalfan Introduction The world population is predicted to grow from 6.9 billion in 2010 to 8.3 billion in 2030 and to 9.1 billion in 2050 (UNITED NATIONS, 2012). According to the United Nations (UN) 2014, an estimated of 3.6 billion out of 7 billion world‘s population today live in cities and the population is growing and projected to exceed 6.7 billion by 2050. Rapid growth of cities and populations have invited sudden surge in the greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions, air pollution and aggravate pressure on the wastewater and solid waste management. The relationship between the economic development and environment is complicated and has resulted in a huge debate since the 1960s. This debate had received remarkable attention after the result of Silent Spring by Rachel Carson was published in 1962 (Cole, 1999). Concept of sustainable development was introduced later on in 1980s (ibid). Despite a lot of initial mis-interpretation that economic development is the opposite of environmental conservation, i.e. in an inverted relationship, research in recent decades have shown that when one goes up, it does not necessarily mean that the other must come down. Results have shown that environment and economy can both progress at the same time if countries and economies practise sustainable development. Hence, achieving sustainable development, economic development and environmental conservation are not contradicting, but they can be complementary and mutually rewarding. In most developing countries and under-developed countries, governments are forced to answer the question ―Is the economic development of developing countries more important than protecting the environment?‖ Most of them would say ―Yes‖ to this question because of the following reasons (Source: http://debatewise.org/debates/2918-economic-development-vs-the-environment/#yes1 Accessed 10 Aug 2015): (i) Taking care of millions of people who are starving is more important than saving natural resources, most of which are renewable anyway. We cannot expect developing nations to share the green concerns of developed countries when they are faced with dire poverty and a constant battle for survival. (ii) The industrialised world’s emphasis on green issues holds back developing countries. Because this is seen as interference in their affairs, it also contributes to a greater divide between the First and Third worlds. Many also believe it is a deliberate attempt to stop possible economic competitors. After all, the USA and EU already put high tariffs (import taxes) on products made cheaply in developing countries (e.g. canned tomatoes, shoes) which could be sold in America or Europe. By limiting the development of profitable but polluting industries like steel or oil refineries we are forcing nations to remain economically backward. (iii) Economic development is vital for meeting the basic needs of the growing populations of developing countries. If we do not allow them to industrialise, these nations will have to bring in measures to limit population growth just to preserve vital resources such as water. (iv) Obviously the world would be better if all nations stuck to strict environmental rules. The reality is that for many nations such rules are not in their interests. For example, closing China’s huge Capital Iron and Steelworks, a major source of pollution, would cost 40 000 jobs. The equal application of strict environmental policies would create huge barriers to economic progress, at a risk to political stability. (v) Rapid industrialisation does not have to put more pressure on the environment. Scientific advances have made industries much less polluting. And developing countries can learn from the environmental mistakes of the developed world’s industrial revolution, and from more recent disasters in communist countries such as China and the USSR. For example, efficient new steelworks use much less water, raw materials and power, while producing much less pollution than traditional factories. And nuclear generating plants can provide more energy than coal while contributing far less to global warming. We are also exploring alternative, renewable types of energy such as solar, wind and hydro-power.
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(vi) It is hypocritical (two-faced and unfair) for rich developed countries to demand that poorer nations make conservation their priority. After all, they became rich in the first place by destroying their environment in the industrial revolution. Now that they have cut down their own trees, polluted their water sources and poured billions of tons of carbon into the air, they are in no position to tell others to behave differently. In any case, as countries become richer they become more concerned about the environment, and can afford to do something about it. For developing countries conservation can therefore wait until they are richer. (vii) The ―Green Revolution‖ has doubled the size of grain harvests. Thus, cutting down more forests to provide more space for crops is no longer necessary. We now have the knowledge to feed the world’s increasing population without harming the environment. Genetically modified crops can also benefit the developing world by requiring much less water, fertiliser or pesticide use while giving better yields. This is another example of economic development leading to environmental benefits.
Yet, despite the above valid reasons, recent researchers and new innovations have shown that many countries now can say ―No‖ to the above question because of the following reasons (Source: http://debatewise.org/debates/2918-economic-development-vs-the-environment/#yes1 Accessed 10 Aug 2015): (i) We have already wasted and destroyed vast amounts of natural resources, and in so doing have put earth at risk. We must preserve the earth for our children and grandchildren. In any case, poverty and environmental damage are often linked. Destroying the rainforest gives native peoples nowhere to go except urban slums. Polluted water can lead to crop failures. Climate change will turn fertile fields into desert and flood coastal areas where hundreds of millions live. Developing countries have to choose sustainable development if they want a future for their people. (ii) No one wants to stop economic progress that could give millions better lives. But we must insist on sustainable development that combines environmental care, social justice and economic growth. Earth cannot support unrestricted growth. Companies in developed countries already have higher costs of production because of rules to protect the environment. It is unfair if they then see their prices undercut by goods produced cheaply in developing countries at the cost of great pollution. (iii) Unchecked population growth has a negative impact on any nation, as well as on the whole planet. Both the poverty and the environmental problems of sub-Saharan Africa are largely the result of rapid population growth putting pressure on limited resources. At the same time China has become wealthy while following a ―one-child‖ per couple policy. Limiting population growth will result in a higher standard of living and will preserve the environment. (iv) Nations are losing more from pollution than they are gaining from industrialisation. China is a perfect example. Twenty years of uncontrolled economic development have created serious, chronic air and water pollution. This has increased health problems and resulted in annual losses to farmers of crops worth billions of dollars. So uncontrolled growth is not only bad for the environment, it is also makes no economic sense. (v) Scientific progress has made people too confident in their abilities to control their environment. In just half a century the world’s nuclear industry has had at least three serious accidents: Windscale (UK, 1957), Three Mile Island (USA, 1979), and Chernobyl (USSR, 1986). In addition, the nuclear power industry still cannot store its waste safely. Hydro-power sounds great but damming rivers is itself damaging to the environment. It also forces huge numbers of people off their land – as in China’s 3 Gorges project. (vi) Looking after our fragile world has to be a partnership. Climate change will affect the whole planet, not just the developed world. In fact it is likely to have particularly terrible effects on developing countries as sea levels rise, deserts advance, and natural disasters become more common. It is no use Europe trying to cut its emissions into the atmosphere if unchecked growth in China and India leads to much greater overall pollution. Instead, developed countries need to transfer greener technologies to the developing world, paying for environmental protection and making sustainability a condition for aid. (vii) The Green Revolution is threatening the biodiversity of the Third World by replacing native seeds with hybrids. We do not know what the long-term environmental or economic consequences will be. We do know that in the short run, such hybrid crops can cause environmental problems by crowding out native plants and the wildlife which relies on them. The farmer growing hybrid crops must buy costly new seed every year because it cannot be saved to plant the following year’s crops. Farmers using hybrid seeds in what was the richest part of India went bankrupt. As a result, fertile lands lay idle and unploughed, resulting in droughts and desertification.
A deeper understanding and sacrifices are needed if any country is to balance economic development with environmental conservation. Sustainable development, as a science, has moved on and evolved new 37
understanding and innovations that make a mockery of earlier mis-interpretations that economic development must necessarily result in environmental destruction. This supposedly inverted relationship between economy and environment has been proven untrue. Results of research in recent decades have shown that the economy can prosper even if we practise environmental conservation. Likewise, environmental conservation does not lead to poorer economies. Poor countries are poor not because they are not allowed to grow their economies but because they have destroyed their natural resources. If countries can balance environmental conservation with sustainable economic development, then their economies will prosper just as much, if not more. Hence, environment and economy can both progress at the same time if countries and economies practise green economies and sustainable development, making achieving sustainable development, economic development and environmental conservation complementary and mutually rewarding. Decoupling A new concept of Decoupling, defined as separation of the connection between environmental degradation with economic growth has been proposed by the OECD (OECD, 2001). According to Defra (Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 2010), decoupling term refers to linkages termination between the gross domestic product (GDP) and the environmental damage. UNEP (2011) identified the term decoupling as shifting from debt-financed consumption (which is unsustainable) as the primary economic driver of our economies, to sustainability-oriented investments in innovation as the primary economic driver of our economies. There are four modes of decoupling; Relative decoupling refers to the used resources growth rate or environment implications is less than the rate of economic development which directly increase the rate of resource production Resource decoupling is usage decrement of primary resources for every unit of economic activity. Impact decoupling leads to diminution of negative environmental impingement by increment of the economic yield. Absolute decoupling happened when the resource production rate exceeds the rate of economic Development. Figure 6.1 showed the essence of the two essential components of decoupling that are utilised in sustainable development are resource decoupling and impact decoupling.
Figure 6.1: Stylized representation of resource decoupling and impact decoupling (Source: UNEP‘s International Resource Panel, 2011; p.5) Figure 6.2 showed an inverted U-shaped relationship between pollution and production. The inverted-U shaped curve is recognised as an Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) which is often used to show a connection between the growth of economic and quality of the environment (Kuznets, 1955). Generally, pollution in developing countries follows EKC which shows the relationship between the rate of pollution
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and production and it uses as evidence of decoupling rate of pollution from the economic development. (Cole, 1999 & Kuznets, 1955).
Figure 6.2: Environmental Kuznets Curve (Source: The Review of Economic Performance and Social Progress, 2001; p.297) Kitakyushu Kitakyushu which is located in the northern of Kyushu region was once known as grey city 50 years ago due to severe air and water pollution from the modernization and massive economic development (Haski, 2005). It was one of the Japan‘s four largest industrial regions for heavy and chemical industries. The air in the region was heavy polluted and was the worst in Japan. The Dokai Bay was once known as Dead Sea due to high contamination from industrial and domestic wastewater (Figure 6.3).
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Figure 6.3: Overcoming severe environmental pollution (Source: UNCRD, 2014; City of Kitakyushu 2006). The women were the first people who took the initiative to demand the countermeasures as they were distressed with children‘s health. The joint effort between the multi stakeholders which includes the residents, universities local government and private enterprises had led to successful improvement of the environment in the Kitakyushu and in 1980s, the city was restored and is known as green city. Today, Kitakyushu become the Eco-Model city of Japan. Conclusion Humans live in the 21st century now and must behave and be responsible as 21 st century global citizens. Equally, they must be nationally and locally responsible citizens to play the role towards a sustainable economy and environment. Whether it is country of city, we need a vision to create a world where economic progress is complementary to environmental conservation, not opposite to. The traditional model of rapid economic growth at all costs has cost many countries dearly with massive destruction of resources, extinction of biological species, environmental destruction and pollution. This model has not made countries rich but because of all the negative effects, countries remain poor. We need to adopt a new paradigm which marries economy and environment, with a symbiotic relationship that prospers both. Facing up to the global climate change, water, food and energy crisis, and dwindling natural resources are the challenges that need to be addressed if we hope to balance economy with environment. Sustainable development would be the key insuring the health and stability of economy and environment. The stakeholders‘ involvement is very important to make the cities liveable and preserve the environment from degradation for the current and future generations. Questions to ponder (1) Is there a conflict between achieving economic growth and reducing the environmental degradation? (2) How do we seek balance between achieving economic growth and reducing the environmental degradation? Is sustainable development effective theory and how can we turn it into reality? 40
Reference City of Kitakyushu (2006) Kitakyushu: "From a 'Gray City' to a 'Green City'". http://www.city.kitakyushu.jp/pcp_portal/PortalServlet;jsessionid=7D48796755E6797 1927B381D3DBEF550?DISPLAY_ID=DIRECT&NEXT_DISPLAY_ID=U000004& CONTENTS_ID=14935 (Accessed on 9th August 2015) Cole, M.A. (1999) Limits to growth, sustainable development and environmental Kuznets curves: An examination of the environmental impact of economic development. Sustainable Development 7, 87-97. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.483.1177&rep=rep1&type=pdf (Accessed on 9th August 2015) Day, K., & Grafton, R.Q (2001) Economic Growth and Environmental Degradation in Canada. The Review of Economic Performance and Social Progress. P.293-310 http://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/7033287.pdf (Accessed on 9th August 2015) Everett, T., Ishwaran, M., Paolo, G., & Rubin, A. (2010) Paper 2 Economic Growth and the Environment, Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, (Defra). https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/69195/pb13390-economicgrowth-100305.pdf (Accessed on 9th August 2015) Haski, T. (2005) Kitakyushu: "Kitakyushu Eco-Town Project‖. http://www.apfed.net/ki/database/doc/RISPO_GP147.pdf (Accessed on 9 th August 2015) http://debatewise.org/debates/2918-economic-development-vs-the-environment/#yes1 (Accessed 10 Aug 2015) Kuznets S., (1955) Economic growth and income inequality,‖ American Economic Review, 49. l-28. UNEP (2011) Decoupling natural resource use and environmental impacts from economic growth, A Report of the Working Group on Decoupling to the International Resource Panel. Fischer-Kowalski, M., Swilling, M., von Weizsäcker, E.U., Ren, Y., Moriguchi, Y., Crane, W., Krausmann, F., Eisenmenger, N., Giljum, S., Hennicke, P., Romero Lankao, P., Siriban Manalang, A., Sewerin, S. http://www.unep.org/resourcepanel/decoupling/files/pdf/Decoupling_Report_English.pdf (Accessed on 9th August 2015) United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs/Population Division 1 (2012). World Population Prospects: The 2012 Revision, Highlights and Advance Tables file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/World%20Population%20Prospect%202012%20revision.pdf (Accessed on 11th August 2015) United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2014). World Urbanization Prospects, the 2014 Revision. http://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/CD-ROM/Default.aspx (Accessed on 7th August 2015)
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Chapter 7 ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT AND CITIES Ngai Weng Chan, Badaruddin Mohamed and Jabil Mapjabil Introduction Earth is human‘s home, the only home that we know of. It is where humans find their needs to sustain and survive. Earth is a combination of many ecosystems that combine to form the ecosphere or biosphere. It is from the various ecosystems that humans derive their needs. In other words, ecosystems provide natural resources for humans and other life forms on earth. Hence, it is of vital importance that our ecosystems be protected and sustained, both for the present generation as well as for future generations. But often, as a result of unplanned, haphazard and greedy over-exploitation caused by rapid development, ecosystems are damaged and destroyed. Destruction of ecosystems not only destroys the resources they provide but also the species living in the ecosystems as well as the environment. The amount of resources on earth is finite but human demands are now. For example, if a piece of land of 1 km2 can produce all the needs of 1 person, then if we put 2 persons on the same piece of land, the resources would not be enough. In another perspective, if the same 1 person were to increase his demands by double, then resources would also be inadequate. This is exactly what is happening currently on earth. Since the 1970s, humanity has been in ecologicalovershoot with annual demand on resources exceeding what Earth can regenerate each year. It now takes the Earth one year and six months to regenerate what we use in a year (http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/footprint_basics_overview/ Accessed 7 Aug 2015). Hence, humans are currently maintaining this overshoot by liquidating the Earth‘s resources. Nobody, except the sensitized ecologists or scientists can see the overshoot clearly and realise the dangers because nobody considers thaings/commodities we consume today as belonging to tomorrow. Hence, using the overshoot as threat to the future of human beings and the health of the planet is fruitless. Figure 7.1 shows that in the year 2010, the world has already overshot its capacity by 1.5 times. This means humanity today uses the equivalent of 1.5 planets to provide the resources we use and to absorb our wastes. This means Earth takes about one year and six months to regenerate what humans use in a year. Since earth can only produce a maximum of 1.0 times our demands, then we are using resources of the future (since it will take another 6 months to produce the remainder 0.5 times). Based on current United Nations‘ estimates, based on current population and consumption trends, by the 2030s, we will need the equivalent of two Earths to support us (i.e. if we have only one earth, it would take two years to produce what we need in one year). Hence, we are in ecological deficit and global ecological overshoot, depleting the very resources on which human life and biodiversity depend.
Figure 7.1: Number of earths required to support human demands http://footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/world_footprint/ Accessed 7 Aug 2015). 42
(Source:
If overshoot cannot scare people, what about using the number of planets needed to feed people? Because of the extravagant lifestyle of United States citizens, it has been suggested that if everyone on the earth lived a similar lifestyle like a US citizen (ie. consumed as much as the average US citizen), four planet Earths would be needed to sustain them (since one earth would not be able to produce all the needed resources). This is not so alarming if one were to consider the vast different lifestyles (and concumption patterns) of a sub-Saharan subsistence farmer with that of a wealthy city-dweller in New York. Obviously, much more land is required to grow the city dweller's food, more water to supply the swimming pool and water-thirsty fittings of the modern home, more materials are needed to build the city dweller's huge house, and a great deal more energy is required for city dweller‘s fleet of aotomobiles (transport), heating and cooling. There is no doubt that Americans do consume much more than the people of developing and less developed countries. The BBC then did some research and calculated the consumption of the world's current seven billion people according to the typical lifestyle of some selected countries. But the claim that four Earths would be needed if everyone lived like Americans is still a striking one. It has been recurring on social media at least since 2012, when science writer Tim De Chant produced the following infographic illustrating how much land would be required if seven billion people lived like the populations of nine selected countries from Bangladesh to the United Arab Emirates (Figure 7.2). But where does this claim originate, and how is it calculated? (Source: BBC Magazine 16 June 2015 [http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33133712 Accessed 7 Aug 2015]). Figure 7.3 shows the ecological footprint of the USA in comparison to the country‘s biocapacity, clearly indicating this country has overshot its capacity by nearly two times (Source: http://footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/trends/united_states_of_america/ Accessed 7 Aug 2015). Human activities consume resources and produce waste, and as our populations grow and global consumption increases, it is essential that we measure nature‘s capacity to meet these demands. The Ecological Footprint has emerged as one of the world‘s leading measures of human demand on nature. Simply put, Ecological Footprint Accounting addresses whether the planet is large enough to keep up with the demands of humanity. Conceived in the 1990s by Mathis Wackernagel and William Rees at the University of British Columbia, the Ecological Footprint is now in wide use by scientists, businesses, governments, agencies, individuals, and institutions working to monitor ecological resource use and advance sustainable development (Wackernagel, 1994); Wackernagel and Rees, 1996). The Ecological Footprint represents two sides of a balance sheet. On the asset side, earth‘s biocapacity represents the planet‘s biologically productive land areas including forests, pastures, cropland and fisheries. These land areas not only produces resources for humans but if left unharvested, can also absorb much of the wastes human society generates, especially the carbon emissions that leads to global warming (Figure 7.4). On the other side is human demands on earth‘s biocapacity. Human demands can be compared with earth‘s biocapacity to produce what is known as our Ecological Footprint. The Ecological Footprint is braodly defined as ―The amount of productive area necessary to provide/produce the renewable resources humans are using and to absorb its waste‖. However, this does not only mean productive agricultural land. In fact, the productive area currently occupied by human infrastructures needs also be included in the calculation of the ecological foorprint as built-up land is not available for resource regeneration. The ecological footprint is thus a measure of human demands on the Earth's ecosystems. It is a standardized measure of demand for natural capital that may be contrasted with the planet's ecological capacity to regenerate. It represents the amount of biologically productive land and sea area necessary to supply the resources a human population consumes, and to assimilate associated waste. Using this assessment, it is possible to estimate how much of the earth (or how many planet Earths) it would take to support humanity if everybody followed a given lifestyle. For 2007, humanity's total ecological footprint was estimated at 1.5 planet Earths; that is, humanity uses ecological services 5 times as quickly as Earth can renew them. Every year, this number is recalculated to incorporate the three-year lag due to the time it takes to collect and publish statistics and relevant research. 43
Figure 7.2: Tim De Chant‘s infographic illustrating how much land would be required if seven billion people lived like the populations of nine selected countries from Bangladesh to the United Arab Emirates (cited by BBC Magazine 16 June 2015 [http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33133712 Accessed 7 Aug 2015]).
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Figure 7.3: This graph shows the ecological footprint of the USA in comparison to the country‘s biocapacity. Clearly it has overshot its capacity by nearly two times (Source: http://footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/trends/united_states_of_america/ Accessed 7 Aug 2015).
Figure 7.4: The Ecological Footprint measures the rate of human consumption and wastes generation in Comparison to how fast nature can absorb human wastes and generate new resources.
Figure 7.5 compares Human Welfare and the Ecological Footprint. It is very clear that developed countries with a high human welfare index consumes a lot more resources, and therefore have correspondingly high ecological footprints (Source: Global Footprint Network 2008 Report (2005 Data) and Human Development Index (HDI) 2007/2008. Cuba appears to be the exception with high HDI but low ecological footprint. This could be due largely to a very basic non-consumerism lifestyle in a highly developed city.
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Figure 7.5: Human Welfare and Ecological Footprint (Source: Global Footprint Network 2008 Report (2005 Data) and Human Development Index 2007/2008. The Ecological footprint is not only measured in terms of the global and country scales. It can also be measured at the city scale or even the individual scales. Because of their size and huge populations and dense infrastructures, cities consume a lot of resources (see Chapter 4). The global effort for sustainability will be won, or lost, in the world‘s cities. If cities can be sustainable in terms of balancing their demands with their biocapacities, and supplement these with sustainable innovations, then the reduction of their ecological footprints is possible. For example, innovative urban designs may influence over 70 % of people‘s Ecological Footprint. One such area is in energy savings. When buildings are equipped with natural lighting, LED lights, sensor-operated switches and recycling waste-heat into room heating, and use of solar panels, people will use less energy resulting in reduction of ecological footprints. Effeicient public transportation can also cut the number of drivers on the road leading to reduction of fossil fuel use and air pollution. High-Footprint cities can reduce the demands on resources greatly with improvements in technology. Such energy and water savings also cut costs for people and make cities more livable. Innovative and green urban infrastructures lead to green cities and the reduction of cities‘ ecological footprints. Infrastructures have a long life span and are long-lasting and influences resource needs for decades. Green infrastructures definitely are the answer to make or break a city‘s future. Future cities are those that are building future resource traps, with greater opportunities for resource efficiency and more livable lifestyles. Role of Cities in Reducing Ecological Footprint The role of cities in reducing a country‘s ecological foorprint is important and governments can easily tap into the expertise already available in some of the world‘s greenest ecocities (see Chapter 3). Governments that fail to look into the potentials of green innovations of cities are failing to reduce their countries‘ footprints. A city‘s Ecological Footprint is a comprehensive, science-based resource accounting system that compares the city inhabitant‘s use of nature with nature‘s ability to regenerate, helps towards reduction of a country‘s overall footprint (http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/footprint_for_cities/ Accessed 7 Aug 2015). 46
The size of a city, however, does not give any clues to its ecological footprint. Obviously, the larger the city, the larger will be its ecological footprint by sheer comparison of its larger population and greater demands. Favro (2015) maintains that the ecological footprint of a small sized city bears no comparison to its actual land area. For example, the US city of Rochester, New York State, and its immediate suburbs occupy about 160,000 hectares, or the same land area as London, England. The difference is that Rochester‘s urbanized core contains 735,000 residents versus 7.6 million in London. London, for its part, has less than two-thirds the population density of Tokyo. Hence, the ecological footprint of London far exceeds that of Rochester. In the past when cities were walled to ward off attackers, they were basically self-sufficient and indepent (although trade was their life-blood). However, the modern city does not have walls and everything now is traded between the city and its hinterland and beyond. Hence, the ecological footprint of a city no longer coincides with its geographic footprint and ―Twentieth century cities are dependent for survival and growth on a vast and increasingly global hinterland of ecologically productive landscapes‖ (Rees, 2006). People living in London now may import strawberries from Spain, wheat from the USA, oil from Russia, soy from Paraguay, rice from Thailand and even durians from Malaysia. ―Cities necessarily appropriate the ecological output and life support functions of distant regions all over the world through commercial trade,‖ according to Rees (2006). Calculating a city‘s ecological footprint provides a rough measure of its natural resource requirements compared to available supply. Using Ree‘s formulation, the ecological footprint of London is approximately 19.7 million hectares, or about 125 times its geographic area. Rees estimates that the ecological footprint per capita is three hectares in Europe and four to five hectares in North America -- but, worldwide, only one-and-a-half hectares of productive land are available per person. Due to the nature of modern cities and the ease of imports and variations in labour costs, almost all cities are dependent on the outside (hinterland and beyond) for their survival. Hence, the footprints of cities cannot be calculated solely based on the demands within their geographical boundaries. Arguably, no city, with its vast size, limited resources and relatively huge population – could sustain itself at current consumption standards if forced by changing circumstances to live on domestic resources. Yet, cities must somehow innovate and sustain themselves through self-sufficiency in order to reduce their ecological footprints. As the world embraces sustainability and sustainable development, the model city is one that has the smallest of ecological footprints and idelaly ―carbon-neutral‖. This is the model that the world must now follow. Figure 7.6 shows the lights illumination from expanding cities around the globe, indicating the huge amounts of energy consumed by these cities, some of whom ―never sleeps‖. As rapid industrial growth and increasing living standards continue in developing nations, third world cities are creating their own ecological footprints. Tourism in cities is closely related to urban ecological foorprint. There is also growing interest in ecological footprint analysis in relation to the tourism industry in cities. This is because tourism is one of the world's largest industries and can play a major part in encouraging more consumerist lifestyles that impact upon their destinations. It is now widely accepted that tourism development have profound impacts on the environments of tourist destinations, and this can jeopardize sustainability and carrying capacities of the destinations (e.g. cities). However, the impact of tourism is not limited to the destination (city) area but has wide-spread impacts on the sustainability of locations outside the city that supply resources to the city. When food, water, energy and other resources used by the tourism industry need to be imported into the city, then not only is tourism unsustainable but it also jeopardizes the sustainability of the city and its hinterland. According to Hunter (2002), sustainable tourism studies rarely look beyond the destination area, and there has been no substantive recognition of the wider ecological footprint of tourism activities. Hence, Hunter (2002) has attempted to connect, conceptually, the realms of sustainable tourism and ecological footprint thinking, and found that the 'touristic ecological footprint' (TEF) is 47
significant to impact its destination and beyond. Calculating the TEF based on individual tourism products should be based on the product's entire life-cycle. Research on the TEF bridges tourism with ecology and the city (urban development and management). It brings another dimension to our understanding of tourism's actual ecological demand, whereby the concept of the touristic ecological footprint may be used to clarify theoretical aspects of the sustainable tourism (Hunter, 2002).
Figure 7.6: Lights from cities in the USA glow in the night as shown by this satellite image taken by the Suomi NPP satellite in 2012. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory/NOAA NGDC. Calculating One’s Ecological Footprint The writer Professor Ngai Weng Chan is considered a very environmentally-conscious person who practises recycling, water and energy saving and live a very basic consumptive lifestlye rather than an extravagant consumerist lifestyle. He is also on to a more vegetarian diet, though not completely. But when he punched in his lifestyle information into the ecological footprint calculator, he found that his ecological footprint was 4.63 global hectares, meaning that if everyone lived like him, we would need 2.6 planets (Earth) to support all the peoples‘ consumption in the world (Figure 7.7). At first, this sounded not correct as he is an environmentally-friendly and sensitized person. However, after examining his data, it was found that he travelled mostly by car, lived in a large-sized house, and usually go on holididays or long trips by plane. Chan‘s carbon foorprint is considered average, producing 4.27 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. This means Chan is an average polluter who contributes averagely to global warming (http://ecologicalfootprint.com/ Accessed 7 Aug 2015). The writer then punched in a hypothetical person X‘s lifestyle, someone who is not environmentallyfriendly and lives like a king in a large house, eats mostly meat , is a heavy car user (has manay large cars), seldom walks or cycles, does not recycle, and takes long-haul flights very regularly (Figure 7.8). It was found that X‘s ecological footprint was 15.3 global hectares, meaning that if everyone lived like him, 48
we would need 8.5 planets (Earth) to support all the peoples‘ consumption in the world. The carbon foorprint of X is very high, with X producing 18.86 tonnes of CO2 per year. This means X is a heavy polluter who contributes greatly to global warming. In contrast, the writer then punched in a hypothetical person Y‘s lifestyle, someone who is exceptionally environmentally-friendly and lives like a beggar in a small house developed with zero-emission alone, is a vegan (eats only vegetables) , does not own a car and walks or bicycle regularly, and does not take any holidays or flights. It was found that X‘s ecological footprint was 1.0 global hectares, meaning that if everyone lived like him, we would need only 0.6 planets (Earth) to support all the peoples‘ consumption in the world (Figure 7.9). This means there are 0.4 planets still available to produce the needs of another 40 % increase in population (i.e. people who live the same way as Y). The carbon footprint of Y is very low, with Y producing only 1.35 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. This means Y is almost a non-polluter who contributes very minimally to global warming. Clearly, not everyone can live like Y nor is everyone as extravagant as X. People need to find the balance between these two extremes, perhaps leaning more towards Y than X.
Figure 7.7: Ecological footprint of Ngai Weng http://ecologicalfootprint.com/ Accessed 7 Aug 2015).
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Chan
in
August
2015
(Source:
Figure 7.8: Ecological footprint of a person living in a highly developed country based on the most extravagant lifestyle in August 2015 (Source: http://ecologicalfootprint.com/ Accessed 7 Aug 2015).
Figure 7.9: Ecological footprint of a person living in a least developed country based on a very basic lifestyle with no luxuries in August 2015 (Source: http://ecologicalfootprint.com/ Accessed 7 Aug 2015). Conclusion There are no two ways about ecological footprint. The moment we consume resources, we are making footprints. The point is not to make excessive footprints that are beyond earths biocapacity. There are many ways to reduce one‘s ecological footprint, or that of the city‘s. Sustainable tourism in cities can help reduce the city‘s ecological footprint. Tourism in cities has carrying capacities that need to be controlled. Another effective way is to change the way we use energy in the home and in our city. Consumers should only use energy efficient light bulbs (e.g. LED lightbulbs), and switch off all electric devices when not in use. People should use a gas stove, a more efficient fridge, a water saving washing machine, or install a solar-heater. At the city level, city authorities should invest in automatic-sensor operated street lights, use LED bulbs, use solar-operated bulbs and street signs, encourage green buildings, install rainfall harvesting system, and have a year-round energy saving campaign. The city should also build solar panels for public car parks, traffic lights, and install renewable energy (solar, windmills and wave energy). People should use public transport, car-pool, ride a bicycle or walk more. 50
Buy products that are locally produced to reduce the amount of energy wasted in transportation from distant locations to the supermarket. Air-freighted products should be avoided at all costs. In addition to being better for the environment, buying local products also supports the local economy. The city should build an efficient public transportation systems to reduce car usage. Citybuses and taxis should all be run on natural gas in NGVs. People can also adopt the 3R lifestyle and change their consumerist lifestyle to a more basic one. For example, they can live in a smaller house and share a house with more people (for singles). Changing one‘s diet from a meat-based diet to a vegetarian-based diet can siginificantly reduce carbon and methane emissions. People can fly less often as well since commercial airplanes produce a huge amount of carbon dioxide emissions. People and cities should make changes towards greater sustainability and footprint reduction. Whether the individual or the city make small or large changes, they will all make a difference. Following others or other cities‘ success, or showing others (if one has been successful) how easy it is will also encourage people to explore ways to reduce their own ecological footprints. Cities and people can make a positive difference in reducing the ecological footprint and conserve the total amount of resources available on Earth, towards arriving at a sustainable future. Questions to Ponder 1. What is your individual ecological footprint? How can you reduce your ecological footprint? 2. What is your city‘s ecological footprint? How can your city reduce its ecological footprint? Acknowledgements: The authors would like to acknowledge the funding from Kementerian Pendidikan Tinggi‘s Long Term Fundamental Grant Scheme (LRGS), Account Number 304/PPBGN/650570/T121. References Favro, T. (2015) A city‘s ecological footprint bears no comparison to its actual area (http://www.citymayors.com/environment/footprint.html Accessed 7 Aug 2015) http://ecologicalfootprint.com/ (Accessed 7 Aug 2015). http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33133712 (Accessed 7 Aug 2015). http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/footprint_basics_overview/ (Acc 7 Aug 2015). Hunter, C. (2002) Sustainable Tourism and the Touristic Ecological Footprint. Environment, Development and Sustainability 2002, Volume 4 (1): 7-20. Rees, W.E. (2006) "Ecological Footprints and Bio-Capacity: Essential Elements in Sustainability Assessment." Chapter 9 in Jo Dewulf and Herman Van Langenhove (eds) Renewables-Based Technology: Sustainability Assessment, pp. 143–158. Chichester, UK: John Wiley and Sons. Wackernagel, M. (1994) Ecological Footprint and Appropriated Carrying Capacity: A Tool for Planning Toward Sustainability. PhD thesis. Vancouver, Canada: The University of British Columbia. Wackernagel, M. and W. Rees (1996) Our Ecological Footprint: Reducing Human Impact on the Earth. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers. Wackernagel et al. 2006. The Ecological Footprint of cities and regions; Comparing resource availability with resource demand. Environment and Urbanization 18(1): 103–112. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ 51
CHAPTER 8
SUSTAINABILITY
Chern Wern Hong Rapid development and globalization have left no corner of the world untouched. However, the benefits of development are often more than offset by environmental degradation, social inequities, economic imbalances, cultural impoverishment and poverty. Over the last half century or so, there has been increasing debate about the impacts of rapid development. While the international consensus is that development has to be sustainable to ensure a future for humanity, the definitions, strategies and implementation of reaching the goals of sustainable development is still highly debatable. The most famous and widely used definition of Sustainable development is "Development which meets the needs of the present without endangering the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" (United ation's World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future. 1987). This implies that environmental and social considerations have to constitute an integral part of the development process. The UNDP Human Development Report has consistently defined the basic objective of development as enlarging people's choices. At the heart of this concept are three essential components: (i) Equality of opportunity for all people in society; (ii) Sustainability of such opportunities from one generation to the next; and (iii) Empowerment of people so that they participate in"- and benefit from the development processes. (Human Development Report 1995. UNDP. Delhi 1995). In view of the global environment crisis, the Earth Summit was convened in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. As a result the Agenda 21, a blueprint for global partnership was agreed to by 179 states. Principle 1 of the Rio Declaration states that "Human beings are at the centre of concerns for sustainable development. They are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature". These all sound very good but whether sustainable development has been achieved or not in many parts of the world is debatable. Sustainability is a complex concept. Sustainability is simply defined as the ability to sustain or support from any kind of irreversible negative environmental impacts or effects. For example, in ecological aspect, sustainability is about the productivity and diversity in a system with the ability to reproduce to sustain and support in the long period (James et al., 2015). However in this sustainable urban development topic, sustainability is being used in the human context via increasing human population against the finite Earth resources (carrying capacity). This has also resulted in sustainability to be quoted in the sustainable development concept as defined in the Brundtland Report 1980. Without sustainable development, sustainability will not be achieved. Figure 8.1 illustrates the relationship between the "three pillars of sustainability", in which both economy and society are constrained by environmental limits.
Figure 8.1: A diagram indicating the relationship between the three pillars of sustainability , in which both economy and society are constrained by environmental limits (Source: Scoot Cato, 2009) 52
The three pillars of sustainability are encompassed by environmental sustainability which serves to indicate that environment is all-encompassing as the main pillar around social sustainability and economic sustainability. Environmental sustainability literally means living within the means of Earth‘s finite natural resources. This means sustainable consumption in raw materials such fuels, water, etc. without compromising the material scarcity and possible irreversible damage that might be inflicted on the environment upon extraction of such raw materials. The World Economic Forum (2016) has released a report on key sustainability issues and ‗resource scarcity‘ has emerged and ranked no.4 in the world. Economic sustainability means any country‘s business or industry is require to use its resources or imported resources efficiently in order to produce sustainable long term profit and at the same time does not result any or minimal impact on the environment. In return, the impact must be able to be rectified via environmental remediation. Social sustainability is the ability of any social system to achieve and maintain quality social life without compromising the Earth‘s environment through sustainable consumption and sustainable economy. Impact on Sustainability Major driver of human impact on Earth‘s sustainability is the reckless overconsumption of Earth‘s natural resources, which is also relative to the carrying capacity of the Earth. A formula known as ‗I PAT‘ is used to describe human consumption in terms of three components, which are ‗population‘, ‗affluence‘ and ‗technology‘ (Ehrlich and Holden, 1974). The formula can be expressed via the following equation: I=PxAxT Where: I = Environmental impact, P = Population, A = Affluence, T = Technology This equation describes on the environmental Impact of human consumption formulation via total number of human Population, level of consumption (Affluence) and efficiency of current Technology. For example, increase of population will lead to increases land use, resource use and in return will increase waste production. Waste production if left untreated will lead to pollution. In terms of affluence, the case of mobility (car) can be taken as an example. As human desire for mobility, more cars have been produced which consumes more raw materials as the car production increases. Efficiency of current technology could reduce or increase the environmental impact of car production such as green technology in reducing fuel emission and greenhouse gases, increasing efficiency in raw material processing and energy consumption in car production thus slowly moving towards utilization of recycled iron materials and renewable energy in production thus reducing the consumption of new raw materials.. This ‗I PAT‘ can also be linked with the life cycle assessment concept of ‗cradle to grave‘, which emphasizes on carbon and water footprint. According to the 2008 Revision of the official United Nations, world population estimated to exceed 9 billion people by 2050. Most of the increase will be in developing countries whose population is projected to rise from 5.6 billion in 2009 to 7.9 billion in 2050 (UNDESA, 2009). The world population hit the 7 billion mark in the year 2012, which is just 0.9 billion short of the year 2050 projection. Some examples of Sustainability in relation to cities Since Rio 1992, Agenda 21 states that sustainable development is principally the responsibility of 53
governments who must adopt national policies, plans and strategies. Many governments and cities/municipalities have responded to this commitment resulting in many national and local governments implementing their own Local Agenda 21 on sustainability. After Rio 1992, the Habitat II Conference in Istanbul 1996 addressed the deteriorating quality of life in human settlements all over the world. Local authorities, the private sector, non-governmental organisations and parliamentarians were called upon to become partners in the implementation of the Habitat Agenda which urges adequate shelter for all and sustainable human settlements development in an urbanizing world. In Penang, Malaysia, the Sustainable Penang Initiative (SPI) was born in 1997. The SPI is inspired by "Sustainable Seattle", a community indicators project which was showcased as Best Practice at Habitat II. Similar projects have since been tried out in many cities in Europe and America. many of them spearheaded by the Local Councils or citizens' groups. In Asia, the Sustainable Penang Initiative is probably the first full-fledged community indicators project of its kind (Socio-economic & Environmental Research Institute, 1999). While Sustainable Seattle is properly a city-level initiative, the Sustainable Penang Initiative is a state-level exercise conducted by the state government's newly established think tank, the Socio-Economic and Environmental Research Institute (SERI). Beginning in August 1997 and launched in November 1997 by the Penang Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon. The pilot phase of the Sustainable Penang Initiative took place over almost two years. During this period, the Penang State government was also finalizing the Penang Environmental Conservation Strategy, the Penang State Economic Planning Unit was conducting an Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project, the Department of Town and Country Planning was coordinating the Review of the Structure Plans of the two municipal councils of Penang State (Socio-economic & Environmental Research Institute, 1999). All these started the sustainable development agenda in Penang State. In Georgetown city, many sustainable initiatives such as Water watch Penang (a sustainable water resources management initiative), STEP Sustainable Transport Environment Penang and SILA Sustainable, Independent Living & Access were formed. In terms of sustainability, the SPI had identified 5 areas of sustainability: (i) Ecological Sustainability; (ii) Social Justice; (iii) Economic Productivity; (iv) Cultural Vibrancy; and (v) Popular Participation. Carrying Capacity According to Garver (2011), scientific data have indicated that humans are living beyond the carrying capacity of planet Earth. In the context of population biology, carrying capacity can be defined as the environment‘s maximum load to provide for human population (Hui, 2006). In laymen‘s term, we are consuming at the rate of more than 1 Earth (see Chapter 7 on Ecological Footprint). The Way Forward To control the current rate of consumption, economic growth must be regulated to conserve resources and energy. According to Arima (2009), emerging economies such as China and India, which are contributing to rising consumption of resources and energy, are serious threats to global sustainability. Developing countries pursuing growth must not repeat the environmental errors, which were committed by developed nations in the past decade. Instead, both developed and developing nations must cooperate in conserving natural resources, developing and sharing environmental technology. This cooperation can be implemented to pave way towards ‗smart city‘ development. Smart city can be defined by Caragliu et al. (2009) as: ―Safe, secure, environmental and efficient urban center of the future with advanced infrastructures such as sensors, electronic devices and networks to stimulate sustainable economic growth and a high quality of life.‖
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Stimulating sustainable growth and high quality of life means reducing and controlling resource consumption via environmental technology. Citizen and community engagement can also be performed to provide education in sustainable development. For example, one aspect of smart cities is to initiate with ‗zero energy building‘. The term ‗building‘ can be our own houses, office-buildings, factories etc. Zero energy buildings (ZEBs) as described by Kylili and Fokaides (2015) are buildings that produces zero carbon emissions on an annual basis, which can be achieved via reduction of energy demand. This reduction strategy can be done via renewable energy technology, green building design, utilization of eco energy product etc. The ZEB principle is expected to contribute significantly towards the achievement of the future smart cities. This could be achieved via regulatory framework as shown similarly on Figure 8.2.
Figure 8.2: ZEB Aspects as Integral Part of Smart Cities (Kylili and Fokaides, 2015) Alternatively, government can play a role on development of renewable energy technology to offset the nation‘s energy demand. For example, the Danish government has managed to produce 116% of its national electricity needs from wind turbines alone in the year 2015. During reduction of energy demand, the figure had risen to a whopping 140% (The Guardian, 2015). With that amount of surplus, there is also sufficient supply of energy security. Another integral part of developing a smart city is to develop the smart transportation (see Chapter 27 and Chapter 28). Smart transportation should include effective and efficient public transportation plan that contributes toward minimal carbon emission. This could be done via developing mass public transport such as electric train, buses that consumes renewable energy or biodiesel. Enforcing only fuel efficient or green mobile private transport or campaigning on using bicycles are also possible. Kuala Lumpur has kick-off the nation‘s first car sharing programme around the city called ‗Cohesive Mobility Solution (COMOS) electric vehicle car-sharing programme‘ (Lee, 2015). The objective of this programme is to provide mobility solution that promotes sustainable transportation and thus reducing the CO 2 emission, reducing fuel consumption as well as reducing traffic congestion in selected traffic hot spots.
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Apart from that, efficient solid waste management is also one of the most important factors in realizing smart cities. According to solid waste management hierarchy, disposal of solid waste is the least preferred option followed by energy recovery and engaging the 3R concept, which is ‗reuse, recycle and reduce‘ the generation of solid waste (Figure 8.3). This ultimate aim aligns with the umbrella term sustainable consumption that minimizes consumption of new raw materials, energy and waste creation cum disposal. Prevention of waste disposal can be realized through resource circulation. Resource circulation promotes reusing and recycling of disposed parts and to turn them into new products. Product design is crucial in this part to ensure easy ‗break-up‘ of different parts for ease of separation. For example, a water bottle consists of the bottle cap, the plastic wrapper and the bottle itself. Different parts should be separated easily due to differences of types of plastics. Inter-city and international cooperation are also possible towards resource circulation such as recycling technology transfer. For example, developed nation such as Japan has the recycling technology for lithium battery. Countries without such technology could forge a partnership on such waste collection to be sent to Japan.
Figure 8.3: Solid Waste Management Hierarchy Conclusion The integral aspects of smart cities such as zero energy buildings, smart transportation system and sustainable solid waste management can only be implemented and achieved by addressing the human aspect. Education for sustainable development (ESD) plays a crucial role in developing a smart city. For example, programmes such as 3R campaigns cannot be simply introduced without educating them the reason and importance of the campaigns (Arima, 2009). Above all, strong political-will is needed for continuous effort towards implementing these sustainable development strategies. Achieving sustainable development will lead to sustainability, which will enable the Earth to continue supporting human life (see also Chapter 2 Sustainable Cities and Chapter 3 Eco-cities). Questions to Ponder (1) Is sustainability an important aspect of your city? What are your city‘s sustainability aspects? (2) What components of sustainability is unique in your city and why? (3) With reference to your local city, identify the incidence of flash floods. What are the causes? (4) Is sustainability achievable in your city? What are the implementation plans? 56
(5) Describe how your city can be designed to be more sustainable. (6) What is sustainable drainage? Why do developers and the public shy away from using sustainable drainage? How can the city encourage sustainable drainage? References Arima, A. (2009) A plea for more education for sustainable development. Sustainability Science, 4, 3–5. Caragliu, A., Del Bo, C., & Nijkamp, P. (2009) Smart cities in Europe. Vrije Universiteit. Faculty of Economics and Business Administration (https://ideas.repec.org/p/vua/wpaper/2009–48.html Accessed on 6 June 2015). Ehrlich, P.R. and Holden, J.P. (1974) Human Population and the global environment. American Scientist, 62(3): 282–292. Garver, G. (2011) ―A Framework for Novel and Adaptive Governance Approaches Based on Planetary Boundaries" Colorado State University, Colorado Conference on Earth System Governance, 17–20 May 2011 (http://cc2011.earthsystemgovernance.org/pdf/2011Colora_0110.pdf Accessed 6 Jun 2015). Hui, C. (2006) Carrying capacity, population equilibrium, and environment's maximal load. Ecological Modelling, 192: 317–320. James, P., Magee, L., Scerri, A., Steger, M.B. (2015) Urban Sustainability in Theory and Practice: Circles of Sustainability. London. Kylili, A. and Fokaides, P.A. (2015) European smart cities: The role of zero energy buildings. Sustainable Cities and Society, 15, 86–95. Lee, J. (2015) ―COMOS EV car-sharing service launched: 10 locations in Klang Valley, 1st year membership promo at RM50‖ Dated 30 May 2015 (http://paultan.org/2015/05/30/comos-ev-car-sharingservice-launched/ Accessed on 8 July 2015). Scott Cato, M. (2009) Green Economics. London: Earthscan, pp. 36–37. Socio-economic & Environmental Research Institute (1999) The sustainable Penang initiative: People’s Report 1999. Penang: Socio-economic & Environmental Research Institute. McKinsey & Company (2013) How to make a city great (http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/urbanization/how_to_make_a_city_great Accessed on 8 July 2015). United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (UNDESA) (2009) "World Population Prospects: The 2008 Revision." The Guardian (2015) ―Denmark Windfarm Power Exceed Electricity Demand‖ Dated: 10 July 2015 (http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jul/10/denmark-wind-windfarm-power-exceedelectricity-demand Accessed on 15 July 2015). World Economic Forum (2016) Global Trends: Scarcity of Resources (http://reports.weforum.org/globalagenda-survey-2012/trends/scarcity-of-resources/ Accessed on 12 June 2016). @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ 57
CHAPTER 9
RESILIENCY
Ngai Weng Chan, Ta Wee Seow and Chun Kiat Chang Introduction The term ―Resilience‖ in physics refer to ...‖the ability or power to return to the original form, position, etc., after being bent, compressed, or stretched. In social science terms, resilience refers to the ability to recover readily from illness, depression, adversity, or the like. Hence, the greater one‘s ability to recover rapidly, the greater is one‘s resilience. One may be highly resilient when it comes to recovering from physical illness (e.g. fever) but at the same time, the same person may be of very low resilience when it comes to recoving from mental stress (e.g. losing a loved one). In terms of an ecosystem, resilience may be described as the capacity of the ecosystem to tolerate disturbance without collapsing into a qualitatively different state that is controlled by a different set of processes. A resilient ecosystem is strong as it can not only withstand shocks but can rebuild itself quickly, to return to its original state before the shocks occurred. Likewise, the concept of resilience can be applied in social systems such as a city disaster response system. Such a system is used to enhance sustainability when the capacity of humans to anticipate, respond to and recover from the disaster is achieved. Other than disaster management, resilience can be applied in many areas as humans are part of the natural world. Humans depend on ecological systems for survival and humans continuously impact the ecosystems in which they live at various scales from the local to national and global. Resilience is a property of these linked socialecological systems (SES). Hence, resilience is defined as ―.... the ability to absorb disturbances, to be changed and then to re-organise and still have the same identity (retain the same basic structure and ways of functioning). It includes the ability to learn from the disturbance. A resilient system is forgiving of external shocks.‖ (Source: The Resilience Alliance,http://www.resalliance.org/ Accessed 8 Aug 2015).
When "Resilience" is applied to ecosystems, or to integrated systems of people and the natural environment, it has three defining characteristics: (i) The amount of change the system can undergo and still retain the same controls on function and structure; (ii) The degree to which the system is capable of self-organization; and (iii) The ability to build and increase the capacity for learning and adaptation" (Source: http://www.resalliance.org/ Accessed 8 Aug 2015). ―A resilient system is a flexible and dynamic system capable of adaptation, recovery and change. A resilient system acknowledges that environmental change is constantly occurring and that a system must adapt to such changes or perish. A resilient individual or species is one that can withstand changes and survives, even thrives on changes. It is much the same as the strongest species survive in ―survival of the strongest‖ as in the theorey of evolution. Recognising the importance of resilience, many fields have adopted this concept, including the management of cities. A resilient city is one that thrives on changes, one that can adapt to and recover from the most serious challenges thrown at it. Resilience thinking is a new way of looking at how the natural world we are changing and the man-made world we have built, are reconciled. Humans change the environment and create environmental hazards. So humans must adapt to the changes and use them to its advantage to survive. A resilient system has the capacity to absorb disturbance and reorganize while undergoing change, maintains its basic structure and still able to perform essentially most of its basic functions (Walker et al, 2004).
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What is a Resilient City? In terms of cities, ―A Resilient City is one that has developed capacities to help absorb future shocks and stresses to its social, economic, and technical systems and infrastructures so as to still be able to maintain essentially the same functions, structures, systems, and identity.‖ (Source: http://www.resilientcity.org/ Accessed 8 Aug 2015). To make cities resilient, a group of non-profit network of planners, urban designers, architects, designers, engineers and landscape architects has formed ResilientCity.org whose mission is to develop creative, practical, and implementable planning and design strategies that help increase the capacity for resilience of our communities and cities to the future shocks and stresses associated with climate change, environmental degradation, resource shortages, in the context of global population growth and migration. To show that the group lives up to what it preaches, i.e. making resilient cities that evolve and change with changing situations and environment, the group that created ResilientCity.org has developed the Symbiotic Cities Network website (www.SymbioticCities.net Accessed 8 Aug 2015). Although the aims are very much the same between the two, the Symbiotic Cities Network’s (SCN) mission is ―to convene discussion, connect individuals and organizations, and initiate projects and explorations to develop ideas that will help facilitate the human species’ transition from its current pathological parasitic relationship with the planet towards a regenerative, mutualistic, and symbiotic relationship with the natural systems that support life on earth. The network of contributors to this website aim to explore new ideas in regenerative urban planning, design, engineering technology, and policy which both recognize that we are dependent on, and embedded within our environment, and provide possible opportunities for our cities to become positive rather than negative ecological contributors. For example, the SCN has implemented the Manifestations for a City, a project whereby the city builds resilience by re-establishing the relationship between people, natural system and the urban water ecosystem of Nagpur city.―Manifestations for a city‖ introduces new water ecosystem proposed as per the existing water system of the city and zone level urban design interventions. In natural world, opportunities for novelty are most abundant when systems re-organize. With some resilience thinking, one can see water abundant lakes and networks coming up in vacant plots, along side roads controlling the overall fabric of the city‖(http://www.resilientcity.org/ Accessed 8 Aug 2015). Despite their vulnerability with huge populations within a small confined space, and the densely built-up infrastructures and properties, a city can be highly resilient in facing hazards and disasters, and can recover swiftly with effective strategies when faced with environmental hazards (e.g. floods or droughts). However, if a city is highly vulnerable but of low resilience, then it will fail to address such hazards and disasters and be destroyed. It will fail to recover quickly enough and may endure a long spell of reconstruction and recovery. For example, Kobe was hit by a huge earthquake but because of its strong resilience, it recovered very quickly. In contrast, New Orleans is not a resileint city and Katrina exposed all its vulnerabilities and condemned it to a long spell of reconstruction and recovery. Other than environmental disasters, cities need to begin to explore effective strategies for developing greater capacities for resilience to the future impacts of both climate change and energy efficiency. ―City Resilience‖ is an umbrella term for the planning and design strategies needed in order to ensure cities develop the necessary capacity to meet the challenges of changing future scenarios (e.g. climate change). In the near future, cities need to build greater capacities for greater resilience and develop more innovative strategies to cope with future shocks and stresses to their communities and urban infrastructures as climate change strikes. Future cites need to find ways to significantly reduce their dependence on fossil fuels, i.e. to find innovative and inexpensive ways to become more self-sufficient and energy efficient. A city‘s resilience is not only measured in terms of disaster management but also in the way it reduces its carbon and ecological footprint, and effective urban planning and green building designs should be vital in building a city‘s capacity for greater resilience. With human ingenuity and commitment, cities can learn to better respond and better adapt to all the imminent challenges of environmental, economic and social change. To be more resilient, cities have little choice but to adopt the 59
green economy as suggested by the Rio +20 conference, and to transform their fossil-fuel dependent economic systems into renewable energy systems that are much less carbon-intensive. The ideal case would be a city that is carbon-neutral. This seems to be a far away unreachable goal, but if cities start now, they will always have a good chance. City planning and design experts will need to discover new innovations, new paradigms, new technologies, new energies, new services, new economic models, and much more to ensure we increase the resilient capacities of our cities. Example of a Climate Change Resilient City If humans are to survive the onslaught of climate change in the future, cities where they live need to be very resilient. This is because the less resilient a city is, the more vulnerable it is to the impacts of climate change. The greater the impacts, the harder hit will be the city inhabitants. The climate resilient city is one that is low in terms of its "vulnerability" to climate change, but high in its "adaptive capacity" (i.e. the city‘s ability to react and responds positively). For example, a low vulnerability with high adaptive capacity will produce a resilient city, and vice versa. Based on this, the top three cities in North America are Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary in Canada, with Chicago and Pittsburgh in fourth and fifth places, respectively (http://www.fastcoexist.com/3029442/the-10-most-resilient-cities-in-the-world Accessed 9 Aug 2016). The above rankings are based on five categories of vulnerability (climate, environment, resources, infrastructure, and community) and five categories of adaptability (governance, institutions, technical capacity, planning systems, and funding structures). "Resources," for example, means a city's access to energy, food, and water. "Funding structures" covers the ability to borrow and tap into national and international money. (http://www.fastcoexist.com/3029442/the-10-most-resilient-cities-in-the-world Accessed 9 Aug 2016). Toronto (Photograph 9.1) is our example of a climate resilient city. In peeparation to combat climate change, Toronto has a City's Climate Change Action Plan that is followed by a Climate Adaptation Strategy. It has a plan of action named ―Ahead of the Storm: Preparing Toronto for Climate Change‖, which outlined a number of actions that will improve the City's resilience to climate change and extreme weather events. The City Council has also adopted two climate change resilience reports, viz. Resilient City: Preparing for Extreme Weather Events and Resilient City - Preparing for a Changing Climate in December 2013 and July 2014, respectively. This highlights the City's committed efforts towards creating a more resilient Toronto towards climate change (http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=78cfa84c9f6e1410VgnVCM10000071d60f89 RCRD Accessed 9 Aug 2016). Toronto has also developed its own climate change risk assessment tool (process and software). The most important benefit of the tool is that City service and infrastructure providers will be better able to identify and mitigate climate change-related risks and take action to reduce the impact of severe weather on infrastructure and key services. This will help avoid significant costs and service disruptions that could harm citizens, business operations, and the natural environment in the city. Climate change risk assessments in the city have been conducted in two divisions: (i) Transportation Services and Shelter, Support and Housing Administration; and (ii) A Resilient City Working Group. Some of Toronto‘s climate resilience adaptive actions are outstanding. For example, the City, residents and businesses are taking action to make the city‘s buildings and infrastructures more resilient to extreme weather and improve the city's overall sustainability, including the following: (i) Planting more trees to increase shade, clean and cool the air and reduce the urban heat island phenomenon; (ii) Increasing the size of storm sewers and culverts to handle greater volumes of runoff to avoid flash flooding; (iii) Proactive pruning of trees to reduce damage to property and electrical power lines during wind storms; (iv) Increasing the inspection and maintenance of culverts on a regular basis and especially after storm events; (v) Using rain barrels to reduce runoff and capture rainwater for reuse; (vi) Installing permeable surfaces (rather than asphalt, for example) to reduce runoff from heavy rainfalls, also to control floods; (vii) Landscaping with drought-resistant plants to reduce water demands; (viii) Changing the slope of the 60
land at the lot level to direct runoff away from property that can be damaged by excess surface water; (ix) Installation of basement backflow preventers and window well guards to reduce flooding risks; (x) Using cool/reflective materials on the roofs of homes and buildings to reduce the urban heat island effect; (xi) Changing some city workers' uniforms to lighter colours during the summer months; and (xii) Health programs such as West Nile, Lyme Disease, Cooling Centres, Smog Alerts and the Air Quality Index (http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=78cfa84c9f6e1410VgnVCM10000071d60f89 RCRD Accessed 9 Aug 2016).
Photograph 9.1: Toronto, a climate resilient city (Source: http://www.helitours.ca/tours/helitour1/ Accessed 9 Aug 2016). Conclusion In order to help cities become more resilient, the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) produced a report in September 2012 which show-cased to provide a global snapshot of local-level resilience building activities and identify trends in the perceptions and approaches of local governments toward disaster risk reduction, using the Ten Essentials for Making Cities Resilient developed by the Making Cities Resilient Campaign as a framework. This report also analyses the factors that enable urban disaster risk reduction activities, including how the Campaign has helped improve local knowledge of disaster risk and support capacity building. The report is divided into five chapters, featuring a combination of analysis of cities' resilience activities and short stories from cities on good practice in urban disaster risk reduction. Chapters one and two draw conclusions on the core building blocks and enabling factors for urban resilience and the Campaign's role in driving disaster risk reduction awareness and action. Chapter three identifies key trends in resilience building at local level. Chapter four reviews cities' activities against the Ten Essentials developed by the Campaign. In a look toward the future, Chapter five proposes ideas to measure cities' progress and performance as they embark on a path toward strengthening their resilience to natural hazards and more extreme climatic events (United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) (2012). Whether a city survives the challenges of the future would depend on its resilience. To this end, a self-sufficient and sustainable city would be very resilient to face the challenges of the future.
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Questions to ponder 1. What are the environmental disasters affecting your city and how resilient is your city against environmental disasters? 2. What are the economic stresses affecting your city and how resilient is your city against them? 3. What are the societal problems confronting your city and how resilient is your city against them? 4. How resilient is your city against climate change? 5. How green is your city? What are the challenges confronting your city against building a green economy? Acknowledgements: The authors would like to acknowledge the Fundamental Research Grant (FRGS) from Ministry of Education titled ―Effects of Floods on Human Society and the Role of Social Capital in Recovery in Malaysia‖, Account Number 203/PHUMANITI/6711393. References Walker, B., Holling, C.S., Carpenter and Kinzig, A. (2004) ‗Resilience, Adaptability and Transformability in Social-ecological Systems‘, Ecology and Society 9 (2) p. 5). http://www.fastcoexist.com/3029442/the-10-most-resilient-cities-in-the-world (Accessed 9 Aug 2016). http://www.helitours.ca/tours/helitour1/ (Accessed 9 Aug 2016). http://www.resalliance.org/ (Accessed 8 Aug 2015). http://www.resilientcity.org/ (Accessed 8 Aug 2015). http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=78cfa84c9f6e1410VgnVCM10000071d60f89 RCRD (Accessed 9 Aug 2016). United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) (2012) Making Cities Resilient Report 2012. A global snapshot of how local governments reduce disaster risk. ISBN: 978-92-1-132036-7
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CHAPTER 10
THE CLIMATE SYSTEM OF THE EARTH
Ranjan Roy Introduction: Climate Change and Public Health The health of human populations is sensitive to shifts in weather patterns and other aspects of climate change such as changes in temperature and precipitation and occurrence of heat waves, floods and droughts (see Chpater 11). For instance, the ratio of summer to winter deaths in Australia increased between 1968 and 2010, in association with rising annual average temperatures (Bennett et al., 2013). In addition to their implications for climate change, essentially all the important climate-altering pollutants (CAPs) (e.g., black carbon and tropospheric ozone) other than CO 2 have near-term health implications. CAPs are gases and particles released from human activities that affect the climate either directly or indirectly. Smith et al. (2014) predicted that the major changes in ill health will occur due to climate change: (i) Greater risk of injury, disease, and death due to more intense heat waves and fires; (ii) Increased risks of food- and water-borne diseases and vector-borne diseases; (iii) Consequences for health of lost work capacity and reduced labor productivity in vulnerable populations; (iv) Modest reductions in cold-related mortality and morbidity in some areas due to fewer cold extremes and geographical shifts in food production, and reduced capacity of disease-carrying vectors due to exceedance of thermal thresholds. The flagship report of the IPCC has stipulated three basic pathways by which climate change affects health (see Smith et al., 2014): (i) Direct impacts, which relate primarily to changes in the frequency of extreme weather including heat, drought, and heavy rain; (ii) Effects mediated through natural systems, for example, disease vectors, water-borne diseases, and air pollution; and (iii) Effects heavily mediated by human systems, for instance, occupational impacts, under-nutrition, and mental stress. Climate change and increasing risks of Malaria and Dengue fever Many studies reported that the incidence of vector-borne diseases (VBDs) such as malaria dengue fever has a significant association with the occurrence and sensitivity to climatic factors (Altizer et al., 2013; Bhatt et al., 2013). VBDs refer most commonly to infections transmitted by the bite of blood-sucking arthropods such as mosquitoes or ticks (e.g., insects). According to the 2007-2008 Human Development Report, increases in rainfall, temperature and humidity will favour the spread of malaria-transmitting mosquitoes over a wider range and to higher altitudes. Observing diseases incidence, it is now rather clear that a major public health threat is coming from the vector-borne diseases that depend on temperature and on humidity (Smith et al., 2014) (see Chapter 32 and Chapter 33). Dengue (also known as breakbone fever) is a systemic viral infection transmitted between humans by Aedes mosquitoes (see Figure 10.1). It is the most rapidly spreading mosquito-borne viral disease, showing a 30-fold increase in global incidence over the past 50 years (WHO, 2013). Three quarters of the people exposed to dengue are in the Asia-Pacific region, but many other regions are affected also. The disease is associated with climate on spatial (Beebe, 2009) and spatiotemporal (Lai, 2011) scales. For instance, temperature, humidity, and rainfall are positively associated with dengue incidence in Guangzhou, China, and wind velocity is inversely associated with rates of the disease (Li et al., 2011). A study in Dhaka, Bangladesh reported that at the time of extreme rainfall, high humidity, and water pooling, increased rates of admissions to hospital due to dengue with both high and low river levels (Hashizume and Dewan, 2012). In some circumstances, it is apparent that heavy precipitation favours the spread of dengue fever, but drought can also be a cause if households store water in containers that provide suitable mosquito breeding sites (Beebe et al., 2009). 63
Figure 10.1: An Aedes aegypti mosquito that carries dengue virus. Dengue incidences are increasingly recorded at the different places in the world side by side of adverse climatic events, for instance, sea level rise. Literatures (e.g., Fullerton et al., 2014) state that (i) changes to climate could result in increased exposure and pose a serious threat to areas that do not currently experience endemic dengue and (ii) as the planet warms dengue could spread to large parts of Europe and mountainous regions of South America which are too cold currently to sustain mosquito populations yearround. Table 10.1 states the association between different climatic drivers and the global prevalence and geographic distribution of mosquito-borne diseases. Table 10.1: Relationships between climatic drivers and the global prevalence and geographic distribution of mosquito-borne diseases Cases per Climate sensitivity and Disease Area Key references year confidence in climate effect Mainly Africa, About 220 Temperature, Precipitation, Malaria Omumbo et al. (2011) South East Asia million and Humidity 100 countries, About 50 Temperature, Precipitation, Dengue Beebe (2009) esp. Asia Pacific million and Humidity Mitigation and adaptation from a public health viewpoint There is no vaccine available against dengue, and there are no specific medications to treat a dengue infection. This makes prevention the most important step, and prevention means avoiding mosquito bite f you live or travel to a sensitive and an epidemic area. Anthropogenic activities affect the climate. Activities related to a public health and public health policies can substantially contribute to mitigation to climate change. Mitigation activities are largely targeted to minimise the concentration of climate-altering pollutants such as black carbon sulphates. Some mitigative measures are stated below: Reduction of co-pollutants (e.g., particulate matter, sulphate particles and carbon monoxide) from household solid fuel combustion that brings health benefits (potentially reduce exposures that are associated with disease, chronic and acute respiratory illnesses) and benefits for climate, i.e., reduces climate altering pollutants emissions associated with household solid fuel use including CO 2 and CH4;
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Reduction of greenhouse gases and associated co-pollutants from industrial sources that minimise reductions in health-damaging co-pollutant emissions and maximise benefits for climate such as reductions in emissions of CO2 and black carbon; Healthy low greenhouse gas emission diets, which can have beneficial effects on a range of health outcomes; Increase in urban and rural green space, planting trees and increasing afforestations; Decrease meat consumption (especially from ruminants) and substitute low-carbon healthy alternatives; and Invest on an alternative transport system such as bicycling and walking particularly in urban areas.
Adaptation to current and imminent climate risks is indispensable to protect health. Some adaptive measures are mentioned below that are mainly dealt with building socio-economic resilience of individuals, communities and organisations: Improving basic public health and health care services such as enhancing disease surveillance, monitoring environmental exposures, and improving disaster risk management; Strengthening health adaptation policies and measures to develop dedicated institutional scaffoldings for effective and efficient assessment, communication and coordination between human health and other sectors; Developing an effective and efficient early warning system including forecasting weather conditions associated with increased morbidity or mortality and predicting possible health outcomes; Creating mass awareness programmes on basic health management systems in the changing climate, seizing the opportunities of social media and mass media; Offering iterative learning programmes on climate sensitive diseases such as malaria, dengue diarrhea and cholera for vulnerable populations such as women, children and ethnic communities; Strengthening the resilience of health systems/sectors to handle with extreme weather events, e.g., droughts, heat waves and floods; and Reducing poverty, improving food security, developing community knowledge, building social assets and spurring social transformation. Conclusion The earth‘s climate system is highly variable. Human activities exacerbate this variability to the extreme. Whether or not a city is able to adapt to climate change will determine its survival. More than focusing on adaptation to climate change in order to save the city, city planners must strive to reduce the city‘s impact on the climate. The best way to do so is to achieve sustainable urban development. When a city achieves sustainability, then it will contribute towards maintaining Earth‘s ecological and other biophysical sustainability as well. Conversely, if earth is in balance, its ecosystem and other life-support systems will be functioning smoothly. The decline of these systems would seriously harm human population wellbeing and health, not to mention earth‘s fragile ecosystems. Cities must grow and survive within Earth‘s limits. Climate change, like other human-induced large-scale environmental changes, poses risks to ecosystems, their life-support functions and, therefore, human health. Cities must work closely with their national governments as well as international bodies such as WHO, WMO and UNEP (amongst others) and collaborate on issues related to climate change and health, building up resilience and capacities to adapt to climate change. Basic Questions (1) What are the preventive measures for residential area and university campus against dengue disease? (2) How is dengue fever spread? (3) How can you reduce your risk of dengue infection? (4) What are the signs and symptoms of dengue infection? 65
(5) At the time of extreme climate events such as drought, heat waves and flooding, what actions are important to take at the household level to protect against health impacts? (6) What are the associated problems that can emerge from dengue infection? References Altizer, S. Ostfeld, RS. Johnson, PTJ. Kutz, S. Harvell, CD. 2013. Climate Change and Infectious Diseases: From Evidence to a Predictive Framework. Science 341: 514-519. Beebe, N.W., R.D. Cooper, P. Mottram, and A.W. Sweeney, 2009: Australia‘s dengue risk driven by human adaptation to climate change. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 3(5), e429. Bennett, C.M., K.G. Dear, and A. McMichael, 2013: Shifts in the seasonal distribution of deaths in Australia, 1968-2007. International Journal of Biometeorology, (April), doi: 10.1007/s00484-013-0663-x. Bhatt, S., Gething, PW., Brady, OJ., Messina, JP., Farlow, AW., Moyes, CL et al. (2013). The global distribution and burden of dengue. Nature. 25(496). Fullerton, L.M., Dickin, S.K., Schuster- Wallace, C.J. (2014). Mapping Global Vulnerability to Dengue using the Water Associated Disease Index. United Nations University. Hashizume, M. and A.M. Dewan, 2012: Hydroclimatological variability and dengue transmission in Dhaka, Bangladesh: a time-series study. BMC Infectious Diseases, 12(1), 98. Lai, L.W., 2011: Influence of environmental conditions on asynchronous outbreaks of dengue disease and increasing vector population in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. International Journal of Environmental Health Research, 21, 133-146. Li, S., H. Tao, and Y. Xu, 2011: Abiotic determinants to the spatial dynamics of dengue fever in Guangzhou. Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health, 25(3), 239-247. Omumbo, J., B. Lyon, S. Waweru, S. Connor, and M. Thomson, 2011: Raised temperatures over the Kericho tea estates: revisiting the climate in the East African highlands malaria debate. Malaria Journal, 10(12), doi:10.1186/1475-2875-10-12. Smith, K.R. et al. 2014: Human health: impacts, adaptation, and co-benefits. In: Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects. Contribution of Working Group II to the 5th AR of the IPCC [Field, C.B., et al. (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York, NY, USA, pp. 709-754. WHO, 2013: Impact of Dengue. World Health Organization (WHO), Geneva, Switzerland, (http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs117/en/ Accessed 10 Aug 2016) @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
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CHAPTER 11
GLOBAL WARMING
Ngai Weng Chan, Ta Wee Seow, David Martin, Kai Chen Goh and Hui Hwang Goh Introduction Earth‘s average temperatures have risen and fallen over the entire history of the earth. This is proven by researches into many fields related to climate change. Early humans have probably been on earth for about six million years, with the modern form of humans only evolving about 200,000 years ago. Historical records indicate that human civilization (as we know it now) is probably only about 6,000 years old. Hence, it is not possible to know what earth‘s climate was like before humans walked on earth, earth being estimated to have been formed some 4.54 ± 0.05 billion years ago (Brent, 2001). Yet, in science, it is possible to study a variable which cannot be measured directly. Proofs of earth‘s climate variation can therefore be obtained indirectly via by proxy methods. For example, if we can find two variables that correlate well and we can measure one of the variables, then we can deduce the measurement of the other variable. The use of proxy methods are central in the study of past climates, a branch of climatology called paleoclimatology (Cronin, 2009), as direct measurements of past climates are not possible. Paleoclimatologists use climate proxies such as ice cores, tree rings, sub-fossil pollens, boreholes, corals, lake and ocean sediments and carbonate speleothems to study earth‘s past climates. This is possible bacause the characteristics of the climate proxies' material (for example pollen) has been influenced by the climatic conditions of the time in which they grew. To be doubly sure, many climate proxies are necessary and may be combined to produce climate reconstructions that may indicate global warming or cooling. Figure 11.1 is a reconstruction of past climates showing warming (warm periods) and cooling (ice ages) over the last 400,000 years. It can be see that the rise and fall of earth‘s temperatures over the past 400,000 years correlate closely with the rise and fall in carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere. Hence, even with the influence of humans, levels of carbon dioxide have been known to increase leading to rise in temperatures. However, carbon diocide levels for the past 400,000 years have never been as high as it is now. The current level of CO2 is now hovering at around 402 ppm (http://co2now.org/ Accessed 5 Aug 2015). The Global Carbon P roject organisation posted alarming data on the 2014 Global Carbon Budget on September 21, 2014. Some of the organisation‘s key findings are as follows: (i) In 2013, global CO2 emissions due to fossil fuel use (and cement production) were 36 gigatonnes (GtCO2); this is 61% higher than 1990 (the Kyoto Protocol reference year) and 2.3% higher than 2012; (ii) In 2014, global CO2 emissions are projected to increase by an additional 2.5% over the 2013 level; (iii) CO2 emissions were dominated by China (28%), the USA (14%), the EU (10%), and India (7%) with growth in all of these states except for a 1.8% decline in the EU (28 member states); (iv) The 2013 carbon dioxide emissions (fossil fuel and cement production only) breakdown is: coal (43%), oil (33%), gas (18%), cement (5.5%) and gas flaring (0.6%); and (v) Emissions from land use change accounts for 8% of total CO2 emissions; the data suggests an overall decreasing trend in land use change emissions particularly since 2000 (http://www.globalcarbonproject.org/carbonbudget/index.htm Accessed 5 Aug 2015). Levels of several important greenhouse gases have increased by about 25 percent since large-scale industrialization began around 150 years ago (Figure 11.2). During the past 20 years, about three-quarters of human-made carbon dioxide emissions were from burning fossil fuels.CO2 is, however, only one of many greenhouse gases (gases which absorb solar radiation and warms the earth‘s atmosphere). The rest are methane, CO, ozone, nitrous oxide, water vapour, etc. 67
Figure 11.1: Temperature change over the past 400,000 years correlate closely with variations in carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere (Source: http://www.klimafakten.de/behauptungen/behauptungder-co2-anstieg-ist-nicht-ursache-sondern-folge-des-klimawandels Accessed 5 Aug 2015).
Figure 11.2: Emissions of CO2 via natural and anthropogenic sources since the Industrial Revolution around 1750. It shows clearly that humans are largely responsible for the current increase in CO 2 in the atmosphere, and hence, global warming since CO2 is the major greenhouse gas (Source: http://www.eia.gov/oiaf/1605/ggccebro/chapter1.html Accessed 5 Aug 2015). The observation records on earth show that almost every decade since 1850 has been getting warming than the previous preceding decade. For the last three decades, the latest decade was the warmest. It was also found that the period from 1983 to 2012 was likely the warmest 30-year period of the last 1400 years in the Northern Hemisphere (Source: IPCC 2014). The IPCC (2014) report stated that the globally averaged combined land and ocean surface temperature data showed a warming of 0.85 °C 2 over the period 1880 to 2012. The IPCC confirms that ―Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and since the 1950s, many of the observed changes are unprecedented over decades to millennia. The atmosphere and ocean have warmed, the amounts of snow and ice have diminished, and sea level has risen‖. It is now a fact that the earth is warming and climate is changing. So, what is the big deal and what has it got to do with cities and sustainable cities? The answer is varied. Cities contain the majority of earth‘s 68
inhabitants as more and more people live in cities. Peoples‘ activities generate greenhouse gases – automobiles and industries use fossil fuels, city folks use electricity/energy, water, food, and other consumables. Buildings are built in cities and the construction industry has a huge impact on the environment and climate. The Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect occurs in cities, particularly the city centres which are the hottest spots in the cities (Huang and Lu, 2015). All these contribute one way or another to global warming. If cities are unsustainable, they contribute more towards global warming as cities themselves warm up. Asian cities which are badly planned and do not have the funds or infrastructures to mitigate against the urban heat island phenomenon are the most badly affected, and are likely candidates to contribute to global warming (Joshi et al., 2015; Nur Aili Hanim and Chan, 2011). Urban Heat Island (UHI) Effect and its Control Evidence show that the climate system in cities is warming faster than the rural areas which have the buffer of vegetation, water bodies and less bulit-up areas. Although UHI effects refer to local microclimate that show significant warming (The larger the city, the greater the warming potentials. The centres of megacities may be typically 7-10 o C warmer than rural areas, while the centres of mediumsized cities are typically 4-6 o C warmer than rural areas and the centres of small cities typically 1-3 o C warmer than rural areas (Figure 11.3). Add them together, and all the cities will add up to contribute to global warming. Cities also use air-conditioning during summer and heating during winter. These contribute to using fossil fuels which caue global warming. Use of automobiles is directly linked to global warming as they not only use fossil fuels but also cause air pollution and produces large amounts of waste heat. Cities are, of course, almost completely deforested areas. Without trees and other vegetation, solar radiation is likely to be absorbed by the dark surfaces of cities such as roads, asphalt, cement, concreete and steel structures. Vegetation, on the other hand, reflect more heat than absorb heat. The process of transpiration also allows heat to be transferred upwards into the atmosphere.
Figure 11.3: A diagram of an Urban Heat Island – Temperatures in the city centre are a few degrees warmer compared to the city‘s periphery (Source: EPA, 2008 Quoted in http://www.urbanheatislands.com/ Accessed 9 Aug 2016) UHIs can be controlled or reduced at the very least. Cities need to gazette a certain portion of its land as parks or green lungs. These parks are necessary for recreation and spaces for recreation. A large percentage of people who live in cities need to have access to parks and gardens in their areas, which are probably the only connections they have with nature. A study shows that having contact with nature helps promote people‘s health and well-being as those who had greater access to gardens or parks were found to be healthier than those who did not (Kuo, 2015). In other studies, research on whether or not the viewing of natural scenery may influence the recoveries of people from undergoing surgeries, it was found that people who had a window with a scenic view had shorter postoperative hospital stays and fewer negative 69
comments from nurses (Ulrich, 1984; Subasinghe, 2010). Another popular strategy to reduce UHIs is tree planting. Tree planting is effective as it reduces absorption of solar radiation and increases albedo. Transpiration from plants and trees also transport absorbed heat from the surface to upper levels of the atmosphere. For every gram of water transpired from trees, about 600 calories of heat if transported elsewhere from the surface. Tree planting is also goo to foster neighbourly relationships, ethnic harmony and the empowerment and community building. For example, the Green Belt Movement (GBM) is an environmental organization that empowers communities, particularly women, to plant trees to conserve the environment and improve livelihoods. The GBM was in 1977 to respond to the needs of rural Kenyan women to work together to grow seedlings and plant trees to bind the soil, store rainwater, provide food and firewood, and receive a small monetary token for their work. All these activities of the GBM help to control the UHIs (http://www.greenbeltmovement.org/who-we-are Accessed 10 Aug 2016). Other examples of tree planting include the city of Los Angeles called ―Tree People‖, which is an example of how planting trees can empower a community. Tree people allows interested people and volunteers to meet up to discuss their green issues, attend training and build capacity, enhance their community pride and introduces opportunities for collaborative networking (https://www.treepeople.org/membership Accessed 10 Aug 2016). Green buildings are another way of reducing the UHI effect. With traditional heat absorbing buildings, a lot of solar radiation is trapped in the buildings, leading to the UHI phenomenon. Green buildings not only reflect solar energy back to the atmosphere, but they also reduce the consumption of energy, water and other resources. In many developed countries, although voluntary green building programs have been promoting the mitigation of the heat island effect for many decades, green buildings are mostly voluntary and not mandatory. Hence, it is necessary for cities to make the construction of new buildings according to the green building model. For example, buildings (e.g. hotels) can earn points under the United States Green Building Council's (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System (http://www.usgbc.org/leed. Accessed 10 Aug 2016). Buildings achieving a good index are found to significantly reduce heat islands, leading to reduced impacts on microclimates, on human life and on wildlife habitats. For example, a green reflective roof, planted roofs or roof garden/farm can help a building achieve LEED certification and reduce UHI (Photograph 11.1). In the city of Toronto, a total of 196,000 sq m of green roof area totaling 444 green roofs was constructed by the end of 2015. Other initiatives to curb UHIs are the Green Building Initiative (GBI) and its Green Globes program which awards points to buildings that take measures to reduce their energy consumption and at the same time control the UHI effect. Interestingly, green roofs can also be combined with urban agriculture (see Chapter 24) and be used to produce some of the city‘s food requirements. Hence, urban agriculture via food on rooftops could be an option for fast growing urban communities who want to be sustainable. The many popular plants grown for food on green roofs include tomatoes, chives, lavender, spring onions, carrots and lettuce (Photograph 11.2). Furthermore, green roofs can enhance wildlife biodiversity as plants on green roofs are important habitats for wildlife because they allow organisms to inhabit the new garden. To maximize opportunities to attract wildlife to a green roof, one must aid the garden to be as diverse as possible in the plants that are added. By planting a wide array of plants, different kinds of wildlife species will be able to colonize, they will be provided with sources and habitat opportunities. The day when green rooftops are turned into urban forests is not too far away. Trees provide many other benefits such as absorbing carbon dioxide, and other air pollutants. Trees also provide shade and reduce ozone emissions from vehicles. By having many trees, we can cool the city heat by approximately 10 degrees to 20 degrees, which will help reducing ozone and helping communities that are mostly affected by the effects of climate change and urban heat islands (McPherson, et al., 2006).
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Photograph 11.1: York University in north Toronto, in 2001 installed 20,175 ft2 of green roofs (http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=3a7a036318061410VgnVCM10000071d60f8 9RCRD Accessed 10 Aug 2016).
Photograph 11.2: Staff of NTT Facilities, Junko Kariu (left) and Masahiro Nagata, check the roof-top potato farm in Tokyo, in October. Launched by two subsidiaries of Japan‘s telecommunications giant NTT Corp., ―Green Potato‖ project could help prevent overheating of Tokyo as well as harvest sweet potatoes in autumn. By TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/ AFP/ (http://www.cityfarmer.info/2008/11/10/tokyorooftop-and-underground-urban-farming-lures-young-japanese-office-workers/ Accessed 10 Aug 2016). Conclusion The current knowledge and scientific understanding of global warming has increased, and this has removed almost all doubt about whether the phenopmenon is indeed happening. In its 2014 report on global warming, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported that scientists were more than 95% certain that most of global warming occurring now is caused by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases and other human anthriopogenic activities (IPCC 2014). The IPCC 2014 report also indicated that warming projections summarized in the report for the 21st century are between a further rise of 0.3 to 1.7 C for the lowest emissions scenraio (a future scenario based on using stringent mitigation) and 2.6 to 4.8°C for their highest emissions scenario. These findings have already been recognized by the national science academies of the major industrialized nations.
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The IPCC further contends that future climate change and associated impacts will differ from region to region around the globe. In cities, the anticipated effects are the already very ―hot‖ UHI effect, i.e. atmospheric warming, sea level rise (coastal cities such as New York, Yokohama, Bangkok and Georgetown need to take note), changing precipitation (some cities will be wetter while some will be drier). Atmospheric warming is expected to be greatest in cities located in high latitudes such as those in the Arctic region, and cities located below glaciers will have to mitigate against floods as glaciers melt rapidly. Other likely changes include more frequent extreme weather in cities such as heat waves, droughts, heavy rainfall and heavy snowfall. In 2003, a huge heat wave swept across Europe. This 2003 European heat wave led to the hottest summer on record in Europe since at 1540. Paris and other European cities were badly hit. The heat wave led to health crises in and combined with drought to create a crop shortfall in parts of Southern Europe. Peer-reviewed analysis places the European death toll at more than 70,000 people. Stott et al. (2004) estimated that it is very likely (confidence level >90%) that human influence has at least doubled the risk of a heatwave exceeding this threshold magnitude. Finally, it is worth mentioning that temperature increase is not the most frigthening effect of global warming on city warming. It can also lead to food insecurity from decreasing crop yields (e.g. a city hinterland affected by drought), water crises due to drought and the evacuation of inhabitants due to floods. City folks can play their part to curb global/city warming by emissions reduction (car-pooling, using public transporation, bicycling, etc), adaptation to its effects, building climate change resilient systems (e.g. rainfall harvesting system, sustainable urban draiange system, green roofs, water-saving fittings, and adopt a basic 3-R recycling lifestyle. Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), whose ultimate objective is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change have adopted a range of policies designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Cities should also follow what their governments have committed themselves to. Countries who are party to the UNFCCC have all agreed to deep cuts in emissions to ensure that future global warming be controlled and be limited to below 2.0°C relative to the pre-industrial level. Questions 1. What are the causes of global warming in your city and how can global warming affect your city? 2. What are the ways to combat warming in your city? What can you do to combat warming in your city? 3. How can green architecture reduce the Urban Heat Island effect? 4. How can green public transportation reduce the Urban Heat Island effect? 5. Is city warming really bad for the city? Discuss. Acknowledgements: The authors would like to acknowledge the funding from the grant titled Developing Optimization Model for Solid Waste Management in Johor Bahru City, Johor. Research Acculturation Collaborative Effort (RACE) Fasa 2/2013 from the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia, Account Number 1001/PHUMANITI/AUPRM0058. References Brent, D.G. (2001) The age of the Earth in the twentieth century: a problem (mostly) solved. Special Publications, Geological Society of London 190 (1): 205–221. Cronin, T.M. (2009) Paleoclimates: Understanding Climate Change Past and Present. New York: Columbia University Press. EPA (2008) Quoted in http://www.urbanheatislands.com/ (Accessed 9 Aug 2016). http://co2now.org/ (Accessed 5 Aug 2015).
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http://www.cityfarmer.info/2008/11/10/tokyo-rooftop-and-underground-urban-farming-lures-youngjapanese-office-workers/ (Accessed 10 Aug 2016). http://www.eia.gov/oiaf/1605/ggccebro/chapter1.html (Accessed 5 Aug 2015). http://www.greenbeltmovement.org/who-we-are (Accessed 10 Aug 2016). http://www.klimafakten.de/behauptungen/behauptung-der-co2-anstieg-ist-nicht-ursache-sondern-folgedes-klimawandels (Accessed 5 Aug 2015). https://www.treepeople.org/membership (Accessed 10 Aug 2016). http://www.usgbc.org/leed (Accessed 10 Aug 2016). http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=3a7a036318061410VgnVCM10000071d60f8 9RCRD (Accessed 10 Aug 2016). Huang, Q. and Lu, Y. (2015) The Effect of Urban Heat Island on Climate Warming in the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration in China. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 12(8), 8773-8789. IPCC (2014) Climate Change 2014 Synthesis Report (Available syr.ipcc.ch/ipcc/ipcc/resources/pdf/IPCC_SynthesisReport.pdf Accessed 5 Aug 2015).
at
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Joshi, R., Raval, H., Pathak, M., Prajapati, S., Patel, A., Singh, V., & Kalubarme, M. H. (2015). Urban Heat Island Characterization and Isotherm Mapping Using Geo-Informatics Technology in Ahmedabad City, Gujarat State, India. International Journal of Geosciences, 6(03), 274). Kuo, M. (2015) How might contact with nature promote human health? Promising mechanisms and a possible central pathway. Front Psychol. 2015; 6: 1093. Published online 2015 Aug 25. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01093 (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4548093/ Accessed 10 Aug 2016). McPherson, G., Simpson, J., Peper, P., Gardner, S., Vargas, K., Maco, S. and Qingfu Xiao (2006) "Coastal Plain Community Tree Guide: Benefits, Costs, and Strategic Planting". USDA, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station. Nur Aili Hanim Bt Hanafiah and Chan, N.W. (2011) The Occurrence of Urban Heat Island and its Effect on Human Thermal Discomfort in Penang Island. Proceedings of the National Conference ―Masyarakat, Ruang dan Alam Sekitar (MATRA 2011)‖, 16-17 November 2011, Penang, 183-196 (In CD Rom). Stott, P.A., Stone, D.A. and Allen, M. R. (2004) Human contribution to the European heatwave of 2003. Nature 432, 610-614. Subasinghe, P.P. (2010) Green is good for you: People, plants and their interaction. Mediscene, Sunday November 21, 2010 (http://www.sundaytimes.lk/101121/MediScene/mediscene_3.html (10 Aug 2016). Ulrich, R. S. (1984) View through a window may influence recovery from surgery. Science April 27, 1984 v224 p420(2) (https://mdc.mo.gov/sites/default/files/resources/2012/10/ulrich.pdf Accessed 10 Aug 2016). @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ 73
CHAPTER 12
FOSSIL FUELS AND NUCLEAR ENERGY
Chern Wern Hong Introduction Fossil fuels are fuels formed via natural processes such as anaerobic decomposition (without oxygen) of dead organisms. These processes usually take millions of years to transform the dead organisms into fossil fuels (Mann et al., 2003). Fossil fuels are formed in nature over millions of years via the carbon cycle (Figure 12.1). Fossil fuels which contain high percentages of carbon, are divided into several types such as the popularly known coal, petroleum and natural gas. They are considered as non-renewable energy as millions of years are required to form them into what they are today. In addition to that, they are being depleted faster than they could be re-formed. In 2011, fossil fuels accounted for about 82 % of the world‘s energy use, but due to depletion and the global community‘s fight against global warming (the burning of fossil fuels is identified as the main contributor), fossil fuels consumption in the world is estimated to fall below 78 % by 2040 (EIA, Monthly Review, 2011). This estimation is an encouragement for the world as it is an indicator of reduced carbon emission in the future. In addition to that, the Sustainable Energy of Ireland (Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), 2016) has estimated that the Earth's reserves of fossil fuels will last for another 300 years.
Figure 12.1: The processes that combine to form fossil fuels in the earth‘s lithosphere over millions of years (Source: http://earthpbservatory.nasa.gov/Library/CarbonCycle/carbon_cycle4.html Accessed 11 Aug 2015). In contrast, nuclear energy is an energy produced via nuclear processes (fission, decay and fusion) in nuclear reactors. Conventional fossil fuel power stations generate electricity by harnessing the thermal energy released from burning fossil fuels. Similarly, nuclear power plants convert the energy released during nuclear fission process that takes place in a nuclear reactor to heat energy. The heat energy will drives a turbine connected to a generator producing electricity. This energy will drive a turbine connected to a generator producing electricity.
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According to European Nuclear Society (2015), a complete combustion or fission from a kilogram of coal will result in about 8 kWh of heat followed by approximately 12 kWh from a kilogram of mineral oil and a whopping 24 million kWh from a kilogram of uranium-235. Thus, 1 kilogram of uranium in power generation is equivalent to nearly 14 tonnes of coal and 10 tonnes of mineral oil to produce electricity. Based on year 2012 data from US Energy Information Administration (EIA), Figure 12.2 shows that coal/peat is still the most popular form of electricity (40.4%) followed by natural gas (22.5%). Hydroelectricity stood at third most popular form of electricity (16.2%) followed by nuclear (10.9%), other renewable energies combined (5.5%) and oil (5%).
Figure 12.2: 2012 World electricity generation by fuels (IEA, 2014) The United States of America is the largest consumer of energy in the world. Though the population of the U.S consists of less than 5% of the world‘s population, they consume more than a quarter of the world‘s fossil fuel (Scientific American, 2012). Tri-lemma of Fossil Fuel Consumption (Economic, Social and Environment) More than 90% of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S come from the combustion of fossil fuels, which produces other air pollutants, such as nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide, volatile organic compounds and heavy metals. Coal industry results in environmental impact in terms of water, air, and waste management. Via coal burning, bottom ash and fly ash are produced which pollutes the air. It will also result in flue-gas desulfurization sludge, which contains mercury, uranium, thorium, arsenic, and other heavy metals. In addition to that, radioactive materials such as uranium and thorium are released into the atmosphere. (Gabbard, 2009). Via boilers of coal plant, it could result in water alkalinisation from limestone rich ashes containing calcium oxide. High alkalinity could result in destruction of aquatic organisms, which require balanced pH condition. High alkalinity could also destroy soil fertility, which would affect farm productivity (Hopkins et al., 2007). These emissions could be controlled if coal plants were to be regulated. However, this will lead to increase of capital and operating expenditure thus will result in less economically competitive. Petroleum, which is another type of fossil fuel, is toxic to almost all forms of life. Commonly referred to as oil, petroleum plays in nearly every aspect of human life in the current society ranging from 75
transportation, domestic activities, home heating system, commercial and industrial activities. One of the main environmental impacts apart from increasing the speed of global warming is the oil spill especially marine area. Spilt oil penetrates into the structure of the wings of birds and the fur of mammals, which their livelihoods depend on the marine productions. This will reduce their insulating ability and buoyancy in the water. One of the recent oil spill case was the leakage in the Qua Iboe, Nigeria oil field. About 232 barrels of crude oil were ‗released‘ into the Atlantic Ocean contaminating the waters and coastal settlements in the fishing communities along Akwa Ibom (Vidal, 2010). Clean-up and recovery is highly challenging and difficult as it depends on the oil type, water temperature and types of shorelines (ARLIS, 2014). Due to these factors, weeks, months or even years are needed to clean up those spills. Natural gas is often thought as the cleanest fossil fuel that produces less carbon dioxide. However, that perception has been mistaken. Natural gas itself is a greenhouse gas. The IPCC Fourth Assessment Report in 2004 has shown that natural gas produced about 5300 megaton of carbon dioxide per year compare to coal and oil with about 10600 and 10200 megaton per year (Fleurbaey et al., 2014). Tri-lemma of Nuclear Energy Consumption (Economic, Social and Environment) To some parties, nuclear energy has been regarded as a sustainable source of energy and the ability to produce energy security. Basically, nuclear energy produces virtually no greenhouse gases and smog in comparison to fossil fuels (Patterson, 2013). M. King Hubbert who behind the Hubbery peak-oil theory suggested that nuclear energy would be a good replacement energy source for oil. Gabbard (2012) has further claimed that coal combustion is more hazardous to health compare to nuclear power due to higher background radiation. Economically, the construction of nuclear power plants typically involves high capital costs for building the plant, but low fuel costs. Uranium, which is one of the ‗raw materials‘ for nuclear power generation, is common and economically recoverable at a price of USD130.00 per kilogramme. That amount is enough to last for between 70 to 100 years (NEA, 2008). Despite its economic advantages, nuclear power plant needs fresh water in high amount for cooling down its reactor. In some cases fresh water shortages (low river flow rates and droughts) could hamper the nuclear power plant operation (Urban and Mitchell, 2011). This can force nuclear reactors to be shut down, as happened in France during the 2003 and 2006 heat waves. Nuclear power supply was severely diminished by low river flow rates, which meant rivers had reached the maximum temperatures for cooling reactors. In addition to fresh water demand in nuclear plant, there are also threats in terms of processing, transport and storage of nuclear waste. The risk of storing nuclear waste is small especially in the Western world with good operational safety record track (Cohen, 1992). Furthermore, in countries with nuclear power, radioactive wastes comprise less than 1% of total industrial toxic wastes, much of which remains hazardous for long period (World Nuclear Association, 2006). However, if any serious accidents were to happen in the nuclear plant, it will poses catastrophe to the environment. For example the Chernobyl accident in the year 1986 has caused an approximate 60 deaths so far attributed to the accident and a predicted total death toll, of from 4000 to 25,000 latent cancers deaths. The latest Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in the year 2011 has not caused any radiation related deaths but with a predicted, eventual total death toll, of from 0 to 1000. The catastrophe has also displaced 50,000 households after radiation leaked into the air, soil and sea (Yamazaki, 2011). Conclusion In conclusion, obviously all countries would opt for renewable energy which is clean and almost free of dangerous impacts. However, going all out to install renewable energy plants is very expensive and often beyond the technical capability of many developing countries. In fact, even the most developed countries find renewable energy costs daunting, and that‘s the reason why not many developed countries have fully 76
adopted renewable energy and discarded fossil fuels or nuclear energy. Countries and cities should weight all the pros and cons, and carefully consider the impacts towards humans and environment in their quests to balance the energy equation, whether nationally or at the city level. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) has estimated that the world energy consumption was growing about 2.3% per year. Despite the advantages and disadvantages of both fossil fuel and nuclear power economically, environmentally and socially, there must be effort to practice energy conservation, which can be achieved through efficient energy consumption. Individuals, organisations, commercial and industrial users would gain benefits in terms of cost reduction and profit maximisation. At the governmental level, energy policy and regulations could be deployed to address the production, distribution and consumption of energy. They include legislation, international treaties and cooperation, investment incentives and other public policy techniques. Various economic instruments such as ‗eco-tax‘ and eco-labelling could be used to encourage efficient energy consumption as well as reducing emission. Zero emission and renewable technology should be encouraged to achieve sustainable energy such as hydroelectric, solar energy, wind energy, wave power etc. to reduce dependency on fossil fuel and nuclear energy. There are arguments from scientists that nuclear energy is the way forward, but recent accidents in Fukushima and elsewehere have frightened both the public and governments (Photograph 12.1). Yet, reducing nuclear use will not cause renewable energy generation to increase because of the high costs. Currently, renewable energy is not yet cost-effective as implementation of renewable energy plants is primarily driven by government mandate and/or large subsidies provided. It is estimated that when nuclear energy is reduced, there would be an increased use of fossil fuels (gas, coal, etc). This would then exacerbate global warming and environmental pollution. Even nuclear opponents agree that fossil fuels are worse than nuclear, although the dangers posed by nuclear is perceived to be more serious. In the foreseeable future, fossil fuels will likely remain in the driver‘s seat as far as energy use is concerned. Countries and cities would need to find a balance between fossil fuels and renewable energy. However, there are arguments that the main problem is not about ‗how long can the current fossil fuel reserve last‘. It is more about the environmental impacts that the fossil fuel is posing which is leading to global warming and climate change as well as pollution.
Photograph 12.1: A satellite photograph of the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power plant after being hit by a massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami on March 14, 2011 in Futaba, Japan (Source: http://www.gettyimages.com/event/magnitude-9-0-earthquake-and-tsunami-devastate-northern-japan109943024#in-this-satellite-view-the-fukushima-daiichi-nuclear-power-plant-a-picture-id110051644 Accessed 10 Aug 2016). 77
Questions to Ponder (1) (2) (3) (4)
What fuels power your city and why? Is nuclear energy used in your city? Discuss the reasons for its usage/non-usage in your city. With reference to your local city, identify what other alternative energy types are available. Imagine that your city government is planning to install a nuclear plant. Debate the pros and cons by forming yourselves into citizen groups against the government and private sector. (5) What are the most innovative ways that your city can implement to be energy-efficient? (6) In your household, what are the ways your family can contribute towards energy savings? References: Alaska Resources Library and Information Services (ARLIS). (2014). Exxon Valdez Oil Spill compiled by Carrie Holba. In pdf (http://www.arlis.org/docs/vol2/a/EVOS_FAQs.pdf Accessed on 25 July 2015). Gabbard, A. (1993). Coal Combustion: Nuclear Resource or Danger. Oak Ridge National Review. 26, No. 3 and 4, 26-34.
Laboratory
Cohen, B.L. (1990). The Nuclear Energy Option. Plenum Press (http://www.phyast.pitt.edu/~blc/book/ Accessed on 25 July 2015). EIA, Monthly Review, 2011. Euro Nuclear Energy. (2015) Fuel Comparison (https://www.euronuclear.org/info/encyclopedia/f/fuelcomparison.htm Accessed on 25 July 2015). Fleurbaey M., S. Kartha, S. Bolwig, Y. L. Chee, Y. Chen, E. Corbera, F. Lecocq, W. Lutz, M. S. Muylaert, R. B. Norgaard, C. Oker- eke, and A. D. Sagar, 2014: Sustainable Development and Equity. In: Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Edenhofer, O., R. PichsMadruga, Y. Sokona, E. Farahani, S. Kadner, K. Seyboth, A. Adler, I. Baum, S. Brunner, P. Eickemeier, B. Kriemann, J. Savolainen, S. Schl mer, Bridge, UK and New York, NY, USA. Hopkins, B.G., Horneck, D.A., Stevens, R.G., Ellsworth, J.W., Sullivan, D.M. (2007) Managing Irrigation Water Quality for crop production in the Pacific Northwest. A Pacific Northwest Extension Publication (August 2007 publication). In pdf (http://extension.oregonstate.edu/umatilla/mf/sites/default/files/pnw597-e.pdf Accessed 27 July 2015). http://earthpbservatory.nasa.gov/Library/CarbonCycle/carbon_cycle4.html (Accessed 11 Aug 2015). http://www.gettyimages.com/event/magnitude-9-0-earthquake-and-tsunami-devastate-northern-japan109943024#in-this-satellite-view-the-fukushima-daiichi-nuclear-power-plant-a-picture-id110051644 (Accessed 10 Aug 2016). International Energy Agency (IEA). (2014). Key World Energy Statistics. In pdf (http://www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/KeyWorld2014.pdf Accessed 30.7.2015). Mann, P., Gahagan, L. and Gordon, M.B. (2003). "Tectonic setting of the world's giant oil and gas fields," in Giant Oil and Gas Fields of the Decade, 1990-1999, Volume 78. Editor. Michel Thomas Halbouty. ISSN 0271-8529. 78
Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA). (2008). Uranium resources sufficient to meet projected nuclear energy requirements long into the future dated 3 June 2008 (http://www.oecd-nea.org/press/2008/200802.html Accessed on 30 July 2015). Patterson, T. (2013). Climate change warriors: It's time to go nuclear in CNN. Dated 3 rd November 2013. In website (http://edition.cnn.com/2013/11/03/world/nuclear-energy-climate-change-scientists/index.html Accessed on 28 July 2015). Scientific American. (2012). Use It and Lose It: The Outsize Effect of U.S. Consumption on the Environment Dated: 14 September 2012 (http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/americanconsumption-habits/ Accessed on 28 July 2015).
Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) (2016) Activity 3 - Fossil Fuels - The pros and cons. In website (http://www.seai.ie/Schools/Post_Primary/Subjects/Geography_JC/Pros_Cons/ Accessed on 10 July 2016). U.S. EIA. (2010). ‗International Energy (http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/cfapps/ipdbproject/IEDIndex3.cfm Accessed on 28 July 2015).
Statistics‘
Urban, F. and Mitchell, T. (2011). ‗Climate change, disasters and electricity generation‘. Overseas Development Institute and Institute of Development Studies (Source: http://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/7151.pdf Accessed 28.7.15. Vidal, J. (2010). Nigeria's agony dwarfs the Gulf oil spill. The US and Europe ignore it in The Guardian dated 30 May 2010 (Source: Accessed on 28 July 2015). World Nuclear Association. (2006). Radioactive Waste Management. Waste Management in the Nuclear Fuel Cycle. Information and Issue Briefs (Source: http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Nuclear-FuelCycle/Nuclear-Wastes/Radioactive-Waste-Management/ Accessed on 28 July 2015). Yamazaki T. (2011). Fukushima Retiree to Lead Anti-Nuclear Motion at Tepco AGM Dated June 27, 2011 (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2011-06-26/fukushima-retiree-to-lead-anti-nuclearmotion Accessed on 28 July 2015). @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
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CHAPTER 13
RENEWABLE ENERGY
Chern Wern Hong Introduction Renewable energy can be defined as an energy source that can be replenished naturally (Ellabban et al., 2014). Renewable energy, which is considered greener for the environment, is highly recommended to replace the conventional fossil fuel energy. The examples of mainstream technology of renewable energy are solar, wind, hydroelectricity, geothermal and biofuels. REN21 (Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century) (2014) claimed that renewable energies contributed 19 percent to the world‘s energy consumption and 22 percent to electricity generation in the year 2012 and 2013, respectively. Via Figure 13.1, Perez et al. (2009) has also shown the vast potentials in renewable energy in comparison to nonrenewable energy.
Figure 13.1: Global Energy Potential (Source: Perez et al., 2009) Solar Energy Solar energy depends on the nuclear fission of the Sun and can be harnessed into electrical energy or heating facilities. This energy can be collected and converted in several different ways. The light and heat from the sun can be harnessed via various technologies such as solar heating, photovoltaic cells and thermal energy (International Energy Agency, 2011). In the current society, solar energy has benefitted mankind in in cooking, water treatment, green lighting technology and even in automobile and aviation technology. One of the main advantages of solar energy lies in the virtually unlimited source of sunrays as long as the sun is still around. Solar energy produces zero emission, zero pollution, noise free as well as zero carbon footprint. However, the cost of production of solar harnessing technology such as photovoltaic cells, is a major disadvantages to popularize the utilization of solar energy (Figure 13.2). The average cost of solar panels and installation is between USD7,000 and USD10,000. In addition to high initial cost, the production of photovoltaic panels themselves is toxic to the environment. Heavy metals such as mercury, lead and cadmium are essential towards the production of solar panel. Harnessing maximum solar input is a 80
challenge, as areas with consistent and steady sunshine are needed. Houses and buildings covered by trees, landscapes and other buildings may not be suitable enough to product solar power. Current solar panel technology have only about 40% efficiency rate. The remaining sunlight will get wasted. The highest efficiency ever achieved is from a French semiconductor company, Soitec at 46% and has been confirmed by the Japanese National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (Cleantechnica, 2014).
Figure 13.2: Solar Panels Source: The Marietta Daily Journal (2013) More research could be conducted towards achieving higher efficiency as well as using less hazardous raw materials for the production of solar panels and decreasing the production. In 2011, the International Energy Agency has stated, "the development of affordable, inexhaustible and clean solar energy technologies will have huge longer-term benefits‖. Wind Energy Wind energy is harnessed from strong airflow that moves the wind turbines to produce electricity (Figure 13.3). Traditional form of wind energy could be seen in the form of windmills used in grinding grains. Like the solar energy, wind energy could be a fossil fuel alternative. As wind is ‗created‘ via differences of Earth surface temperatures when it is lit by sunlight (solar energy), wind energy is also virtually limitless, clean energy that produces zero greenhouse gases emissions and uses little land (Fthenakis and Kim, 2009). In contrast to solar energy, wind power is cost effective costing between four and six cents per kilowatt-hour (US Dept. of Energy, 2015).
Figure 13.3: Wind Turbine Field in the United Kingdom (Source: The Telegraph (2015) 81
Despite numerous benefits of wind energy, good sites for wind harvesting are often located in remote locations. Wind is not uniformed and not constant apart from aesthetic pollution. Turbine blades could also pose risk to wildlife. Thus location with highest wind intensity should be chosen with effective electricity connection. Hydroelectric Hydroelectric or hydropower is derived from the energy of gravity of rapid falling water or running water running the dynamo thus producing electricity. The World Bank views hydropower as great potential for economic development without adding substantial amounts of carbon to the atmosphere (The Washington Post, 2013). Similar to solar energy and wind energy, hydroelectric produces zero greenhouse gases emission energy as well as flood mitigation potential. The world‘s largest hydroelectric dam is the Three Gorges dam in China (Figure 13.4) with a capacity of electricity production of 98.8 Terawatt per hour in the year 2014 (Xinhua, 2014). At full power capacity, the Three Gorges dam could help in reducing coal consumption by 31 million tonnes per year thus avoiding 100 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions (Carbonplanet, 2006).
Figure 13.4: The Three Gorge Dam in China Source: The New York Times (2011) Despite hydropower‘s enormous contribution towards reducing greenhouse gases, the development of large scale hydropower dam itself causes significant social and environmental issues. Humans as well as ecosystem and wildlife habitats will be displaced (Nikolaisen, 2015) due to altering landscapes. Before developing or building a hydropower dam, assessment of the environmental and environment impacts of a specific hydropower facility must requires case-by-case review. Alternatively, micro hydropower, which requires small land area with flowing water, could be considered as no dam or reservoir is needed. Geothermal Not all renewable energy resources come from the sun. Geothermal energy is acquired from energy via heat from radioactive decay that seeps out slowly with temperature high enough to generate electricity. Conventional type of thermal energy could be seen via hot spring. The steam from hot water is produced naturally from the heated groundwater from the Earth's crust. As of 2013 a total of 11,700 megawatts of geothermal power has been produced worldwide (BP, 2014). There are three types of geothermal energy. They are liquid dominated plants, thermal energy and enhanced geothermal (Figure 13.5).
82
Figure 13.5: A Geothermal Plant in New Zealand Source: Sumitomo Australia Pty Ltd (2010) Geothermal power plants do not require fuel except for pump installation. Operating geothermal power is cost effective and environmentally friendly but historically has been limited to areas near tectonic plate boundaries (Glassey, 2010). Even though geothermal power is cost effective, the capital costs are significant as drilling and exploration can cost millions of dollars with risk of failure. There are also possibilities of running out of steam over a period of time due to drop in temperature. Geothermal energy cannot be transported and only to be used around of the vicinity of the plant. Thus construction of geothermal plant should be carefully planned in a strategic area with regions, which can produce steam over a long period of time. Biofuel A biofuel is a fuel that is produced via biological processes, which can be derived directly from plants, agricultural or domestic waste. For examples, biofuel can be in the form of bio-ethanol and bio-diesel. Bio-ethanol can be produced via fermentation of carbohydrate products such as corn or sugarcane whereas bio-diesel is produced from fats and oils from mostly organic products. Bio-ethanol and biodiesel is widely used in the USA and in Brazil as a fuel to power-up vehicles. In 2010, worldwide biofuel production reached 105 billion litres whereas global ethanol fuel production was at 86 billion litres with the United States and Brazil as the world's top producers (Worldwatch Institute, 2011). Biofuel is a renewable source of energy in comparison to fossil fuel such as the petroleum. Excessive world production of soybeans has also been utilized to produce bio-ethanol. In Sweden, salmon in the form of food waste has been converted into bio-fuel to power the public buses. Biofuel is generally less polluting and can also be blended with other energy resources and oil without the need of engine modification. Despite its many advantages, similar to other renewable energy, the cost of production is expensive. Many cars have been developed using biofuel, but biofuel‘s capability in engine cleaning function surpasses the conventional fuel, filters have to be cleansed frequently (Figure 13.6 and Figure 13.7). In addition to that, there are many socio-economic issues with regard to biofuel productions in terms of ‗food vs. fuel‘, sustainable production as well as displacement and ecosystem issues due to land clearing.
83
Figure 13.6: A car powered by bio-diesel from 100% recycled vegetable oil in Hawaii Source: makebiofuel.co.uk (2010)
Figure 13.7: A Ferrari FF Car powered by Bio-ethanol Source: (autogreenmag.com, 2012) Tidal Energy Tidal energy, yet not widely used, has vast potential as 70 percent of earth‘s surface are covered with water. Tidal energy is obtained from the tides and waves that move the turbine and in turn convert the energy into electricity. Currently, the world‘s largest tidal power station is the ‗Sihwa Lake Tidal Power Station‘ in South Korea with an output capacity of 254 MW (Figure 13.8).
Figure 13.8 Sihwa Lake Tidal Power Station Source: TETHYS (2016)
84
However, there are some environmental concerns concerning tidal power. For example, environmentalists have claimed that tidal power can have negative effects on marine life. The turbines can accidentally kill swimming marine life with its rotating blades. This technology should be accompanied with safety mechanism that prevents marine life from swimming into the turbine. There is such power station in Stangford which features a safety mechanism that turns off the turbine when marine animals approach (IRENA, 2014). In addition to the environmental issues of tidal power station, salt water from the sea could corrode metal parts in the long run. In other words, maintenance is a challenge due to the size and depths of the generators and turbines. Corrosion-resistant materials could be used to reduce or eliminate those damages from corrosion. Table 13.1 summarises the overall benefits of renewable energy. Table 13.1: Overall Benefits of Renewable Energy Environmental Conservation/Protection Renewable energy are clean source of energy that has lower environmental impact Energy Security Availability of virtually infinite sources of renewable energy for generations to come Conclusion There is no doubt that renewable energy is the way forward. The only set-back is the high costs which many developing countries cannot afford. Given the current availability of relatively cheaper fossil fuels, countries will inevitably carry on using fossil fuels. However, the time may come when the cost of fossil fuels are equal that of renewable energy. When this happens, then the switch to this form of energy would not be a problem. In comparison to all the renewable energies shown above, there is one similarity, which is the high cost of production despite its huge potential in combating climate change. Apart from environmental benefits, World Energy Assessment (2001) stated that renewable technologies should also benefit rural and remote areas and developing countries. United Nations' Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stated that, ―renewable energy has the ability to lift the poorest nations to new levels of prosperity‖ (Leone, 2011). Wise energy consumption as well as shifting towards renewable energy instead of depending fully on fossil fuel should be in every nation‘s sustainable development agenda. Renewable energy should not be made used as a sole money making machine but should be viewed as providing energy security and climate change mitigation. The majority of cities in the world are currently run on fossil fuels which are not only depleting but also dirty and contribute to global warming. Hence, it makes sense for cities to embark on renewable enery. To be a sustainable city, using of fossil fuels is not an option any more. More and more cities are aware of the dangers of climate change and are queuing up to make the change to rebewable energy. For example, the number of cities reporting on their efforts to tackle global warming has risen 70 percent to 533 around the world since the adoption of the Paris climate change agreement in 2015, as reported by the group collecting the data (Reuters, 2016). Based on the above report, the cities taking part provide annual information on their planet-warming emissions, the climate hazards they face, renewable energy targets, risks to their water supply and other environmental aspects. These cities now represent 621 million citizens globally. Hence, this shows that cities are serious about the shift to renewable energy. When cities measure their climate footprint and seek a sustainable path to green growth powered by clean energy, they take us all further towards the global transition to low emissions and resilient development. Today four in 10 cities are measuring their emissions, compared with one in 10 cities in 2011, when CDP launched a program to help them reduce their emissions and adapt to climate change. CDP highlighted a nearly four-fold increase since last year in the number of African cities disclosing climate information, to 46 from 12 (Reuters, 2016). Questions to ponder (1) With reference to your city and country, how much of renewable energy is being used? 85
(2) What sort of renewable energy is currently being developed for your city/country? Why are other sources of renewable energy now developed? (3) How do we seek balance between renewable and non-renewable energies? (4) Is the development of 100 % renewable energy achievable for your city? If not, what are the obstacles and the solutions? (5) How do we engage businesses and people to participate in the using of renewable energies, given the fact that these are more expensive compared to fossil fuels? References Auto Green Magazine (2012) ―Ferrari FF converted to run on bio-ethanol packs 875 hp‖ Date: January 19, 2012 (http://autogreenmag.com/2012/01/19/ferrari-ff-converted-to-run-on-bio-ethanol-packs-875-hp/ Accessed on 10 June 2015). British Petroleum (BP) (2014) ―Geothermal capacity‖ (http://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/aboutbp/energy-economics/statistical-review-of-world-energy/review-by-energy-type/renewableenergy/geothermal-capacity.html Accessed on 10 June 2015). Carbonplanet. (2006) "Greenhouse Gas Emissions By (http://www.carbonplanet.com/home/country_emissions.php Accessed on 8 June 2015).
Country"
Clean Technica (2014) ―New Solar Cell Efficiency Record Set At 46%‖. Date: 12 March 2014 (http://cleantechnica.com/2014/12/03/new-solar-cell-efficiency-record-set-46/ Accessed on 6 June 2015). Ellabban, O., Abu-Rub, H., Blaabjerg, Frede. (2014). Renewable energy resources: Current status, future prospects and their enabling technology. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 39, 748–764. Energy Information Administration (EIA). (2007). ―EIA employs the following definition of renewable energy sources: ―Energy resources that are naturally replenishing but flow-limited.‖ in Methodology for Allocating Municipal Solid Waste to Biogenic and Non-Biogenic Energy (PDF) (http://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/monthly/pdf/historical/msw.pdf Accessed on 10 June 2015). Fthenakis, V. and Kim, H. C. (2009) "Land use and electricity generation: A life-cycle analysis". Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 13 (6–7): 1465-1474. Glassley, W.E. (2010) Geothermal Energy: Renewable Energy and the Environment, CRC Press, ISBN 9781420075700. International Energy Agency (IEA) (2011) ―Solar Energy Perspectives: Executive Summary" (PDF). (http://www.iea.org/Textbase/npsum/solar2011SUM.pdf Accessed on 5 June 2015). International Energy Agency (2012) "Energy Technology Perspectives (http://www.iea.org/Textbase/npsum/ETP2012SUM.pdf Accessed on 10 June 2015).
2012"
(PDF)
Leone, S. (25 August 2011) "U.N. Secretary-General: Renewables Can End Energy Poverty" in Renewable Energy World. Date: 26 August 2011 (http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2011/08/u-n-secretary-general-renewables-canend-energy-poverty?cmpid=WNL-Friday-August26-2011 Accessed on 10 June 2015). Makebiofuel (2010) ―Hawaii rental company offers Biofuel car rentals‖ by Karl. Date: 27 August 2010 (http://www.makebiofuel.co.uk/news/biofuel-car-rentals-biodiesel Accessed on 10 June 2015). 86
Nikolaisen, P.I. (2015) "12 mega dams that changed the world (in Norwegian)" In English Teknisk Ukeblad‖. Date: 17 January 2015 (http://www.tu.no/kraft/2015/01/17/12-megadammer-som-endretverden Accessed on 9 June 2015). Perez et al. (2009) "A Fundamental Look At Energy Reserves For The Planet" (PDF), pp.3 (http://asrc.albany.edu/people/faculty/perez/Kit/pdf/a-fundamental-look-at%20the-planetary-energyreserves.pdf Accessed on 6 June 2015). REN21 (2014) "Renewables 2014: Global Status Report" (PDF). pp. (http://www.ren21.net/Portals/0/documents/Resources/GSR/2014/GSR2014_full report_low Accessed on 6 June 2015).
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Reuters (2016) Cities rush to measure climate footprint after Paris deal. August 5, 2016 (http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/world/2016/08/05/cities-rush-to-measure-climate-footprintafter-paris-deal/ Accessed 10 Aug 2016). The Marietta Daily Journal (2013) ―Georgia Power wants to add fee to solar-powered customers‖. Date: 2 October 2013 (http://mdjonline.com/bookmark/23748799-Georgia-Power-wants-to-add-fee-to-solarpowered-customers Accessed 10 June 2015). The New York Times (2011) ―China Admits Problems With Three Gorges Dam‖. By Michael Wines‖. 19 May 2011 (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/20/world/asia/20gorges.html?_r=0 Accessed 8 June 2015). The Telegraph (2015) ―SNP will fight Tories over lifting wind farm subsidies, energy spokesman indicates‖ Date: 4 June 2015 (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/energy/windpower/11650584/SNPwill-defy-Tories-and-keep-wind-farm-subsidies-in-Scotland-energy-spokesman-indicates.html Accessed on 9 June 2015). The Washington Post (2013) "World Bank turns to hydropower to square development with climate change". by Howard Schneider. Date: 5 August 2013 (http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-0508/business/39105348_1_jim-yong-kim-world-bank-hydropower Accessed on 8 June 2015). Sumitomo Australia Pty Ltd. (2015) ―NAP (http://www.sumitomocorp.com.au/74.html Accessed on 9 June 2015).
Geothermal
Plant‖
TETHYS (2016) Sihwa Tidal Power Plant (https://tethys.pnnl.gov/annex-iv-sites/sihwa-tidal-power-plant Accessed on 9 June 2016). US Department of Energy (2015) ―Distributed Wind‖(http://energy.gov/eere/wind/distributed-wind Accessed on 7 June 2015). World Energy Assessment (2001) ―Renewable energy technologies‖, (http://www.undp.org/energy/activities/wea/drafts-frame.html Accessed on 10 June 2015).
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Worldwatch Institute (2011) "Biofuels Make a Comeback Despite Tough Economy" 31 August 2011 (http://www.worldwatch.org/biofuels-make-comeback-despite-tough-economy Accessed 10 June 2015). Xinhua (2014) "Three Gorges breaks world record for hydropower generation" Date: 1 January 2014 (http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2015-01/01/c_127352471.htm Accessed on 8 June 2015). @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ 87
CHAPTER 14
ELECTRICITY
Yin San Woo Introduction Globally, more than 1.3 billion people have no access to electricity, and some 2.6 billion have no access to modern cooking facilities. More than 95 % of those people are in sub-Saharan Africa or developing Asia, and 84 % live in rural areas (Sharma, 2015). Can anyone imagine what life would be like without electricity? No power at home or in the office? Without electricity, modern civilization as we know it would not exist. Figure 14.1 shows how electricity has literally lit up the world. Lights from huge cities in developed countries are captured by the satellite while the under-developed world remains dark. Without electricity, not only one could not do any work, but one will not be able to cook, read, wash clothes, have a heated water shower, or see. The whole city would come to a stand-still without electricity! In current times, a blackout would mean zero productivity. In Penang, Malaysia, when floods caused an electrical black-out in 2014, many factories had to cancel their production shifts resulting in the loss of millions of US$. No work would be done because almost everything relies on electricity. One may say that how advance a country is, depends on how regular and prolonged are blackouts in the country. In other words, the more developed a country is, the more dependent it is on electricity. Compared to developed countries, developing countries have other means of lighting and heating in the form of kerosene lamps, charcoal fires, firewood, candles etc. In the USA for example, a local person may describe blackouts as a rarity, and that it would last no longer than an hour. Whereas a Nepali may find it as a norm of life, with blackouts being a daily occurrence, but the Nepali is used to it and does not suffer as much as the American if there is no electricity. The American would be paralysed with nothing to do and knowing not what to do during a black-out. On the other hand, the Nepali would carry on his business as usual. Hence, developing countries are less dependent on electricity and less vulnerable to black outs than developed countries. By the same token, city folks are also more vulnerable to black-outs compared to rural folks. This is because city lifestyle depends a lot on electricity. In the field of physics, electricity is the set of physical phenomena that is associated with the presence and flow of electric charge. This flow of electricty then gives rise to a wide variety of well-known effects such as lightning, static electricity,electromagnetic induction and electric current. Obviously, it is the electric current generated that has become so useful in our daily lives. Electricity could very well be listed as a need in modern days. Everything depends on electricity; medicine, education, economy, communication, transportation, household appliances, jobs, entertainment, et cetera. It not only changes lives, it also makes things easier and more comfortable for humans. Even so, it may be right to assume that people hardly think of how important electricity is. Should there be a power cut; the initial concern would likely be how uncomfortable people feel without light and air conditioning, rather than being concerned with the cause of electrical supply failure. Access to electricity could determine the quality of life for people. Despite the importance of electricity, over a billion people worldwide still live without electricity, with most numbers from Asia and Africa, according to the World Bank. As with most undeveloped countries in the world, it is common for rural villages to rely on traditional light sources such as oil lamp and candles. Although this is changing, an urban child that lives with a constant supply of electricity is a world apart from the rural child who has limited number of hours with light in the night.
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Figure 14.1: Lights from cities in the Europe and Africa captured by NASA satellite. It clearly shows that most of Africa is without electricity at night while Exurope is brightly lit (Source: http://geology.com/articles/night-satellite/satellite-photo-of-europe-at-night-lg.jpg Accessed 11 Aug 2015). Electricity Generation and transmission Electrical power can be generated in a number of ways. Electricity is usually generated by electromechanical generators that are driven by steam produced from fossil fuel combustion, usually coal. Electricity can also be generated via the heat released from nuclear reactions by using nuclear power as a generator. In terms of renewable energy, electricity can be generated from natural sources of power such as kinetic energy extracted from wind, flowing water (waves, ocean currents or rivers) or hot gases (geothermal energy). For example, the modern steam turbine that was invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884 can today generate about 80 % of the electric power in the world using a variety of heat sources. Later, the invention of the transformer in the late 19th century meant that electrical power could be transmitted more efficiently at a higher voltage but lower current. Efficient electrical transmission meant in turn that electricity could be generated at centralized power stations (Figure 14.2), where it benefited from economies of scale, and then be sent/transmitted to far way places from the source of generation via high voltage wires (Figure 14.3).
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Figure 14.2: The Tenaga Nasional Berhad Power Station in Gelugor, Penang, Malaysia (Source: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/3736367 Accessed 11 Aug 2015)
Figure 14.3: High voltage overhead power line wires in Gloucestershire, England (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overhead_power_line Accessed 11 Aug 2015). Electricity Distribution There are ways to generate electricity; power stations by fossil fuels, nuclear, hydro, solar and wind. The most common type of power generation is by burning fossil fuels such as coal, crude oil or natural gas. However, more countries are focusing on renewable energy generations such as hydro and solar power stations. There are 2 distribution systems of electricity supply; the centralized and the decentralized systems. Centralized System Centralized system is the electricity generated by the central station power plants that provide bulk power. Most of plants use massive fossil, coal or nuclear boilers to produce steam that drives turbine generators. Nationwide grid is used to distribute electricity from power stations to consumers. The main features of the system are shown in Figure 14.4, where electricity generated from power station is transferred to the 90
transmission cables in the grid after step-up transformers, in order to reach a safer level for domestic and commercial uses, the voltage of electricity is then reduced through the step-down transformers before reaching to the consumers. Centralized systems with long supply lines and enormous power plants require massive cost in both power generation and control of the grid, as well as large infrastructures. The limitations of this system, in terms of efficiency, environmental impact and stability to sustain them, have given rise to renewable energy resource options for researchers and policy-makers (Momoh J.A., Meliopoulos, S. and Saint, R., 2012).
Figure 14.4: Main features of a nationwide electricity grid. (Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/) Decentralized System Decentralized system (DS) is not new technology; it has been used in several ways to complement centralized system (Martin, J., 2009). The revival of DS is two-fold where the liberalization of the electricity markets and concerns over greenhouse gas emissions (Perpermans et al., 2005). DS is power generation which built near or same place with consumers. DS is small-scale, environmentally-friendly which is adapted to the local conditions. The energy resources of DS come from waste heat recovery, plants for the energetic utilization of rotten, dump and sewage gas and renewable energies (hydropower. solar radiation, wind energy and biomass).
• • • • • • •
Other definitions of power generation from DS listed in Centralized and Distributed Generated Power Systems - A Comparison Approach, 2012: Any qualifying facilities under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA); Any generation interconnected with distribution facilities; Commercial emergency and standby diesel generators installed, (i.e., hospitals and hotels); Residential standby generators sold at hardware stores; Generators installed by utility at a substation for voltage support or other reliability purposes; Any on-site generation with less than ―X‖ kW or MW of capacity. ―X‖ ranges everywhere from 10 kW to 50 MW; Generation facilities located at or near a load center;
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• Demand side management (DSM), energy efficiency, and other tools for reducing energy usage on the consumer‘s side of the meter. The alternative to this definition would be to abandon the term ―distributed generation‖ completely and use instead ―distributed resources‖ (DR) or ―distributed energy resources (DER)‖. Centralized System vs Decentralized System Momoh et. al. (2012) have compared the continuous power, premium power, cost, peaking power, resiliency and sustainability of CS and DS in Table 14.1.
Table 14.1: Value Continuous Power
Premium Power
Cost
Peaking Power Resiliency
Sustainability
Comparison of CG and DG Values and Recommendations Centralized System Decentralized System Though operated to provide Operated to allow a facility continuous power, its to generate some or all of its characteristics results in: power on a relatively • Low electric efficiency as a continuous basis. important result of high losses at the DS characteristics for transmission system continuous power include: • High emissions • High electric efficiency • Low emissions Provision of power at low It provides electricity service reliability and power at a higher level of reliability quality cannot be and power quality than guaranteed due to inherent typically available from the high power losses grid High variable cost Low variable cost High maintenance cost Low maintenance costs It is operated unintermittently at various peak powers Less resilient but serves high power demands continuously Sources of power results in less sustainability
Recommendations For continuous power production, more DS need to be penetration in CS based networks to reduce emissions and increase efficiency
Providing premium power would also need DS penetration in the VS network leading to better reliability and low losses With respect to cost, DS based networks is preferable Combined CS and DS
Operated between 50-3000 hours per year to reduce overall electricity costs More resilient since it serves Combined CS and DS low power demands continuously Sources of power makes it More of CS is preferable more sustainable
An Example of the Benefits of Electricity in Africa Electricity is well known for bringing lights. In Africa, television is the second most benefited from electricity, which provides entertainment and information. With the availability of electricity, the welfare of people has improved significantly, including health, education, productivity and so on.
• • • •
As evaluated by the Independent Evaluation Group in 2008, the causal chain impacting health benefit is as follows: Access to electricity increases time spent watching TV and listening to the radio. Increased access to media increases awareness of health issues. This increased awareness results in changed health behavior. Changed behavior improves health outcomes and reduces fertility. 92
Apart from that, improved health facilities, cleaner air from reduction of fuels usage (Hutton, G. E., et al, 2006), better nutrition and storage facilities from refrigeration leave positive impacts on health of the poor. Women and young children who exposes to fuel wood crop residue and dung with risks of acute lower respiratory infections, low birth weight, infant mortality and pulmonary tuberculosis. These diseases caused by indoor air pollution cause between 1.6 and 2 million excess deaths each year, more than half of them among children younger than five (Ahmed et al., 2005; Larson and Rosen, 2000). Report from the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP, 2000) shows that study and reading time was found to be significantly higher for the children and adults of electrified households in electrified villages than for both children and adults in the non-electrified households in non-electrified villages and non-electrified households in electrified. Electricity improves the quality of schools through electricity-dependent equipment or increases teacher quantity and quality; as well as time allocation at home leading to increased study time (IEG, 2008). Conclusion Humans and cities need electricity. The modern lifestyle in cities need it more than the rural lifestyles in the countryside. Developed nations need electricity more than under-developed countries. Despite these differences, everybody needs electricty. But the reality is not all countries or cities or homes will have 24 hours of electricity supply. The lucky ones do, but even the lucky ones will have to make do with less in the future as energy resources become scarce. To ensure we have plenty of energy in the future, all nations, cities, businesses and individuals must start to use energy wisely. We must all conserve energy and use it efficiently. Some will even need to sacrifice to have less access but pay higher tariffs. More importantly, we now depend on our top scientists to invent and create new innovative energy technologies of the future. Current optional uses of smart energy grids, use of LED lihting, green building designs, automatic switches, re-use of waste heat, etc will become compulsory/mandatory in the future. All energy sources have various impacts on the environment. Concerns about the greenhouse effect and global warming, air pollution, and energy security have led to increasing interest and more development in renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, geothermal, wave power and hydrogen (see Chapter 13). Yet, for the foreseeable future, humans will need to continue to use fossil fuels and nuclear energy until new, cleaner and more affordable technologies can replace them. One of you students who is reading this might be another Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Alexander Bell or Marie Curie who will go on to discover a new source of sustainable energy. Until then, we all have to conserve and use energy/electricity wisely. We need energy/electricity to get us into the future. Questions to Ponder (1) (2) (3) (4)
How efficient is the electricity supply in your city and why? Do you know what fuels generate the electricity in your city? What are your city‘s plans to use renewable energy resources to generate electricity? What is the electricity tariff like in your city? Do you know how to estimate your family‘s per capita electricity use per month? (5) Describe how your city can be designed to be more resilient to electricity outages. References Ahmed, Kulsham, Yewande Awe, Douglas F. Barnes, Maureen L. Cropper, and Masami Kojima (2005) Environmental Health and Traditional Fuel Use in Guatemala. Washington, DC: World Bank.
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BBC, Science, Transforming, Transformers in the National Grid (http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/triple_ocr_gateway/electricity_for_gadgets/transform ing/revision/3/ Accessed 29 May 2015). Energy overview (http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/energy/overview#1Accessed 29 May 2015) ESMAP (Energy Sector Management Assistance Program) (2000) Reducing the Cost of Grid Extension for Rural Electrification. ESMAP Report 227/00, World Bank, Washington, DC. Hutton, G.E., Tediosi, F.F. and Weiss, S. (2006) Evaluation of the Costs and Benefits of Household Energy and Health Interventions at Global and Regional Levels. Geneva: World Health Organization.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overhead_power_line (Accessed 11 Aug 2015). http://geology.com/articles/night-satellite/satellite-photo-of-europe-at-night-lg.jpg (Accessed 11 Aug 2015). http://www.panoramio.com/photo/3736367 (Accessed 11 Aug 2015). IEG (Independent Evaluation Group) (2008) The Welfare Impact of Rural Electrification: A Reassessment of the Costs and Benefits an IEG Impact Evaluation.IEG Study Series. Washington, DC: World Bank. Larson, B.A. and Rosen, S. (2000) Household Benefits of Indoor Air Pollution Control in Developing Countries. Washington, DC: USAID. Martin, J. (2009). Distributed vs. centralized electricity generation: are we witnessing a change of paradigm? An introduction to distributed generation. HEC Paris Momoh, J.A., Meliopoulos, S. and Saint, R. (2012) Centralized and Distributed Generated Power Systems - A Comparison Approach. National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, PSERC Publication 12-08. Pepermans, G., Driesen, J., Haeseldonckx, D., Belmans, R., D‘haeseleer, W., (2005). ―Distributed Generation: definition, benefits and issues‖. Energy Policy, 33, pp. 787- 798. Sharma, A. (2015) How to Get Electricity to 300 Million People in India, Without Fossil Fuels? (Source: http://news.yahoo.com/electricity-300-million-people-india-without-fossil-fuels215501308.html;_ylt=AwrXgCO6cclVZBkAxIPoPwx.;_ylu=X3oDMTByb2lvbXVuBGNvbG8DZ3ExB HBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzcg-- Accessed 11 Aug 2015) World Economic Situation and Prospects, (2012). (http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/policy/wesp/wesp_current/2012country_class.pdf. 29.05.2015).
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CHAPTER 15
HYDROLOGICAL CYCLE AND CITIES
Ngai Weng Chan, Ku Ruhana Ku Mahamud, Mohamad Zaini Karim, Lai Kuan Lee and Charles Hin Joo Bong Introduction The hydrologic cycle is a probably better known to lay persons as the water cycle. It is really a conceptual model that describes the changing phases of water from liquid to gas (evaporation), gas to liquid (condensation), liquid to solid (freezing), solid to liquid (melting), gas to solid and solid to gas (both termed sublimation).All these changing of phases of water is often termed as the recycling of water. In nature, water is probably the only matter that can exist in natural conditions in all three phases as liquid, gas and solid. On the global scale, the three phases of water can be seen in the various spheres. Hence, when water moves or is stored temporarily in either the atmosphere, biosphere, cryosphere, lithosphere, and hydrosphere in a cyclic form, it is referred to as the hydrological cycle (Figure 15.1). Although water on earth can be stored in any one of the following major reservoirs such as the atmosphere, oceans, lakes, rivers, soils, glaciers, snowfields, and groundwater, it can also move from one reservoir to another by many natural processes such as evaporation, transpiration, evapotranspiration, condensation, precipitation, deposition, runoff, infiltration, sublimation, melting, and groundwater flow. The oceans supply most of the evaporated water found in the atmosphere. Of this evaporated water, only 91% of it is returned to the oceans by way of precipitation. The remaining 9% is transported to areas over landmasses where climatological factors induce the formation of precipitation. The resulting imbalance between rates of evaporation and precipitation over land and ocean is corrected by runoff and groundwater flow to the oceans. The hydrological cycle is dynamic resulting in earth's water being always in a state of movement. The hydrological cycle, which is also known as the natural water cycle, describes the continuous movement of water on, above, and below the surface of the Earth. Furthermore, water is always changing states between liquid, vapor, and ice, with these processes happening in the blink of an eye and over millions of years (Source: http://water.usgs.gov/edu/watercycle.html Accessed 10 Aug 2015).
Figure 15.1: The Hydrological Cycle depicts a cyclical movement and change of phase of water between the various spheres (Source: http://water.usgs.gov/edu/watercycle.html Accessed 10 Aug 2015). 95
Figure 15.2 illustrates the global water distribution, or the storage of the earth‘s water in various forms (Source: http://water.usgs.gov/edu/watercycle.html Accessed 10 Aug 2015). Notice carefully that most of the earth‘s water is saline water in oceans (97.5 %) and only 2.5 % is freshwater. Of this 2.5 % freshwater, most of it is trapped and locked up as glaciers and ice caps (68.7 %) as well as deep ground water (30.1 %), leaving only 1.2 % as surface freshwater (rivers, lakes, ponds, wetlands etc). The fresh surface-water sources, such as rivers and lakes, only constitute about 93,100 cubic kilometers of freshwater, which is about 1/150th of 1 % of total water. These figures explain how little freshwater water humanity really has and the urgency to conserve it.
Figure 15.2: Storage of the earth‘s water http://water.usgs.gov/edu/watercycle.html Accessed 10 Aug 2015).
in
various
forms
(Source:
Viewed from outer space, Earth is a blue planet (Photograph 15.1). It is the only blue planet that we know of, i.e. the only planet with water enough to make it look blue. But is this blue planet really ―full of water‖? Yes, and no. Yes, it is blue because it is almost full of water at the surface, as oceans consist of 71 % of the earth‘s surface and land covers only 29 % of the earth‘s surface. No, because even though 71 % of earth‘s surface is water, most of the water is saline water which is not usable in its natural state. Table 15.1 is a detailed explanation of where Earth's water is. Notice how of the world's total water supply of about 1,386 million cubic kilometers of water, over 96 % is saline and cannot be used. Of the total freshwater, the amount that is found in rivers and lakes, i.e. the amount most of humanity use) is 96
only 0.0002 % of total water available. Thus, rivers and lakes that supply surface water for human uses only constitute about 93,100 cubic kilometers, which is about 0.007 percent of total water. Ironically, rivers are the main source of water used by most people on earth, but they are grossly polluted and degraded (see Chapter 38).
Photograph 15.1: Earth is the only planet in the known universe that is blue in colour because of its water (Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/earth-space-universe-globe-41953/ Accessed 10 Aug 2016). Table 15.1: Total amount of earth‘s water resources versus amount of freshwater in different forms (Source: Igor Shiklomanov's chapter "World fresh water resources" in Peter H. Gleick (editor), 1993, Water in Crisis: A Guide to the World's Fresh Water Resources. Oxford University Press, New York). Water Volume Km3
% Freshwater
% Total Water
1,338,000,000
--
96.5
Ice caps, Glaciers, & Permanent Snow
24,064,000
68.7
1.74
Groundwater
23,400,000
--
1.69
Fresh
10,530,000
30.1
0.76
Saline
12,870,000
--
0.93
Soil Moisture
16,500
0.05
0.001
Ground Ice & Permafrost
300,000
0.86
0.022
Lakes
176,400
--
0.013
Fresh
91,000
0.26
0.007
Saline
85,400
--
0.006
Atmosphere
12,900
0.04
0.001
Swamp Water
11,470
0.03
0.0008
Rivers
2,120
0.006
0.0002
Biological Water
1,120
0.003
0.0001
Water source Oceans, Seas, & Bays
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Water as a Renewable Resource There is no question that water is a renewable resource as it is evaporated from land and oceans to the atmosphere, and transpired from flora and fauna to the environment. In theory, we cannot ―destroy‖ water or make it more or reduce its volume on earth. Water‘s volume of earth has stayed basically more or less the same ever since the oceans and the atmosphere were formed. If all of Earth's water (oceans, icecaps and glaciers, lakes, rivers, groundwater, and water in the atmosphere was put into a sphere, then the volume of all the water would be about 1,386 million cubic kilometers (km3). This volume of water has stayed basically the same ever since earth was formed some 4.54 billion years ago. But is water truly renewable? It is renewable when it evaporates from Place A (on land) into the atmosphere, but when it falls back to land, it may not be on Place A but in another place X, Y or Z. Hence, we cannot assume that whatever water is present in one place will always be there. For example, the Aral Sea is a very good example whereby a huge source of water (the Aral Sea) was channeled elsewhere for irrigation and whatever that evaporated up to the atmosphere did not return to the sea. Photograph 15.2 illustrates the shrinking of the Aral Sea from 2000 to 2014 whereby water is ―lost‖ from the Aral Sea to elsewhere, confirming the notion that water is not ―renewable‖.
2000
2007
2014
Photograph 15.2: Shrinking of the Aral Sea from 2000 to 2014 illustrates that water is not ―renewable‖ in terms of space and time (Source: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/WorldOfChange/aral_sea.php Accessed 10 Aug 2015).
The important processes/stages of the hydrological cycle are:
Evaporation, Transpiration (Evapotranspiration) Transport Condensation Precipitation Sublimation Groundwater Run-off
Evaporation is the process by which a liquid phase of water changes into the gaseous phase. In the real world, water is transferred from the surface to the atmosphere through evaporation, whereby molecule of water heated up by solar radiation escapes from the water surface (e.g. a lake or the ocean) into the atmosphere and changes into a gas in the process. The sun‘s heat provides energy to evaporate water from the land surface, lakes, rivers and oceans send up a steady stream of water vapour. In the biosphere, trees and other plants (as well as animals and human beings) also lose water to the air via a process called transpiration. If we combine the two processes of evaporation and transpiration, we get a combined 98
process of evapotranspiration. Approximately 80% of all evaporation is from the oceans, with the remaining 20% coming from inland water and vegetation (http://www.euwfd.com/html/hydrological_cycle.html Accessed 10 Aug 2015). Transport is a process that does not involve any physical change in the properties of water. Neither does it involve any change of phase. What happens in transport is the mere movement of one form of water (of one phase) from one location to another location. For example, the movement of water through the atmosphere, specifically from over the oceans to over land, is called transport. Some of the earth‘s moisture transport is visible as clouds, which themselves consist of ice crystals and/or tiny water droplets.Clouds are propelled from one place to another by either the jet stream, surface-based circulations like land and sea breezes or other mechanisms. However, a typical cloud 1 km thick contains only enough water for a millimetre of rainfall, whereas the amount of moisture in the atmosphere is usually 10-50 times greater than this.Most water is transported in the form of water vapour, which is actually the third most abundant gas in the atmosphere. Water vapour may be invisible to us, but not to satellites which are capable of collecting data about moisture patterns in the atmosphere (http://www.euwfd.com/html/hydrological_cycle.html Accessed 10 Aug 2015). Condensation is a process whereby water in the gaseous form is transformed into water droplets. This is usually done by cooling. When hot water vapour is transported from the land surface to the upper atmosphere, the water vapour experiences cooling by the surrounding atmosphere. This cooling effect will eventually cause the water vapour to condense, or form into tiny droplets in clouds. Precipitation is another process whereby the droplets formed during condensation becomes large due to coalescence (many droplets combining when they clash into one another in the clouds). Eventually, the droplets become very bid and heavy enough to fall out from clouds. This falling out of the droplets is called precipitation. Hence, the primary mechanism for transporting water from the atmosphere to the surface of the earth is precipitation. There are many types of precipitation. For example, when the clouds meet cool air over land, precipitation, in the form of rain, sleet or snow, is triggered and water returns to the land (or sea). A proportion of atmospheric precipitation evaporates. Once precipitation hits the land surface, it either flows on top as run-off or infiltrates into the ground as groundwater. Some of the precipitation soaks into the ground and this is the main source of the formation of the waters found on land - rivers, lakes, groundwater and glaciers. Some of the underground water is trapped between rock or clay layers - this is called groundwater. Water that infiltrates the soil flows downward until it encounters impermeable rock and then travels laterally. The locations where water moves laterally are called ‗aquifers‘. Groundwater returns to the surface through these aquifers, which empty into lakes, rivers and the oceans. Under special circumstances, groundwater can even flow upward in artesian wells. The flow of groundwater is much slower than run-off with speeds usually measured in centimetres per day, metres per year or even centimetres per year (Figure 15.3). Groundwater is a component of the water cycle; it comes from the infiltration of precipitation through voids in soil and rocks. Once all the available space is filled with water, it is said to be saturated. Groundwater flows through aquifers, which are geological formations made up of granular or fractured material from which a sufficient quantity of water can be extracted to serve as a water supply (http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/earthsciences/science/water/groundwater/10988 Accessed 10 Aug 2015). An aquifer is a geological formation, composed of granular sediments or fractured rock, which contains sufficient saturated permeable material to yield significant quantities of water to wells and springs. The recharge rate of an aquifer provides some indication of the quantity of water that can be pumped in a sustainable manner. The velocity at which groundwater flows towards lakes and oceans vary from a few centimeters to a few meters per year. Many cities in the world depend on graoundwater as their main source of water supply and irrigation. As such, over-abstraction and pollution have destroyed groundwater to a large extent. Some pertinent 99
examples are Bangkok, Mexico City, Los Angeles, Beijing, etc (Photograph 15.3). .Groundwater contamination is linked to deficient practices and faulty infrastructures. Examples of potential sources of contamination include: spreading excessive amounts of manure and overuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, poorly designed septic tanks, poorly controlled or managed landfill sites, hydrocarbon reservoir or pipeline leaks, accidental spills, excessive use of road salt, livestock production waste, sewage system leaks, mining residue, liquid waste disposal wells, etc. Groundwater is a highly useful and often abundant resource. However, over-pumping can cause serious problems to society and environment. The most serious problem is a dropping of the ground water table to a depth that is beyond the reach of normal wells. Consequently, deep wells must now be drilled with more expensive equipment in order to reach the groundwater. In some places such as California and India, the water table has dropped tens of metres because of excessive over-pumping. When ground water tables have dropped significantly, it may, in turn, cause other problems such as land subsidence and saltwater intrusion, both of which have serious implications on the livability and sustainability of the city.
Figure 15.3: Precipitation penetrates the soil surface as infiltration which seeps into the ground and forms aquifers, water table and groundwater flow. The Hydrological Cycle and Floods in Cities Run-off is that portion of the water from the hydrological cycle that flows on the land. Streams and rivers are considered as parts of runoff. Even surface drains can be considered as part of runoff. Most of the water which returns to land flows downhill as run-off. Some of it penetrates and charges groundwater while the rest, as river flow, returns to the oceans where it evaporates. As the amount of groundwater increases or decreases, the water table rises or falls accordingly. When the entire area below the ground is saturated, flooding occurs because all subsequent precipitation is forced to remain on the surface. Different surfaces hold different amounts of water and absorb water at different rates. As a surface becomes less permeable, an increasing amount of water remains on the surface, creating a greater potential for flooding. Flooding is very common during winter and early spring because frozen ground has no permeability, causing most rainwater and meltwater to become run-off. Runoff has significant 100
implications in cities which have impermeable or impervious surfaces such as cement, concrete, tarred surfaces, buildings, and other synthetic surfaces. These impervious surfaces do not allow rainfall to penetrate into the ground. Hence, the amount of runoff or water that flows on the land surface is greatly increased. This has led to flash floods (Chan, 2000; Chan, 2013). Land use change in cities is the main reason why the hydrological cycle has been modified by humans resulting in flash floods. This is exemplified by the increase in flash flooding in urban areas in Malaysia (Zakaria et al., 2004). In the case of rapid urbanization in Malaysia, it was found that progressive movement from agriculture to an industrialized economy has shifted the population into urban centers. In 1970, a total of 26.8 % of the population were urban dwellers. By 1980 urbanization had increased the population to 35.8 % and by 1991 to 50.7%. Recent projection indicated that urbanization in Malaysia would result in urban population exceeding 65% by the year 2020. Urban development will necessarily be geared to meet the need of these increasing urban dwellers and this will result in paved surfaces. For an example study in Subang Jaya, Malaysia, the most populated area an increase in impervious area from 0-40% have shortened the time of concentration by about 50% and increased the magnitude of the runoff discharge by about 190% (Abdullah, 2000). Rapid and poorly envisaged urbanisation has led to floods (Chan, 2015).
Photograph 15.3: Chinese villagers walks past a notice board on display near the Miyun reservoir, north of Beijing, China (Source: © Andy Wong/STF/AP Images http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/chinaas-water-demands-grow-sharply-supply-is-shrinking/ar-AAdGDOp?srcref=rss Accessed 10 Aug 2015). Malaysia has developed very rapidly since the 1970s with urbanization and industrialization going handin-hand. Rapid land use change was the consequence. This further increased in paved areas will increase the magnitude of complexities. Chan et al (2013) and Chan (2011) have found that incidences of flash flood in Malaysian urban areas have increased (Photograph 15.4). Studies by Department of Irrigation and Drainage Malaysia show that the number of the rivers having capabilities to cater the surface runoff is decreasing. The surface runoff from the development using the drainage system based on conventional approach will increase the magnitude of the peak discharges 2 times and its rapidly discharge to nearest river system. Major zones that are prone to these problems include urban centers in the Klang Valley, MSC/KLIA region, upper Kinta Valley, Penang, Linggi Basin, Johor Baharu, Melaka Basin and other new sosio-economic growth areas in the West Coast of the peninsula. Government allocations to resolve the current structural work under Flood Mitigation Programmed such as the construction of dam, reservoir and deepening and widening the rivers increase from time to time. Therefore a preventive 101
measure as suggested in the Storm Water Management Manual to mitigate flash flood becoming increasing relevant (see Chapter 39). The application of Storm Water Management by the government and private sector can reduce the increase of surface runoff discharge directly into the river and at the long term it will help to minimize government expenditure on flood mitigation. Open channel drainage in urban areas has also contributed to river pollution. Domestic wastes such as solid waste and garbage littered are easily carried by rain water into open drains which finally end up in rivers. Finally, government has to allocate a huge budget to take away the solid waste from the river. For an example about 20 tones garbage littered per day collected from the Klang River. To overcome this problem Department of Irrigation and Drainage has suggested that underground drainage should be constructed in new development area as suggested in Urban Storm Water Management Manual (Ahmad Hussaini, 2014). The new system suggested in this manual does not only have a capability to reduce solid waste in the river system but also has a capability to purify another pollutant such as grease, oil and etc. Without the implementation of all these measures to combat floods, flood disasters like the 2014 disastrous floods in Kuala Krai will become more common in the future as global warming escalates (Photograph 15.5) (Alang Othman et. al., 2016).
Photograph 15.4: The town of Segamat in Johor State is flooded by heavy rains that caused the Segamat River and other rivers to overflow their banks.--STARpic by Glenn Guan (Source: The Star, Thursday December 21, 2006).
Photograph 15.5: Water world: The aerial view of Kuala Krai, Kelantan, which is inundated with floodwaters Picture courtesy of Capt Bagawan Singh (Source: http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2014/12/27/Photo-gallery-floods-part-2/ Accessed 10 Aug 2015). 102
Conclusion The hydrological cycle can bring resources (e.g. rains and water resources) or hazards (e.g. droughts and floods). The hydrological cycle is dynamic and can change due to a variety of reasons – climate change (e.g. weather becomes drier or wetter), lithospheric change (e.g. volcanic eruptions and landslides), biospheric changes (e.g. deforestation and forest fires), atmospheric changes (e.g. air pollution caused by volcanic eruptions can cause acid rain) and other natural systems induced changes. However, it can also change due to human activities. Human activities such as urbanization (change from forested land to urban built-up areas reduce rain absorption by trees and reduce infiltration but increase runoff, all of which lead to flooding), over-abstraction of river and lake waters lead to drying up of rivers and lakes (e.g. the Aral Sea has been turned into a desert due to over-abstraction, amongst other reasons), generation of anthropogenic air pollution such as industrialization, burning of fossil fuels, gasoline run automobiles and burning of landfills and forests (polluted air generates heavier rainfalls and cause acid rains), all change the hydrological regime negatively. Once the hydrological cycle is negatively impacted upon, the inevitable results would be negative impacts on both natural systems (e.g. droughts, floods, acid rain, water pollution, etc) and human systems (e.g. floods, water crises, water poisoning, waterborne diseases, acid rain, etc). To minimize the negative effects of the hydrological cycle from affecting human society, particularly urban communities, humans should not disturb natural systems that can affect the hydrological cycle. If natural systems have been disturbed, they should be restored or rehabilitated. Gazettement of parks and reafforestation are practical ways to increase rain water absorbance in cities. Integrated river basin management involving prudent green space management, water catchment management, sustainable urban drainage, river management and green architecture, will help restore the hydrological cycle. To minimize the negative impacts of disturbed hydrological regimes, planners need to have a basic knowledge of hydrological processes relevant to urban storm drainage, understanding of impacts of urbanization on hydrological processes and on surface runoff, and awareness of methods to mitigate adverse hydrological impacts of urbanizations. They need to know about structural and nonstructural measures for flood management, sustainable urban drainage systems, water quality control, and other aspects related to management of the hydrological cycle in order to ensure appropriate attention is given to the cycle in urban development planning. City managers need to understand basic concepts of catchment modelling, hydrological cycle processes related to urban stormwater drainage, impacts of urbanization on the hydrological processes, and approaches to mitigate negative impacts. If urbanization cannot be controlled, then what needs to be controlled would be the transformation of natural habitats with minimal disturbance. Urbanization brings changes in land use with construction of infrastructures, buildings, roads, parks and other facilities. The trick is to ensure that the construction effects are minimal and the resultant structures are water-friendly and does not affect the hydrological cycle. Questions to Ponder (1) What components of the hydrological cycle is important to your city and why? What components of the hydrological cycle have been changed by the building/expansion of your city and why? (2) With reference to your local city, identify the incidence of flash floods. What are the causes? How can flash floods be prevented in your city? (3) Describe how your city can be designed to be more resilient to flash floods. (4) What is sustainable urban drainage? How can the city embark on sustainable urban drainage? Acknowledgements: The authors would like to acknowledge funding from the Kementerian Pendidikan Tinggi Long Term Research Project (LRGS) under Universiti Utara Malaysia titled ―Economic Model for Flood Disaster Impact Analysis‖, Account Number 304/PHUMANITI/650710/U143. References Abdullah, K .(2000) ―Masalah Banjir dan Manual Saliran Mesra Alam‖. Paper presented at the Mesyuarat Pegawai Kanan Perancang Bandar dan Desa Malaysia Ke XIV, 3-7 September 2000, Port Dickson, N.S. 103
Ahmad Hussaini (2014) ―A Comprehensive Urban Stormwater Management Approach in Combating Flood in Malaysia: An Indispensable Link for Safer, Greener and More Livable Urban Environment. ‖ Keynote Paper presented at the 13th international conference on urban drainage, 2014, 7th – 12th September, Borneo Convention Center Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia. Alang Othman, Nor Azazi Zakaria, Aminuddin Ab Ghani, Chang, C.K. and Chan, N.W. (2016) Analysis of trends of extreme rainfall events using Mann Kendall test: a case study of Pahang and Kelantan river basins. Jurnal Teknologi, 78:6 (2016): 92-99 (www.jurnalteknologi.utm.my), slSSN 2180-3722. Chan, N.W. (2000) Chapter 29 – Reducing Flood Hazard Exposure and Vulnerability in Peninsular Malaysia. In D J Parker (ed) Floods Volume II. London: Routledge, 19 - 30. Chan, N.W. (2011) Tasik Harapan: Multi-Purpose Use as Retention Pond for Flood Control, Recreation, Research and Community Participation. In Proceedings of The 3rd National Conference on Geography and Environment, Dept of Geography & Environment, Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI . Chan, N. W. (2013) Managing urban flood hazards in Malaysia: emerging issues and challenges. Proceedings IACSC 2012 The 3rd International Academic Consortium For Sustainable Cities Symposium, 8 September 2012 Thailand. Bangkok: Thammasat University, p154-159. Chan, N.W. (2015) Chapter 12 Impacts of Disasters and Disaster Risk Management in Malaysia: The Case of Floods. In Aldrige, D.P., Oum, S. and Sawada, Y. (Editor) Resilience and Recovery in Asian Disasters, Risks, Governance and Society. Springer (e-Book), 239-265. Chan, N.W., Ku Ruhana Ku-Mahamud and Mohd Zaini Abd. Karim (2013) Local wisdom in adapting to and coping with flood disasters in ASEAN countries. In Norizan, E. (Editor) Reengineering Local Knowledge - Life, Science and Technology. Penang: Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia, 59-72. Gleick, P.H. (editor) (1993) Water in Crisis: A Guide to the World's Fresh Water Resources. New York: Oxford University Press. http://www.euwfd.com/html/hydrological_cycle.html (Accessed 10 Aug 2015). http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/china-as-water-demands-grow-sharply-supply-is-shrinking/arAAdGDOp?srcref=rss (Accessed 10 Aug 2015). https://www.pexels.com/photo/earth-space-universe-globe-41953/ (Accessed 10 Aug 2016). http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2014/12/27/Photo-gallery-floods-part-2/ (Accessed 10 Aug 2015). http://water.usgs.gov/edu/watercycle.html (Accessed 10 Aug 2015). The Star, Thursday December 21, 2006. Zakaria, N.A., Aminuddin, A.G., Abdullah, R., Sidek. L.M., Kassim, A.H. and Ainan, A. (2004) MSMAA new urban stormwater management manual for Malaysia. Paper presented at the The 6th Int. Conf. on Hydroscience and Engineering (ICHE-2004), May 30-June 3, Brisbane, Australia. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
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CHAPTER 16
WATER FOR AGRICULTURE
Ranjan Roy Introduction More and more of the world‘s population are becoming concentrated in and around large cities. Ensuring the right to have access to safe and nutritious food to the billions of people living in cities represents a global development challenge of the highest order. Promoting sustainable agricultural production in urban and peri-urban areas and developing food systems capable of meeting urban consumer demand will become increasingly important to global food security. Currently however, the important relationship between food security, agriculture and urbanization is often not sufficiently recognized. This briefing note highlights the major issues related to food, agriculture and cities and provides a set of recommendations for action at the global, national and local level. Urbanization, poverty and hunger In 2008, for the first time in history, the world‘s urban population outnumbered its rural population. In 2005, the world‘s population stood at 6.5 billion and it is expected to reach 9.2 billion by 2050. This population growth will take place mainly in urban areas of developing countries, By 2030, 3.9 billion people are expected to be living in the cities of the developing world (Source: http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/FCIT/PDF/food-agriculture-cities_advocacy.pdf Accessed 11 Aug 2015). The impact of expanding urban populations will vary from country to country. Depending on national policies settings and economic structure, increased urbanization can affect hunger and poverty in both positive and negative ways. As cities expand, so does the urban consumer demand for food. The recent food and financial crises have highlighted the problem of urban food insecurity in developing countries. Urban households have been hard hit as they saw their purchasing power declining drastically, while they have a very limited capacity to produce their own food. Investing in urban food security It is clear that in order to reach the Millennium Development Goal 1: ‗eradicate extreme poverty and hunger‘, urgent attention will need to be given to cities. Food production, marketing, and transportation, as well as the sustainable management of natural resources in and around cities will play an important role in reaching this goal. Feeding expanding urban populations will also help reduce the risk of social unrest and conflict. In addition, satisfying the food needs of expanding urban markets and promoting nutritious diets in urban households can function as a motor for economic and social development in rural communities. Irrigation Irrigation is the artificial application of water to the land or soil with to grow agricultural crops such as rice, wheat and maize. Irrigating crops land is one of the main determinants of increasing food production, which is a crucial issue of feeding the billions of malnourished people. Currently, one in nine is suffering from chronic undernourishment in the world (FAO, 2014). Agriculture (70%) is the main consumer of water followed by domestic use (12%) and industrial sector (20%), and agriculture is seen as the main factor behind the increasing global scarcity of freshwater. In 2010, an estimated 11% of the world‘s population was living without access to adequate drinking-water (FAO, 2013). To feed the ever increasing population, there is no alternative to expand crop production, although it will put more pressure on water. Worldwide, to feed the 9 billion people in 2050, 70% more food is needed. The developing countries as a whole are likely to expand their irrigated area from 202 million ha in 1997-99 to 242 million ha by 2030 (FAO, 2002). Moreover, in the context of climate change, agricultural water consumption is expected to increase by more than 19% (UN-Water, 2014). The issue of ‗irrigation‘ has therefore become an important focus of sustainable socio-economic development in the developing countries.
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A central question may come to reader‘s mind ‗is there enough water to combat the global challenges‘? There is no straightforward answer for this question, since the future is uncertain and imminent impacts of climate change on water are largely unknown. But, whatever is certain that the state of water resource has been increasingly encountering the negative impacts of climate change (IPCC, 2014). Available studies however show that globally there will be no overall shortage of water for irrigation, but serious problems will persist in some countries and regions (FAO, 2002). Specifically, due to a huge pressure on groundwater, in large areas of India and China, ground-water levels are falling by 1 to 3 metres per year, causing subsidence in buildings, intrusion of seawater into aquifers and higher pumping costs. Ground water arsenic contamination has come out as a serious natural calamity in some regions/countries such as Bangladesh and India. Environmental dimensions of water use and water pollution by agriculture is another frequently voiced concern among researchers, academics and others. Many water management and pollution issues have grown in importance in recent decades, for example, contamination of surface water from agro-chemicals, water logging and salinization. To minimise irrigation water scarcity, increasing farming water use efficiency is essential. ‗Soft‘ and ‗hard‘ measures such as improving growers‘ skills on water harvesting, patronage local water organisations, adopting water saving agronomic practices, and using rotational irrigation are useful approaches for improving this efficiency. Moreover, integrated river basin development and conjunctive use of ground and surface water are some potential strategies for mitigating agricultural water crisis. Some basic questions for students‘ brainstorming: (i) How human and social capitals can contribute to improve irrigation management? (ii) How irrigation should be managed to achieve the ‗Post 2015 Development Agenda‘ for water: securing sustainable water for all? (iii) How rivers can be promoted for sustainable irrigation management? (iv) Do you support the statement of the Asian Development Bank president (1999-2005) that ‗the water crisis in the Asia region is essentially a crisis of water governance‘? If so, how? Drought In layman‘s terms, a drought is a dry period with inadequate rainfall. It is defined as an extended period when a region receives a deficiency in its water supply, whether atmospheric, surface or ground water. Generally, it occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation. Droughts can be attributed into 4 types: a meteorological drought (precipitation well below average), agricultural drought (low soil moisture), hydrological drought (low river flows and low water levels in rivers, lakes and groundwater), and environmental drought (a combination of the above). Experts state droughts are the ‗world‘s costliest natural disaster‘, accounting for 6-8 billion US dollars annually, and impacting more people than any other form of natural disaster (FAO, 2013). Occurrence of droughts determined largely by changes in sea surface temperatures, especially in the tropics, through associated changes in the atmospheric circulation and precipitation. Droughts have explicit associations with the global warming, since increased precipitation variability is projected to increase the risks of drought in many areas (IPCC, 2014). The 2003 heat wave in Europe, attributable to global warming (Schär et al., 2004), was accompanied by annual precipitation deficits up to 300 mm. In Australia, direct links to global warming have been inferred through the extreme nature of high temperatures and heat waves accompanying recent droughts (IPCC, 2014). Worldwide, the frequency, intensity, and duration of droughts are expected to rise as a result of climate change, with an increasing human and economic toll. Droughts can lead to losses to agriculture, affect inland navigation and hydropower plants, and cause a lack of drinking water and famine. One-third of the people in Africa lives in drought-prone areas and is vulnerable to the impacts of droughts (World Water Forum, 2000). In 2012, the Western Sahel suffered a 106
severe drought that pushed several millions of people at risk of famine due to a month-long heat wave. Countries like Colombia, Pakistan, Somalia, Australia, Guatemala, China, United States of America, and Kenya are currently suffering severe drought conditions. Despite droughts have become serious problems for socio-economic development of many countries, no concerted efforts has ever been made to formulate national drought policy. Only very few countries in the world have national drought policy. Among them Australia has developed a national drought policy based on the principles of risk management. To avert drought impacts, experts suggest a number of measures: developing proactive drought impact mitigation, preventive and planning, promoting greater collaboration to enhance the quality of regional observation networks and delivery systems, improving public awareness of drought risk and preparedness for drought, and linking drought management plans to local/national development policies. Few pertinent questions for drought management: (i) How should we plan for drought management at the individual and household level? (ii) Do you support that drought is the world‘s costliest natural disaster? If so how? (iii) What plans you suggest growers to avert agricultural drought in your locality? (iv) What preventive health measures are useful to reduce drought impacts? Desertification Desertification is the persistent degradation of dry land ecosystems. It is the process of fertile land transforming into desert typically as a result of unsustainable use of scarce resources. Not only the dry lands and developing countries, desertification is a problem that affects all regions. Nearly 33% of all agricultural land is either highly or moderately degraded (UNCCD, 2014) that are highly vulnerable to desertification. Moreover, it has been compounded by the inappropriate farming practices, deforestation, climate variability, and over drafting ground water. It is estimated that climatic stresses account for 62.5% of all stresses on land degradation in Africa (UNCCD, 2014). As a consequence, about 135 million people are at risk of being displaced by desertification. The problem is most severe in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa. By 2020 an estimated 60 million people could move from the desertified areas of sub-Saharan Africa towards North Africa and Europe (UNCCD, 2014). People in dry land largely depend on ecosystem services for their basic needs and these services are increasingly encountering dire climatic conditions. The US National Security Strategy shows climate change is a key global challenge that leads to suffering from drought and famine, catastrophic natural disasters and the degradation of land across the globe (GreenFacts, 2006). Broadly, a combination of social, political, economic, and natural factors are responsible for causing desertification. Specifically, policies can spur unsustainable use of resources. Population growth and intensive agriculture contributes to land degradation and desertification. But, crop cultivation by adopting sustainable land management significantly minimized land degradation in Brazil (UNCCD, 2014). Other dimensions like resource management and globalization can play either a positive or a negative role, depending on how it is managed. Desertification is a constant threat to livelihoods. It is an amplifier of displacement, forced migration, radicalization, extremism, and violence (UNCCD, 2014; GreenFacts, 2006). Failing to tackle desertification alongside climate change and poverty is a recipe for political and economic chaos (Reed and Stringer, 2015). Effective prevention of desertification requires management and policy approaches that promote sustainable resource use. Advocates recommend the creation of a ‗culture of prevention‘ is needed to prevent, stop or reverse desertification. This notion depends on emphasizing local innovations, developing demand-driven technologies and formulating good policies. Moreover, it requires long term planning, institutional support, and active local involvement. An important question on desertification: (i) How can we transform a desertified area into other purposes, e.g., afforestation? (ii) What roles international communities should play to curb a mass exodus from the desertified areas? 107
Food and Water: Virtual Water The concept of ‗virtual water‘ refers to the amount of water that is embedded in food or other products needed for its production. It is a measure of the total water used in production of a good or service, for example, is has been estimated that to produce one kilogram of wheat requires about 1000 litres of water (Allan, 1998). Likewise, 140 litres of water is used to grow, produce, package and ship the beans for getting a cup of coffee. Virtual water is also referred to as ‗embedded water‘ because it represents the water used in the whole production chain embedded in end-products (rather than the actual water content of the finished product). ‗The virtual water metaphor was originally created to gain the attention of public officials who choose policies that influence the use of water resources in arid regions‘ (Wichelns, 2007). To illustrate the concept, an example of virtual water for dairy production in Australia is presented in Table 16.1. In 1993, Professor John Allan proposed the virtual water concept to measure how water is embedded in the production and trade of food and consumer products. The concept was initially used to illustrate the advantages to water scarce nations of trade with other nations, rather than attempting to produce all goods locally. Now it is a policy tool that helps in developing alternatives in water, food and environmental policies. Conceptually, the virtual water concept embraces the whole water management in a country or basin and allows for a deeper understanding of water use through for example diet description or broader optimisation of water allocation between different water uses by incorporating access to external water resources through virtual water trade (World Water Council, 2004). Table 16.1: Producing one litre of milk requires around 915 litres of virtual water Source of ‗virtual water‘ use Volume of ‗virtual water‘ used (‗virtual water‘ litres per litre of milk) Directly used in production Rainfall on to pasture 400 Irrigation of pasture 300 Stock drinking water 12 Indirectly used in production Rainfall and irrigation water used 200 in production of feed grain Total 915 Source: Hoekstra and Chapagain (2007) The virtual water concept is a means of promoting an awareness of the water implications of the production or export of certain commodities or products. It explains how and why nations such as Japan, Egypt and Italy import billions of litres of water each year, while the US, Argentina and Brazil export billions. It has opened the door to more productive water use. Moreover, this concept draws useful lessons like changing our diets could make much water available for other purposes and limiting wastage (e.g., waste less food) can reduce water consumption (Victorian Women‘s Trust, 2007). Zimmer and Renault (2003) illustrates if every human being adopted the Western style diet, some 75% more water would be needed for food production. But virtual water is not only about diets. It is also about trade – virtual water is what really makes water a global issue. As Allan said that water scarce nations like Jordan imported water-intensive goods, and suggested that other water scarce nations could ease pressure on their meagre internal freshwater resources by importing water-intensive goods, rather than using scarce indigenous water supplies to produce goods with high embedded water content (Allan 1997).
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However, this concept has deficiencies. Frontier Economics (2008) states the virtual water concept is that it does not take into account the opportunity cost of using water nor other inputs used in production. The measurement of virtual water has little practical value in decision making regarding the best allocation of scarce water resources due to a lack of a useful and reliable benchmark for choosing between alternative uses of the nation‘s scarce water resource (National Water Commission, 2008). Conclusion The world‘s population (including cities‘ population) is exploding and with each birth, there is one more mouth to feed. More and more of the world‘s population is moving to cities and getting concentrated in and around large cities. The stark reality is that cities do not produce enough of their own food. Most of it is imported either form their hinterland or from abroad. Cities cannot function without food. Hence, ensuring adequate supply of food, and the right to access to safe and nutritious food to the billions of people living in cities represents a global development challenge of the highest order. Hence, despite their limitations of agricultural space, cities need to promote sustainable urban agricultural (urban farming), both within the cities as well as peri-urban areas (Figure 16.1). With an integrated agricultural system involving all its inhabitants, it is not impossible for cities to produce enough of their own food needs. Imagine if every household were to plant vegetables and other food crops instead of flowers in their gardens, the food supply would be adequate. Urban agriculture is one way of developing food systems capable of meeting urban consumer demand towards city food security. This important relationship between food security, agriculture and urbanization needs to be firmly recognized and addressed. At city and national levels, governments must start to plan and implement policies and programmes that address the issue related to food, agriculture and cities. City planning and budget allocations must necessarily include enhancing the productive capacity of urban and peri-urban areas for urban farming towards sustainable food production. Cities must also ensure that existing farms within the city limits and their peripheral areas must be protected from encroachment and urban sprawl. Agricultural land use in cities must be prioritized based on food security and not on economic value. In order to protect urban farms, and the sustainability of urban food production, it is crucial to protect the environmental health of these areas by strengthening the integrated management of natural resources, including trees, land and water throughout the entire urban and peri-urban landscape. Policies should be put in place to use planning mechanisms that protect agricultural land use in cities by insulating these lands against market forces. It is noteworthy to recognize that city farm lands have other important environmental and social functions, such as mitigating and adapting to climate change, reducing urban heat islands, flood control, recreation and tourism. As for water conservation in relation to agriculture, the viable option is to adopt the sustainable agriculture model that maximises production of crops per drop. Via sustainable agriculture, i.e. farming practices using the principles of ecology with symbiotic relationships between crops, organisms and their environment, healthy crops will be produced and the environment protected. Sustainable agriculture, whether it is in the rural or city setting, will be sustainable in the long run. Sustainable farming will satisfy human food and fiber needs, protect environmental quality and natural resources, integrate nonrenewable resources with on-farm resources, practise natural biological cycles and controls, and ensure a good quality of life for farmers and consumers. In terms of water use, sustainable agriculture uses waterefficient irrigation such as drip irrigation, selects the most suitable climate locality and wet season for farming, introduces water-saving technology, uses recycled water, adopts rainfall harvesting systems, uses terrace to trap runoff, and chooses the right type of drought-resistant crops. Finally, for urban agriculture, it should also evolve into sustainable urban agriculture to incorporate all the water-efficient practices and nature-oriented farming practices.
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Figure 16.1: A Vertical Urban Farm in the heart of Tokyo (Source: http://www.archdaily.com/428868/intokyo-a-vertical-farm-inside-and-out/ Accessed 11 Aug 2015). Questions to Ponder (1) Is there space for urban agriculture in your city? What sort of agriculture is practiced? If there is none, discuss how urban agriculture can be encouraged in your city. (2) How can your city seek a balance between achieving industrial growth and agricultural sufficiency? (3) Is sustainable agriculture achievable in your city/country? How can it be achieved? (4) How can you persuade people to participate in urban agriculture to increase self-sufficiency in food in your city? References Allan, T. (1997) Virtual water: a long term solution for water short Middle Eastern economies. Paper presented at the 1997 British Association Festival of Science, Roger Stevens Lecture Theatre, University of Leeds, September. Allan, J.A. (1998) Virtual water: a strategic resource. Global solutions to regional deficits. Groundwater, 36(4): 545-546. Bates, B.C., Z.W. Kundzewicz, S. Wu and J.P. Palutikof (Eds.) (2008) Climate Change and Water. Technical Paper of the IPCC. Geneva, 210 pp. FAO (2002) World agriculture: towards 2015/2030. Summary report. FAO, Rome, Italy. FAO (2013) FAO statistical yearbook 2013: world food and agriculture. FAO, Rome, Italy. FAO (2013) http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/172030/icode/ (Accessed 20 Aug 2016). FAO (2014) The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2014. FAO, Rome, Italy. 110
Frontier Economics (2008) The concept of ‗virtual water—a critical review. A report prepared for the Victorian department of primary industries. Melbourne. GreenFacts (2006) Facts on Desertification: A Summary of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Desertification Synthesis. http: //www.greenfacts.org(Accessed 20 Aug 2016). Hoekstra, A.Y. and Chapagain, A.K. (2007) Water footprints of nations: water use by people as a function of their consumption pattern. Water Resources Manage. 21 (1): 35–48. http://www.archdaily.com/428868/in-tokyo-a-vertical-farm-inside-and-out/ (Accessed 11 Aug 2015). IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) (2014) Climate Change 2014: Impact Adaptation d Vulnerability. Summary for Policymakers. Contribution of Working Group II to the 5th Assessment Report of the IPCC. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and New York. National Water Commission (2008) The concept of ‗virtual water‘. Distilled. The National Water Commission‘s eNewsletter, Australia Schär, C., P.L. Vidale, D. Luthi, C. Frei, C. Haberli, M.A. Liniger and C. Appenzeller (2004) The role of increasing temperature variability in European summer heat waves. Nature, 427(6972): 332–336. Reed M.S. and Stringer, L. C. (2015) Climate change and desertification: Anticipating, assessing & adapting to future change in drylands. Impulse Report for the 3rd UNCCD Scientific Conference. Cancun, Mexico. UNCCD (United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification) (2014) Desertification the invisible frontline. UNCCD, Bonn, Germany. Victorian Women‘s Trust (2007) Our Water Mark (http: //www.watermarkaustralia.org.au/ (Accessed 20 Aug 2016). UN-Water (2014) A post-2015 global goal for water: synthesis of key findings and recommendations from UN-water. Geneva. World Water Council (2004) E-Conference Synthesis: Virtual Water Trade - Conscious Choices, March 2004. Wichelns, D. (2007) ‗Virtual water: an economic perspective‘, Encyclopedia of water science. 1(1): 1-3. World Water Forum, 2000: The Africa Water Vision for 2025: Equitable and Sustainable Use of Water for Socioeconomic Development. World Water Forum, The Hague, 30 pp. Zimmer, D. and Renault, D. (2003) Virtual water in food production and global trade: Review of methodological issues and preliminary results. In Hoekstra ed. (2003). @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
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CHAPTER 17
WATER MANAGEMENT IN CITIES
Ngai Weng Chan, Main Rindam, Radiah Yusof, Masazumi Ao and Keng Yuen Foo Introduction According to the United Nations (http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/water_cities.shtml Accessed 11 Aug 2015), half of humanity now lives in cities, and within two decades, nearly 60 % of the world's people will be urban dwellers. Urban growth is most rapid in the developing world, where cities gain an average of 5 million residents every month. The exploding urban population growth creates unprecedented challenges, among which provision for water and sanitation have been the most pressing and painfully felt when lacking. Two main challenges related to water are affecting the sustainability of human urban settlements: the lack of access to safe water and sanitation, and increasing water-related disasters such as floods and droughts. These problems have enormous consequences on human health and well-being, safety, the environment, economic growth and development. The lack of adequate water and sanitation facilities leads to health issues such as diarrhoea, malaria and cholera outbreaks. Though water supply and sanitation coverage increased between 1990 and 2008, the growth of the world's urban populations jeopardizes those results. Between 1990 and 2008, 1052 million urban dwellers gained access to piped water and 813 million to improved sanitation, but the urban population in that period grew by 1089 million people (http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/water_cities.shtml Accessed 11 Aug 2015). In 2011, World Water Day (WWD), an annual event celebrated and aimed to highlight the glocal importance of water and raise the profile of water as a resource, the theme was ―Water for Cities: Responding to the Urban Challenge‖ (http://www.unwater.org/wwd11/ Accessed 11 Aug 2015). This theme highlights the great importancve that the United Nations is putting on water in the global arena. WWD 2011 was aimed at focusing international attention on the impact of rapid urban population growth, industrialization and climate change on water resources and environmental protection capabilities of cities and small towns (Figure 17.1). Key issues such as the growing urban water and sanitation demand, increased pollution from municipal and industrial discharges, climate change and its unforeseen risks and challenges, overexploitation of available water resources, better targeting of the urban poor were explored, including the role played by local governments, the private sector, NGOs and local communities. UN-HABITAT assumed responsibility for the annual World Water Day celebrations.
Figure 17.1: Left: The United Nations‘ theme for World Water Day 2011 was ―Water For Cities‖ (Source: http://www.unwater.org/wwd11/download/WWD2011_POSTER_EN_A4.jpg Accessed 11 Aug 2015). Right: Water Watch Penang (www.waterwatchpenang.org ) volunteers celebrate World Water Day 2016 locally in the Air Itam Dam, an event jointly organised with Perbadanan Bekalan Air Pulau Pinang (www.pba.com.my Accessed 20 Aug 2016). 112
The United Nations illustrates clearly how closely linked water and urbanization are. It can be seen that over 3.5 billion people live in cities and every second the urban population grows by 2 people. More alarmingly, 827.6 million people live in slums which lack adequate water and sanitation services. Despite 227 million people having moved out of slums between 2000 and 2010, mostly due to upgrading of slums, the slum population continues to grow by 6 million a year. By 2020, the global slum population is estimated to reach 888 million, and all these people need water (http://www.unwater.org/fileadmin/user_upload/unwater_new/docs/water_and_urbanization.pdf Accessed 11 Aug 2015). Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary General said "Urbanization brings opportunities for more efficient water management and improved access to drinking water and sanitation. At the same time, problems are often magnified in cities, and are currently outpacing our ability to devise solutions." (http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/water_cities.shtml Accessed 11 Aug 2015). River management is vital to ensure water supply. Chan (2002 and 2012) has documented how rivers are vital for sustainable water supply (see Chapter 38). Rivers are the ―Live Veins‖ of a country providing water resources, power generation, fisheries and other food, navigation, tourism and many other benefits to humankind. Yet, all over the world, more than half the rivers are badly polluted, degraded, abused and mismanaged to the extent that many are termed ―Dead Rivers‖, making mis-management of rivers a central problem of disintegrated river management in this 21st Century (Foo, 2015). While government has always been traditionally entrusted with the responsibility of managing rivers, increasingly, the public, NGOs, industrialists, farmers, and other stakeholders are playing a greater role. Sustainable management of rivers involves cooperation between government and all stakeholders. Japan has a good history of effective river management. In Tokyo, in the Tsurumi River basin, there is good cooperation between government, private sector and civil society in the management of the river basin. Cities all over the world, including Malaysia, should learn from the Japanese experience in river management. In the city of Georgetown, Malaysia, the Pinang River basin is an example of unsustainable management due to many reasons. The Pinang River is currently one of the most polluted rivers in Malaysia. Although civil society and NGOs are actively pushing for the conservation and restoration of this river, there is poor cooperation between Federal and State governments, little support from the private sector, lack of funds, public apathy, and most of all lack of stakeholders‘ involvement. The Tsurumi River basin management is a good example of excellent river management that the Pinang River management authorities should learn from in order to ensure sustainable management of this river. In all cities, rivers that run through them should be a ―Living River‖ and not a ―Dead River‖. In most cities, river management is heavily focused on the engineering aspects, or structural model such as building dams, embankments, levees, etc for water supply. However, increasingly, the policy and human (stakeholders) aspects of river management have gained more importance, especially in developed countries. A horizontal approach enabling major stakeholders to be engaged and play a role is the new model of integrated river basin management (IRBM) that contributes towards integrated water resources management (IWRM). Millennium Development Goals, Water and Cities According to the United nations, Two Millennium Development Goals (MDG) targets are closely related to water and cities: MDG target 7c calls for the reduction by half of the number without sustainable access to safe drinking water and sanitation and MDG target 7d articulates the commitment of UN member states to significantly improve the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by the year 2020 (http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/water_cities.shtml Accessed 11 Aug 2015). Based on current rate of progress, the world is expected to achieve the MDG drinking-water target. Currently, 96% of the urban population has access to improved drinking-water sources. However, the MDG sanitation target will not be realized by 2015. Urban areas, though often better served than rural areas, are struggling to keep up with the growth of the urban population. Worldwide, still 789 million urban dwellers live without access to improved sanitation. Regarding the MDG slum target, slum improvements are failing to keep pace with the growing ranks of the urban poor. Over the past 10 years, the share of the urban population living in 113
slums in the developing world has declined: from 39 % in 2000 to 33 % in 2010. However, in absolute terms, the number of slum dwellers in the developing world is actually growing, and will continue to rise in the near future. The number of urban residents living in slum conditions is now estimated at 828 million and is expected to grow by 6 million slum dwellers each year. Redoubled efforts will be needed to improve the lives of the growing numbers of urban poor in cities (http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/water_cities.shtml Accessed 11 Aug 2015). These MDGs are now replaced by the UN‘s new 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (see Chapter 40). An estimated 96 % of the urban population globally used an improved water supply source in 2010, compared to 81 % of the rural population. This means that 653 million rural dwellers lacked improved sources of drinking water. Globally, 79 % of the urban population used an improved sanitation facility in 2010, compared to 47 % of the rural population. Those who suffer the most of these water-related challenges are the urban poor, often living in slum areas or informal settlements following rapid urban growth, in situations lacking many of life's basic necessities: safe drinking water, adequate sanitation services and access to health services, durable housing and secure tenure. Success stories and failures of water management in Cities The city of Cochabamba in Bolivia became world famous in the year 2000 because of city-wide protests over its water privitization which raised water tariffs significantly, but not the quality of water services. The protests of 2000 became known as the Cochabamba Water War or the Water War in Bolivia (Oscar, 2004). The series of protests that took place in the city of Cochabamba, Bolivia‘s third largest city, between December 1999 and April 2000, were against to the privitization of the city's municipal water supply to a private company Semapa. The wave of demonstrations and police violence was described as a public uprising against water prices. Nickson and Vargas (2002) exposed the limitations of government water regulation on the privitization that led to the failure of the Cochambamba Concession. The population rioted against the 40-year concession only after 5 months due to tariffs increase. The tensions erupted when a new firm, Aguas del Tunari – a joint venture involving Bechtel – was required to invest in construction of long-envisioned dam which ―forced the company‖ to dramatically raise water tariffs. Protests, largely organized through the Coordinadora in Defense of Water and Life, a community coalition, erupted in January, February, and April 2000, culminating in tens of thousands marching downtown and battling police. One civilian was killed. On April 10, 2000, the national government reached an agreement with the Coordinadora to reverse the privatization. A complaint filed by foreign investors was resolved by agreement in January 2006. This incident serves to warn cities planning to implement water privitization to be very careful when drawing up the contract, awarding it, and the need to engage the water cosumers in the process. The Philippines is one of the Asia-Pacific countries with a story or two to tell about city water management. Before privatization, the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) was responsible for water services. The MWSS was one of the most unpopular government agencies because of inefficiency in water services, viz. low pressure, water thefts, contamination, high incidence of waterborne diseases, frequent water cuts, etc. In 1995 alone, there were 480 cases of cholera in Manila, and severe diarrhea-causing infections peaked in 1997 at 109,483 cases (http://www.icij.org/water/report.aspx?sID=ch&rID=51&aID=51 4 July 2004). So bad was the water services that people were convinced that anything else, including privatization, would be a better alternative to the MWSS. Hence, when two private water companies won concessions to take over Manila's waterworks in 1997, it was initially successful. Within five years the companies had connected about 2 million more people to the network and the service appeared to be much better than that provided by the MWSS. However, the success was short-lived. Six years after privatization, many of the old problems such as high non-revenue water rates, water thefts, debts, water cuts, low water pressure, underfunding and broken pipes have resurfaced and gotten worse. Worse of all, the water system 114
appeared to be crumbling. More alarmingly, water tariffs are on the rise. Due to inefficiency and poor management, water tariffs tripled following a series of rate increases imposed starting in 2001, and in January 2003, rates were to increase another 81 % in the east zone and 36 % in the west zone of Manila. Apparently, the government had failed to include a clause on tariff control in the privatization contract. Now, the private water companies, could increase tariffs at their own whims and fancies. The final proof of failure came in December 2002, when one of the companies, Maynilad Water, announced it was pulling out of the deal. While this signaled a failure, what was more important was that 6.5 million people in the western part of metro Manila would be left high and dry. As the government is morally responsible, it would have to buy back or refund Maynilad at least US$303 million in invested capital and reassume responsibility for US$530 million in future loan payments to MWSS creditors. Additionally, because the water system is crumbling, it has to spend for water and sewerage improvements. Therefore, the case of Manila city‘s water management is a mixture of success and failures. In Indonesia, water management in cities also had its problems. In its capital city of Jakarta, water management was faced with many problems than solutions (Bakker et. al., 2006). Four months before Suharto resigned on May 21, 1998, two MNCs, viz. Thames Water (British) and Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux (French) had taken control of Jakarta's waterworks by forming partnerships with Suharto's children and cronies. When Suharto fell, all hell broke loose. Among the thousands of foreigners who fled the country were the 30 executives and family members of the two water MNCs. It was reported that they did not leave the water system running and there were only three days‘ worth of chemicals left to clean the city's drinking water. According to Harsono, ―…the privatization of Jakarta's water is the story of powerful multinationals that deftly used the World Bank and a compliant dictatorship to grab control of a major city's waterworks. In alliance with the Suharto family and Suharto cronies, Thames and Suez won favorable concessions without public consultation or bidding. When the riots spread, the companies' executives fled, according to Indonesian waterworks officials, exposing millions of Jakarta residents to a potential catastrophe. Eventually they returned and renegotiated their contracts under somewhat less generous terms (https://planetwaves.net/aquasphere/norlnpgg/open/water_barons.html Accessed 11 Aug 2015). The lessons learn were similar to those in the case of Cochabamba and Manila: There were very little public consultation; governments were weak in comparison to the multi-nationals, and the award of contracts was not transparent and unprofessional. Water management in cities can be successful as there are many cases of exemplary efficient urban water management success stories. For example, urban water management in both the United Kingdom and the United States is largely successful. Singapore, despite its lack of water, ironically has an efficient water supply system with low Non-revenue water (NRW) and a very efficient computerized leak detection and response system. Singapore, as a ―water-poor‖ city, has also been very successful in desalination, and public engagement (Tortalajada, 2014). The city engages the consumers right from the time the children enter school. Most west European countries and Japan have efficient water management systems. Certainly, water management should be based on meritocracy and performance, with a public listed company can provide better services and be more effective and competitive. Water companies should be required to tender for projects and are selected not just by the government but also with active participation of communities involved (to ensure transparency and fairness). In the city of Georgetown in Penang, Malaysia, the Perbadanan Bekalan Air Pulau Pinang Sdn Bhd (PBAPP) is one of the best managed water companies (The Star, Saturday, April 27, 2002). This company is privatized in a very transparent manner with the State Government holding the majority of its shares. PBAPP has the lowest non-revenue water (NRW) of 22% in the country, high water revenue collection of 98%. It has a good profit track record and is considered the ―cash cow‖ of the Penang State Government. Although the PBAPP holds the monopoly to supply water to 1.26 million customers in Penang, it is regulated (and somewhat controlled) by the director of water supply. Another note is that its 115
existing licence is not forever, but will expire in 2005. This means its performance will be up for review, and a renewal is only assured as long as the state government‘s shareholding does not fall below 51 %. Urban water supply in Georgetown is 100 % for 24 hours a day, with good quality and services provided (Chan, 2007). The city of Yokohama in Japan is an exemplary model in modern water supply management for over 120 years, dating back to when the first supplies came on tap in 1887. 100% of the population now has access to running water, and stability of supply in the future is assured (http://www.city.yokohama.lg.jp/seisaku/senryaku/en/policies/water/ Accessed 12 Aug 2015). The city has an excellent water environment, and water from the tap is both safe and tasty to drink, thanks to the cutting-edge water purification technologies used by the city. As a leader in the field in Japan, having been the country's first city to build a modern water supply infrastructure, Yokohama makes active use of its technical expertise and human resources to contribute to the environment and the international community. The city water supply comes from a number of sources, including Doshi River in Yamanashi Prefecture and Lake Sagami and Lake Tsukui in the northwest of Kanagawa Prefecture, all of which have low pollution levels and maintain high quality standards. Yokohama takes all possible steps to ensure the quality of its water supply, and in addition to checking water quality in the 50 categories laid down by the central government, it sets its own targets and monitors quality in 67 categories. These targets exceed the water standards set by the central government. Water supply projects are closely tied to the environment in that they use water resources circulating in the natural environment to deliver the water needed in everyday life. Having been chosen as a model green city, Yokohama fulfills its responsibilities in various ways, including by protecting and developing watershed forests in partnership with local residents and through solar power generation projects. Making use of its long experience, know-how, and technical expertise, Yokohama has been actively involved in international programs, in collaboration with JICA and CITYNET, to improve access to safe piped water in developing countries since 1973. Conclusion Water is vital for human survival, and water is one resource that is irreplaceable. There is no alternative for water. Without water humans, and cities will not survive. Without good river and water management, water resources will be jeopardised, polluted and depleted. Hence, it is vital that cities protect rivers and ensure good water management to produce adequate, clean water to all to ensure cities flourish. Sustainable, efficient and equitable management of water in cities is vital in today's world. Without adequate water, it is almost impossible to achieve many internationally agreed goals such as the Millennium Development Goals in developing country cities. Cities need to institutionalize and act upon lessons learnt from their sister cities in the area of urban water management and urban development. Cities need to enhance thier capacities to make change happen in water management to engage as many different stakeholders as possible via IRBM and IWRM. Therefore, the United nations proposed that holistic water management approaches, methods and skills are needed to enable successful cooperation and collaboration, including those communication techniques which enable stakeholders to improve their performance, exchange knowledge, views and preferences and act collectively with a feasible vision of the future, promoting effective implementation. In the cities, the main focus of government officials, media specialists, key water operators and political representatives of cities and other stakeholder groups is to identify the key water issues and find practical solutions to move forward to meet the challenges of achieving sustainable urban water and sanitation for all. Questions to Ponder (1) What are the main sources of water for your city? Are these adequate? What are the alternatives? (2) What is the level/percentage of access to water and sanitation in your city? What are the main issues/problems in water and sanitation in your city? What are the solutions? (3) What is the role of the public, private sector and NGOs in water management in your city? 116
Acknowledgements: The authors would like to acknowledge the grant titled Engaging and educating orphans and primary school children in water and wastewater quality awareness and monitoring in Penang. University-Industry-Community Engagement Grant from Division of Industry & Community Network USM (1 July 2012 to 31 December 2016). References Bakker, K., Kooy, M., Nur Endah Shofiani and Martijn, E.J. (2006) "Disconnected: Poverty, Water Supply and Development in Jakarta, Indonesia" (PDF) Human Development Report 2006, Occasional Paper. UNDP. Chan, N.W. (Editor) (2002) Rivers: Towards Sustainable Development. Penang: Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia. Chan, N.W. (2007) The Perbadanan Bekalan Air Pulau Pinang Sdn Bhd (PBAPP): A Good Example of Corporate Social Responsibility of a Private Water Company. In Proceedings of International Forum on Water Environment Governance in Asia – Technologies and Institutional Systems for Water Environmental Governance, Ministry of Environment, Japan, Tokyo, 19-25. Chan, N.W. (2012) Managing Urban Rivers and Water Quality in Malaysia for Sustainable Water Resources. International Journal of Water Resources Development 28 (2), 343-354. Foo, K.Y. (2015) A shared view of the integrated urban water management practices in Malaysia. Water Science and Technology: Water Supply, Vol. 15, No. 3: 456-473. www.pba.com.my (Accessed 11 Aug 2016). https://planetwaves.net/aquasphere/norlnpgg/open/water_barons.html (Accessed 11 Aug 2015). www.waterwatchpenang.org (Accessed 11 Aug 2016). http://www.city.yokohama.lg.jp/seisaku/senryaku/en/policies/water/ (Accessed 12 Aug 2015). http://www.icij.org/water/report.aspx?sID=ch&rID=51&aID=51 (Accessed 4 July 2004). http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/water_cities.shtml (Accessed 11 Aug 2015). http://www.unwater.org/wwd11/ (Accessed 11 Aug 2015). http://www.unwater.org/wwd11/download/WWD2011_POSTER_EN_A4.jpg (Accessed 11 Aug 2015). Nickson, A. and Vargas, C. (2002) The Limitations of Water Regulation: The Failure of the Cochabamba Concession in Bolivia, Bulletin of Latin American Research, Volume 21, Number 1, January 2002. Oscar, O. (2004) Cochabamba: Water War in Bolivia. New York: South End Press. The Star, Saturday, April 27, 2002. Tortalajada, C. (2014) Lessons From Singapore's Water Independence (http://www.ubmfuturecities.com/author.asp?section_id=362&doc_id=524791 Accessed 12 Aug 2015). @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
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CHAPTER 18
WATER BUDGET OF A HOUSEHOLD
Ngai Weng Chan, Narimah Samat, Suriati Ghazali, Radiah Yusof and Wai Leng Phang Introduction Gleick (1996) has claimed that 50 liters per person per day of clean water should be considered a fundamental human right, as it is the minimal amount that is needed by a person to perform all his/her daily requirements. However, in reality, with the exception of water-stressed countries, most people in the world use much more than this amount. For example, Figure 18.1 shows that people in the USA use on average 550 liters/capita/day (LCD) (11 times the basic amount), people in the Japan use on average 375 liters/capita/day (LCD) (7.5 times the basic amount), people in the China use on average 80 liters/capita/day (LCD) (1.6 times the basic amount), people in the Haiti use on average 20 liters/capita/day (LCD) (0.4 times the basic amount), and people in Mozambique use on average only less than 10 liters/capita/day (LCD) (0.2 times the basic amount). In terms of households, based on an average of 6 people, households in the USA will use on average 3300 liters/household/day (LHD), households in the Japan will use on average 2250 LHD), households in the China will use on average 480 LHD, households in the Haiti will use on average 120 LHD, and households in Mozambique will use on average only less than 60 LHD. As a comparison, Malaysians are using on average 230 LCD or 1380 LHD. For a city like Georgetown in Penang, Malaysia, the average per capita use is much higher at around 500 LCD (3000 LHD) because of the modern lifestyle whereby homes have many water fittings, most of which are not water-friendly (Chan, 2007). Inocencio et. al. (1999) found that 10 cubic meters (10,000 litres) for a family of 6 members was the reasonable average monthly water use. This would be about 333 LHD. Hence, Malaysian households are using 4 times the recommended amount.
Figure 18.1: Average daily water use for different countries. Hence, it can be seen that the amount of water used by a household varies widely from country to country. The concern for determining the basic or minimum water requirement for a person to maintain 118
good health and proper sanitation comes about in the light of the current state of water resources and the growing scarcity against a rapidly rising population. This paper‘s contribution is the determination of this basic or minimum water requirement which is necessary to sustain human life and other basic human activities through a record keeping approach and use of an econometric tool. Specifically, the study (1) obtains actual per capita water consumption by activity based on household water usage and (2) determines household and per capita water requirement that cuts across income classes, water sources and cost of water, and location. Results of this study provide a valuable input in water-sector planning (i.e., for water supply infrastructure), allocation of available water supply between domestic and other uses (i.e., industrial and agricultural), and in determining the appropriate water tariff consumption block and structure for domestic consumption as the paper gives an empirical basis for the lifeline or minimum consumption block of about 10 cubic meters per month for a family of 6 members (Inocencio, et. al., 1999). Of these volume of water, the breakdown is as follows: (i) Drinking takes up 2 m 3; (ii) Personal Hygiene (Showering/bathing Hand/face washing Brushing of Teeth) uses 23 m3; (iii) Sanitation Services (Urinal/toilet flushing Toilet cleaning House cleaning ) takes up 20 m3; (iv) Cooking and Kitchen uses 4 m3; and (v) Dish washing and Laundry take up another 5 m3, making a total water use or 54 m3. Hence, for a household of 6 members, the minimum basic monthly water requirement is 9.7 m3 for a household of 6 members. Domestic Water Audit Domestic Water Audit (DWA) refers to calculating the amount of water that a household uses. This includes water use for indoor water usage such as laundry, in the kitchen, for bathing, for flushing toilets, and other chores as well as outdoor water usage such as watering gardens and lawns, washing tiled/cemented floors, paths and driveways, washing cars, and other installations. All these water usage are in the control of women managers of the home. A study on domestic water audit showed that selection of the type of washing machine and pattern of usage will determine the amount of water use (Chan, 2007). A water efficient washing machine will use only 45 litres per wash (3 kgs of clothes) whereas a large Automatic Washing machine will use 120 litres, i.e. 2.7 times the amount of water (www.pic.vic.gov.au/tech_file/Water Audit 2003.pdf 19/10/06). When a washing machine is half-full, using the ―half-full‖ function will additionally save half of water per wash. This may seem insignificant but if one adds up the number of washes per year, the amount of water and money saved is huge. Table 18.1 illustrates how Mrs. Chan from Penang (Malaysia) managed to save water by using a water efficient washing machine. It should be pointed out that the water savings is only from one activity, i.e. washing clothes. If we consider water savings from other activities as well, it would be much more. However, because of the low water tariffs in Malaysia (average 50 Malaysian Sen per 1000 litres [100 Malaysian Sen = 25 US Cent), the amount of money saved is very small. Hence, one cannot look at water savings in terms of money in Malaysia. In order for water saving to be effective, one has to educate the public, especially women who have to be aware and sensitized towards water conservation. Mrs. Chan also practices wise-dishwashing via using two half-full sinks (one sink for washing with dishwashing liquid and the other for rinsing). This has proven to be able to save a large amount of water. Table 18.2 illustrates show Mrs. Chan saved between 30 to 120 litres of water a day by her dishwashing method compared to other dishwashing methods that use more water. Using a dishwasher is definitely not advisable as it uses too much water, even for water-efficient types. A large amount of water can also be saved in the bathroom. Women can control and audit not only their own bath/shower water usage but also their children and husband. Table 18.3 illustrates the huge amount of water that has been saved (between 12 to 370 litres per day) in Mrs. Chan‘s house in bathing/showering alone. Again, it is noted that the amount of money saved may be minimal due to the low water tariffs. Another area that the lady of the house can control to reduce water use is the toilet. Selecting the type of toilet flush and controlling the amount of flushes can be vital in saving a lot of water. Table 18.4 indicates the huge amount of water saved with a water efficient dual-flush system compared to a conventional single-flush system. Mrs. Chan 119
puts two pieces of bricks into the cistern of one of her WCs, effectively reducing the volume of water flushed from 9 litres to 4.5 litres. She has designated this WC ―For Urinating Only‖. For defecating, her family members have to use the other toilet which has a normal flush of 9 litres. Table 18.1: Amount of water saved using a Twin-Tub Washing machine over a Large Automatic Washing Machine, and the amount saved using the half-full function. Type of Machine
Water Used Per Wash 3 kg (Litres)
Water Used Per Month (30 Washes)
Water Saved Per Month Using Water Efficient Type
Water Saved Per Year Using Water Efficient Type
Water Efficient Type
45
1,350
-
-
Money Saved Per Year (Based on average of 50 sen per 1000 litres) -
2,700
1,350
16,200
RM8.10*
3,150
1,800
21,600
RM10.80
3,600
2,250
27,000
RM13.50
Medium Efficient 90 Type Normal Non-Efficient 105 Type Large Automatic Non- 120 Efficient Type *RM = Malaysian Ringgit (RM1 = US$0.25)
Table 18.2: Amount of water saved using half-full sinks over using a dishwasher or full sinks for dishwashing. Depth of water in sink
Water Used Per Wash (Litres)
Water Used Per Day (Average 3 Washes)
Water Saved Per Day Using 2 Half-full Sinks (Average 3 Washes)
2 Half-Full Sinks 2 Three-Quarters Full Sinks 2 Full Sinks 1 Water Efficient Dishwasher 1 Normal Dishwasher
20 30 40 40 60
60 90 120 120 180
30 60 60 120
Water Saved Per Month Using 2 Halffull Sinks (Average 3 Washes/Day) 900 1,800 1,800 3,600
Water Saved Per Year Using 2 Half-full Sinks (Average 3 Washes/Day)
Money Saved Per Year (Based on average of 50 sen per 1000 litres)
10,800 21,600 21,600 43,200
RM5.40 RM10.80 RM10.80 RM21.60
Table 18.3: Amount of water saved with a water-efficient shower within 3 minutes compared to conventional showerheads and longer shower times or bathing with the long bath. Type of Shower or Bath
3 Minute Shower 5 Minute Shower 10 Minute Shower 20 Minute Shower Long Bath 3 Minute Water Efficient Shower (5 litres/ minute Showerhead)
Water Used Per Shower (Based on Conventional Showerhead of 7 Litres Per Minute) 21 35 70 140 200 15
Water Used Per Day (Average 2 Showers or Baths)
Water Saved Per Day Using 3 Minute Water Efficient Shower (Average 2 Showers Per Day)
Water Saved Per Month Using 3 Minute Water Efficient Shower (Average 2 Showers Per Day)
Water Saved Per Year Using 3 Minute Water Efficient Shower (Average 2 Showers Per Day)
Money Saved Per Year (Based on average of 50 sen per 1000 litres)
42 70 140 280 400 30
12 40 110 250 370 -
360 1,200 3,300 7,500 11,100 -
4,320 36,000 39,600 90,000 133,200 -
RM2.16 RM18.00 RM19.80 RM45.00 RM66.60 -
120
Table 18.4: Amount of water saved with a water-efficient dual-flush system compared to a conventional single-flush system. Type of Flush System
Water Used Per Flush
11 9 7
Water Used Per Flush (Based on 5 persons per house X 7 flushes per person per day) 385 315 245
Water Saved Per Day Using DualFlush System (Based on 5 persons per house X 7 flushes per person per day) 227.5 157.5 87.5
Water Saved Per Month Using Dual-Flush System (Based on 5 persons per house X 7 flushes per person per day) 6,825 4,725 2,625
Water Saved Per Year Using Dual-Flush System (Based on 5 persons per house X 7 flushes per person per day) 81,900 56,700 31,500
Money Saved Per Year (Based on average of 50 sen/ 1000 litres) RM40.95 RM28.35 RM15.75
Large Single-Flush (11 litres) Normal Single-Flush (9 litres) Water Efficient Single-Flush (7 litres) Dual-Flush (6/3 litres)
4.5
157.5
-
-
-
-
Under the DWA, the water usage of outdoor areas is also important to calculate and control. Watering gardens and lawns, especially during hot days where evaporation can be high, can lead to a lot of water being used. Washing paved areas such as driveways, tiled areas and cemented areas as well as cars also consumes a lot of water if a running hose is used. Table 18.5 gives an indication as to the amount of water that can merely by changing the pattern/type of washing by using a few buckets of water instead of a running hose. In Mrs. Chan‘s case, she controls water use by switching to a bucket and mop for washing floors, and Mr. Chan uses a bucket and a piece of cloth/sponge for washing cars. A bucket should also be used in watering plants as using the hose may lead to a lot of wastage as some of the water may miss the plants‘ pots. Water sprinklers that are set on an automatic mode should not be used as they not only use an enormous amount of water but also go off during thunderstorms when watering is unnecessary. Needless to say, having a swimming pool, even a small one, at home is a big user of water. Often, as it is the rich people who can only afford a pool, they do not have the time to use it. Hence, more often than not, swimming pools are unnecessary. Table 18.5: Amount of water saved with a bucket of water for washing compared to a running hose. Type of Washing System
Water Used Per Car Wash Per Day
Water Used Per 2 Car Washes Per Day Flush (Based on average of 2 cars per house)
Water Saved Per Day Using Bucket System (Based on average 2 cars per house)
Water Saved Per Year Using Bucket System (Based on average 2 cars per house)
Money Saved Per Year (Based on average of 50 sen per 1000 litres)
-
Water Saved Per Month Using Bucket System (Based on average 2 cars per house) -
2 Buckets of water (10 litres each) A normal running hose (10 litres per minute) A high pressure running hose (15 litres per minute) A low pressure running hose (7 litres per minute)
20
40
-
-
50
100
60
1,800
21,600
RM10.80
75
150
110
3,300
39,600
RM19.80
35
70
30
900
10,800
RM5.40
If we add up all the water saved from the above DWA activity, it would be substantial. Table 18.6 indicates that Mrs. Chan was able to save between 161,100 and 324,900 litres per year by merely using the DWA. The total amount of water saved in just this one house was a maximum of 324,900 litres. This is equivalent to the average usage of 3,249 persons in India for a day. In terms of money, the amount saved via all these activities would be RM162.40. If we can convince all households (via women) to cooperate and carry out their DWA in each household across the country, the total water savings would be 5,000,000 households X 324,900 litres = 1,624.5 billion litres of water saved. In terms of monetary savings, the country would have saved RM162.40 X 5,000,000 households = RM812 million. Making people reduce water use means that the building of dams can be postponed to the distant future, i.e. these 121
future dams reserved for future generations. This will ensure that our water resources remain sustainable in the future (Chan, 2007). Table 18.6: Total Amount of water saved per year via adding up the water saving measures. Type of Water Saving Measure
Water Saved based on worst case scenario (Comparing Most Efficient System to Least Efficient System)
Water Saved based on comparing Most Efficient System to Low Efficient System
27,000 43,200 133,200 81,900 39,600
Water Saved based on comparing Most Efficient System to Moderate Efficient System 16,200 10,800 36,000 31,500 10,800
Washing Machine Dishwashing Showering Toilet Flushing Watering Garden & Lawns TOTAL
Money Saved based on comparing Most Efficient System to Moderate Efficient System RM8.10 RM5.40 RM18.00 RM15.75 RM5.40
Money Saved based on comparing Most Efficient System to Low Efficient System
21,600 21,600 39,600 56,700 21,600
Money Saved based on worst case scenario (Comparing Most Efficient System to Least Efficient System) RM13.50 RM21.60 RM66.60 RM40.95 RM19.80
324,900
105,300
161,100
RM162.40
RM52.65
RM80.55
RM10.80 RM10.80 RM19.80 RM28.35 RM10.80
If mobilized throughout the country in a national water saving campaign, the influence of women on water conservation can be phenomenal. Considering per capita water use, Malaysia exhibit high rates, i.e. about 310 litres (http://www.seawun.org/benchmarking/ 17 May 2006). If the UN recommended usage of 165 litres per capita per day is applied, then Malaysians are wasting 145 litres per capita per day. In urban areas, particularly large cities such as Kuala Lumpur and Georgetown, the per capita usage are much higher averaging above 500 litres per capita. Hence, the urban wastage is about 335 litres per capita. If we multiply the wastage figures by the country‘s population of 26 million, the wastage will be 8.71 billion litres of water per day. Such a high level of water wastage is certainly not sustainable. Women can contribute effectively towards reducing this wastage via conservation and education via the following ways. Say if each woman manager of a home manages to reduce 10 % of their water use per day, 31 litres of water is saved per person per day. For the entire country, this is equivalent to 806 million litres per day. Annually, the amount of water savings is about 294,190 million litres, i.e. equivalent to about 14 midsized dams. If the water demand reduction is reduced to 20 %, the water saved would be able to fill 28 mid-sized dams. Also, besides reducing water use, women in rural areas are the ones who have to fetch water from wells or rivers. Here, they act as the primary means of sourcing alternative sources of water and reduce dependence on piped water. Example of how to conduct a domestic water audit Domestic customers can determine where and how much water they use within their household by filling information in Table 18.7.The table will show how the monthly water usage for the respective activity is computed. It is fun and at the same time helps to estimate water consumption in your household. To begin, you can start by recording the number of times each of the activities in the table are carried out and fill in the information in the respective boxes. From the table, you can find out how much and where water is mostly used in your homes. You will also be guided where to reduce water usage and consequently helps you save money (Source: From Public Utilities Board of Singapore Website: http://www.pub.gov.sg/Pages/default.aspx Accessed 19 Oct 2006).
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Table 18.7: Estimation of amount of water used in the house (Source: From Public Utilities Board of Singapore Website: http://www.pub.gov.sg/Pages/default.aspx Accessed 19 Oct 2006).
Av.amt of water used per activity (litres)
Shower
No. of times Weekly a week per total in household litres
10 mins with the tap turned off while soaping
30
x
10 mins with the running tap
90*
x
Using bathtub
110
x
Toilet Flushing Low capacity cistern
4.5
x
Half flush cistern ( dual flush type )
4.5
x
Full flush cistern ( dual flush type )
9
x
Brushing Teeth With mug
0.5
X
5 mins with running tap
45*
X
Face and Hand Washing
Av.amt of water used per person per week (litres)
Face and hand washing
Cooking
70
No. of people per household
Weekly total in litres
x
Av.amt of water used per activity (litres)
No. of times a week per household
cooking**
x
Washing Dishes In a filled sink
12
x
5 mins under a running tap
45*
x
Using dishwater in normal programme
35
x
Using dishwater in economy programme
20
x
123
Weekly total in litres
Washing by hand**
x
20 mins under running tap
180*
x
Washing machine ( per full load washing )
100
x
Av.amt of water used per activity (litres)
No. of minutes or pails per week per household
Washing of toilet ( per minute )
9*
x
General washing ( vehicle, corridor, etc ) ( per 9 litre pail )
9
x
Gardening ( per minute )
9*
x
Other usage ( per minute )
9*
x
Weekly total in litres
0
Clear
Estimate weekly consumption
0
Average monthly consumption *** * Amount of water used is estimated, depending on flow rate. Please determine the flow rate from the taps in your home before completing the table. ** Self-determination of amount of water used (Take water meter reading before and after each activity) *** The estimated total weekly consumption may be used to estimate the average monthly consumption (weekly consumption x 52 weeks/12)
* Similarly, water audits and other water demand management (WDM) strategies can be conducted for the office, large buildings, factories, schools/universities, etc. Conclusion Cities are made up of shops, offices and housing settlements which house people who use water. Typically, houses, apartments and other domestic buildings make up more than half of buildings in cities, and domestic inhabitants use more than half the total water demand in cities. As such, it is extremely 124
important to target domestic households for water conservation programmes. Hence, domestic water audits are important in ensuring minimal leakage and wastage but at the same time achieving greater efficiency in water use. Getting all domestic households on board is the ultimate objective of domestic water audit. Domestic households are very important water consumers. So are workers in offices and other buildings. If all these people can be sensitized to save water via a water-friendly lifestyle, then the water savings would be huge. When domestic water consumers are sensitized and committed into running domestic water audits for their own houses, they would readily do the same thing for their office. More so, if they are the owners of their own businesses. Research has shown that changing attitudes and habitual behaviour in relation to household water consumption is vital in ensuring domestic water savings. There are many factors, both internal and external, influencing household water consumption. Behaviours do not happen in isolation, but are affected by influences such as a person‘s beliefs, expected benefits and other people‘s expectations. However, to ensure domestic water savings, one must understand the social context in which water conservation behaviour occurs, including social norms and expectations about domestic water use, cultural mores about water shortage, levels of civic responsibility and social cohesion, and social attitudes and beliefs.
Questions to Ponder (1) How much is your household‘s monthly water bill? (2) How much water does your household use per day, per month and per year? What is your own per capita daily water use? (3) Do people in your city generally save water? What are the main reasons for them doing so? How can we change people‘s behavior from wasting water to saving water? (4) What is the role of the government, private sector and NGO in water saving? Acknowledgements: The authors would like to acknowledge the funding from the project titled Environmental Education via Environmental Quiz for Poor Students in Lower Secondary Schools in Penang State towards Producing Environmentally Sensitised Citizens, University-Industry-Community Engagement Grant from Division of Industry & Community Network Universiti Sains Malaysia.
References Chan, N.W. (2007) Application of Domestic Water Audit and Other Water Demand Management (WDM) Strategies. In Malaysian Environmental NGOs’ Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) Training Module. Petaling Jaya: Malaysian Environmental NGOs, Global Water Partnership and Malaysian Water Partnership, 25-44.
Gleick, P. (1996) Basic Water Requirements for Human Activities: Meeting Basic Needs. Water International, 21 (2):83-92 June 1996. http://www.seawun.org/benchmarking/ (Accessed 17 May 2006). www.pic.vic.gov.au/tech_file/Water Audit 2003.pdf (Accessed 19 Oct 2006) Inocencio, A.B., Padilla, J.E. and Javier, E.P. (1999) Determination of Basic Household Water Requirements. Discussion paper series no. 99-02 (Revised). Philippine Institute for Development Studies, February 1999. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
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CHAPTER 19
RAIN HARVESTING
Ngai Weng Chan, Wan Ruslan Ismail, Abu Talib Ahmad, Chern Wern Hong and Olivier Gervais Introduction Water security is considered one of the most important issues faced by countries in the 21 st century. The United Nations warning in 2006 that water scarcity already affects every continent whereby around 1.2 billion people, or almost one-fifth of the world's population, live in areas of physical scarcity, and 500 million people are approaching this situation. Another 1.6 billion people, or almost one quarter of the world's population, face economic water shortage (where countries lack the necessary infrastructure to take water from rivers and aquifers). Water scarcity is among the main problems to be faced by many societies and the World in the 21st century (Chan, 2002a). Water use has been growing at more than twice the rate of population increase in the last century, and, although there is no global water scarcity as such, an increasing number of regions are chronically short of water. There is enough freshwater on the planet for seven billion people but it is distributed unevenly and too much of it is wasted, polluted and unsustainably managed (Chan and Bouguerra, 2007). One of the main reasons why the world is suffering from a water crisis is not because of climate change, but largely because of human apathy and over-dependence on rivers and groundwater sources without looking for other sources. Humans have chopped down most of the forests in their countries, with the exception of a few, and replaced the forests with artificial built-environment. In other words, what was once pristine natural forests are now cities (concrete jungle). The stark transformation of natural forests to concrete jungle has taken away all the important functions of the forests, including one most important function of water catchments. Because of the lack of water catchments, cities are dependent on their hinterlands or the outside world for water. Even in wet equatorial countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia, water inadequacy has become a huge problem. More recently, many countrues, the private sector and the public have turned to harvesting rainfall as an alternative or supplementary source of water (Chan, 2002b; Agarwal and Narain, 1997). Rainwater harvesting is the trapping/harvesting of rain drops, other forms of precipitation or runoff in specialized containers, ponds, reservoirs or other storage spaces. The rainfall harvested can then be used for a variety of on-site purposes (usually, because of the small volume harvested, the rain water is merely enough for on-site use). Rainfall can be harvested/collected from rain events, runoffs during rain events, streams/rivers, drains, rooftops, padi fields, and in many locations where the rainwater collected is redirected to a storage tank, a deep pit or water reservoir. In an extreme case of harvesting, water can be harvested/collected from the atmosphere in the form of dew or fog with the use of metal wires or nets. Figure 19.1 shows the diagrammatic systems of harvesting water droplets form the atmosphere. Photograph 19.1 shows nets that catch vapour from fog to bring water to parched Villages in Peru (Source: Fields, 2008 http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/07/090709-fog-catchers-peru-water-missions.html Accessed 17 Aug 2015). In urban areas, however, open areas rainfall harvesting storage pit or reservoir may not be practical due to the lack of space and the high costs of land. Hence, rooftop rainfall harvesting is the most practical form of rainfall harvesting in city areas. Figure 19.2 shows a simple rooftop rainfall harvesting system for urban areas. It consists of a rainfall harvesting/trapping rooftop, pipes to channel the rainfall into a storage tank, a pump to pump it upstairs for use (if storage tank is located at lower levels), and pipes to bring the harvested rainwater to areas of usage such as the toilet flushing system, faucets for washing, showers, gardening tank, etc.
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Figure 19.1: Diagrammatic systems of harvesting water droplets form the atmosphere.
Photograph 19.1: Fog catching in Peru (Source: Fields, 2009).
Figure 19.2: A simple model of rooftop rainfall harvesting system (Source: http://www.barbourproductsearch.info/rainwater-harvesting-prod006028.html Accessed 18 Aug 2015).
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Benefits of Rainwater Rainwater harvested can be used for watering gardens, landscaping, livestock rearing, car washing, general toilet flushing and washing, irrigation, and even for drinking if a proper water treatment system is put in place. However, without proper water treatment, rainwater is not recommended for consumption. Rainwater may also be used for indoor heating for houses, aquaculture (fish rearing) and to recharge groundwater. The harvested water can also be used as a stand-by water storage for emergency use such as during droughts and water rationing. Rainwater harvested is an insurance providing an independent water supply when water restrictions are imposed by city or municipal governments during prolonged droughts. Furthermore, rainwater provides water during El Nino dry spells, store water at source to help control flash floods (see Chapter 39 and sustainable urban drainage model by Zakaria et al. (2004)). By using this sustainable drainage system which includes rainfall harvesting, stormwater runoofs are trapped underground and this slows the flow of rainwater into rivers, thereby preventing flooding of low-lying areas, and also reduces the water demand on wells and groundwater (allowing water tables to be maintained at a sustainable level). With modern treatment technology applied, rainwater is a form of alternative water resource as it is relatively free of salinity and other salts. Apparently, rainwater has been described as one of nature‘s cleanest water that falls freely from the sky. The hydrological cycle (via the processes of evaporation, transpiration, condensation and precipitation) is very efficient in screening out impurities and contaminants normally found in surface or groundwater. Rainwater does not come into contact with the soil or land, and in its natural form does not contain bacteria, dissolved metals, organic pollutants, minerals or heavy metals, unless the rooftops are polluted with organic debris (e.g. leaves and bird droppings) or deposition from industries (e.g. soot, dust and acidic particulates). Rainwater is healthy and is a form of relatively soft water that requires less soap and shampoo for washing. Adding rainwater as a supplementary form of water resource via rainfall harvesting in urban water systems provides enhanced benefits for both water supply and wastewater subsystems. Rainfall harvesting reduces the demand for piped water from the municipal/city water distribution system. This would be very useful in times of drought. Trapping rainwater also reduces runoffs as less stormwater is generated. This reduces flash floods. Less stormwater also means less pressure on the sewer system. Anil et al. (2001) Anil Agarwal, Sunita Narain and Indira Khurana 2001, Making Water Everybody’sbusiness, Policy and Practice of Water Harvesting, Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi. Anil Agarwal, Sunita Narain and Indira Khurana 2001, Making Water Everybody’sbusiness, Policy and Practice of Water Harvesting, Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi. Success Stories of Urban Rainfall Harvesting (1) The School of Humanities, Universiti Sains Malaysia’s Rainfall Harvesting System Although Malaysia is considered a country with bountiful water resources, it still suffers from periodic water stress and many other water problems. Hence, from a previously situation of relative abundance, the country is now faced with a situation of scarcity both in terms of space and time. Hence, it is imperative that water consumers (business, domestic and industry) are engaged to save water. The time has come to change from a mindset of consumptive wastage to careful conservation amongst consumers. In Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), the average water consumption is very high by any standards. In 2010, the USM main campus‘s water bill averaged RM200,000 (1US$=4RM) per month or equivalent to about 200,000 m3 of water consumed. This adds up to about RM2.4 million per year or (at the average water tariff of RM1/m3 (1m3= 1000 litres), the amount of water used is about 2,400,000,000 litres in 2010. If we divide this by 20,000 people (main campus staff and students), the per capita water consumption is about 120,000 litres/capita/year or 329 litres/capita/day (lpcd). In comparison, the United Nation‘s international recommended standard is 165 lpcd, Penangites average is around 300 lpcd (2014) and Malaysia‘s national average is 220 lpcd. The average industry benchmark for educational institutions is 144 lpcd. This puts USM‘s usage of 329 lpcd at 2.28 times above the industry‘s benchmark (Chan, 2013). 128
The School of Humanities (www.hum.usm.my) in Universiti Sains Malaysia (www.usm.my) is taking the lead to showcase that WDM is a viable option to reduce water demand in the school by installing a rainfall harvesting system whereby rainwater is used for flushing toilets, washing floors and toilets, gardening and washing vehicles. This project showcases the school as a Best Management Practice (BMP) Demonstration Project. The success of this project is of paramount importance as the model can be easily replicated. When the project is successful, it can be replicated in all Schools, Centres, Canteens, Hostels, Buildings in USM (in all 3 Campuses). The 3 buildings of the School of Humanities were installed with 4 rainfall tanks each with 10,000 litres capacity (Photograph 19.2). For building C20 which did not have gutters, gutters surrounding the rooftop had to be constructed. The other two buildings of C24 and C11 already had gutters. A connecting pipe was connected to the downpipe of each building to the storage tank respectively. Besides this, a water awareness and education campaign was carried out for the staff and students. Several water awareness and educational materials were made, including a rainfall harvesting manual (Figure 19.3).
Photograph 19.2: The two rainfall harvesting storage tanks (each 10,000 litres) are installed beside building C20 and C24.
Figure 19.3: The Rainfall Harvesting Manual created Awareness and Education on Rainfall Harvesting to Staff and Students. The results of the rainfall harvesting system were encouraging as piped water consumption dropped significantly after staff and students started using the rainwater collected for flushing toilets, washing floors and cars, gardening and other non-consumptive uses. Meter readings had been carried out since April 2010. Figure 19.4 shows the meter reading for building C20. It can be seen that the average consumption of piped water before the installation was about 170 m3 per week, but after installation of the rainfall harvesting system, it dropped steadily to about 40 m3 in April 2012. 129
Figure 19.4: Water Consumption in Building C20 Decreases Significantly After the Installation of the Rainfall Harvesting System. The impacts and outcomes of this rainfall harvesting project are very significant. This project started off with the objective of raising USM staff and students‘ awareness of the importance of water and water conservation, and these were achieved. The outstanding outcome was the installation of a Rainfall Harvesting System (RHS) which served as an alternative source of water for the school. Rainwater collected is now used for non-consumptive use such as toilet flushing, general washing, gardening and car-washing. With six tanks distributed around all its buildings, the school has harvested enough rainwater for the above usages. This RHS is now the proud icon of the school. Visitors always marvel at this system as they find it practical and innovative, and saves water (money). Generally, the other outcomes of the project are: (i) Savings up to 20-30% of monthly water usage. Results show that water consumption in the school has gone down significantly from 170 m3 per week to about 80 m3 per week (a drop of 52.9%) since the project started; (ii) Savings in sewage treatment as less wastewater needs to be treated; (iii) Saving water is helps the environment as water saved is equal to reduction in water pollution; (iv) Green image and corporate social responsibility (CSR); (v) USM moves towards becoming a world class university with ―world class infrastructures, innovative water saving equipment being one of them in this project; (vi) USM achieves water sustainability towards the APEX Agenda; and (vii) USM engages and sensitizes staff, students, vendors and visitors. (2) The N Park Condominium’s Rainfall Harvesting System The N-Park condominium is a 4-block apartments comprising 965 units located in the township of Batu Uban, Penang, Malaysia. It is the first condominium in the Malaysia to install a rainfall harvesting system. The project started in August 2009 and was completed in December 2010 (Photograph 19.3). Chan (Chan, 2012). This is a smart-partnership project jointly implemented by a government agency (Drainage and Irrigation Department or DID), an NGO (Water Watch Penang or WWP), the N-Park Management Corporation (NPMC) and a privatized water service provider (Penang Water Supply Corporation Bhd or PBA). The project involved the construction of a rainwater harvesting system comprising 6 tanks of 10,000 litres capacity each on the roof of one of the condominium‘s car-parking block (Photograph 19.4). The rainwater harvested is used for non-drinking purposes such as gardening, washing floors and toilets, washing cars and flushing toilets. Subsequently, water-saving equipment were installed in all the common area toilets with dual-flush cisterns, push-flush urinals, and automatic push130
taps. This was also carried out in 100 residential units whereby the participating apartment residents compete against one another to reduce their water use. Meetings and discussions are held every month to learn from one another and to iron out problems. Two water auditors give advice and assistance to the participating residents. Results of the project showed that the rainwater harvesting system was most successful as the rainwater harvested was used for gardening, washing common areas and toilets, and for flushing toilets in the common areas. The water-saving equipment also resulted in substantial water savings. Both these items reduced water usage in the common areas of the condominium by 37.38% in May, 36.51 % in July and 12.00 % in September 2011. This is an average monthly water savings of 28.63 %. In terms of monetary savings, this is equivalent to MYR1397.17 (MYR1 = US$0.25 in August 2015) per month. Over the six month period, the condominium saved 8,409,400 litres of water or the equivalent of MYR8,391.00. However, results of the 100 participating were not as encouraging, proving that changing human behaviour to save water is extremely difficult. This was largely due to cheap water tariffs, apathetic attitude and lack of interest, amongst other reasons. Hardly any water savings were made by the 100 apartments, though a general trend of slight decrease in water usage was apparent, but not significant. In conclusion, the project found that IWRM smart-partnership between government-private sector-NGO is workable. High density apartments also show great potentials as water savings are significant and easily achievable. The rainfall harvesting system showed the most promise given Penang‘s high monthly rainfall. This project can be easily replicated in other apartments throughout the country and the government should seriously consider replicating this project nation-wide. Rainfall harvesting and water saving equipment should be made mandatory for all new apartments, hotels, factories, universities and other institutes of higher learning, and all large water consumers. The other benefits of this project is the improvement of harmony between neighbours of all ethnicities and nationalities.
Photograph 19.3: The N-Park Negalitres Pilot water-saving initiative was reported in The Star on 22 August 2009 (Source: The Star).
131
Photograph 19.4: Director of DID Penang, Tuan Haji Hanapi bin Mohamad Noor (Right) together with Prof Dr Chan Ngai Weng (Left) at the launching of the N-Park Rainfall Harvesting System (Source: The Star). (3) The Chan Family Domestic Rainfall Harvesting System in Sg Ara Penang The Chan family in a middle class neighbourhood in Sungai Ara, Penang symbolises the average middle income family who is highly sensitised about the environment, especially on water issues. They had been sourcing for a suitable rainfall harvesting system for many years but have refrained from installing one in the past because there was no ready-made systems for sale in the market. Consumers needed to submit plans to the municipal or city authorities to have their plans approved before they could install such a system. Furthermore, the installation would be expensive since contractors had to be employed to construct the system based on the approved plans. The system would have to be fabricated and custommade. However, in early 2015, the Chan family was alerted about the availability of ready-made prefabricated rainfall harvesting systems by a private company. The family found the system to be suitable and affordable. Hence, they installed the system in their house in December 2015. Two units were installed, one in the back garden and one in the front garden. Both units were mounted on the side wall of the Chan‘s semi-detached house (Photograph 19.5 and Photograph 19.6).
Photograph 19.5: The Front Tank Photograph 19.6: The Back Tank in the front of the house holds 300L. at the back of the house also holds 300L. 132
The cost of each system, including materials and installation amounted to RM2226.00. So, two units cost the Chan family a total of RM4452.00. This was not a small amount but affordable for an average income family. Hence, this rainfall harvesting system has great potentials. Each tank can hold about 300 litres, making a storage capacity of 600 litres for the family to use. Mrs Chan estimated that the family uses about 10,000 litres of rain water to water the plants and tress in her garden, as well as to clean the floors and wash her cars. The household water bill used to be about RM10 per month but since using the rain water harvested, the bill is not only RM5 per month. This is because the water bill in Penang is heavily subsidised by the State Government, resulting in very low tariffs. Although the amount of money save is not a lot, the total amount of water saved is about 10,000 litres per month. This is, by any measures, a very good investment and environmental commitment by the Chan family. The Chan family also has peace of mind knowing that they have an alternative source of water during droughts or water cuts. The Penang State or City Government should give incentives to families like the Chans in order to promote the installation of these affordable rainfall harvesting systems in their homes. The companies that sells and installs these rainfall harvesting systems is named Green Master Harvest Sdn Bhd (1079627-D), with the address in 79, Medan Gopeng 1, 31350, Ipoh, Perak (Tel: +605 545 1467). Their rainfall harvesting system is the VODA Rainfall Harvesting System (http://synergy-contract.com/ Accessed 11 Aug 2016). (4) Some Examples of Successful Rainfall Harvesting Systems in Japan In Sumida City (part of Tokyo) and several other Japanese cities, using rainwater sources inside the city boundary to restore the regional water cycle and secure water for emergencies has become a norm. Tokyo lies in the humid sub-tropical zone where the rainy season is from early June to the middle of July. Its annual rainfall averages 1,380 mm, with a wetter summer and a drier winter. Until 1990s, the main focus for application of rainwater harvesting was for domestic water supply. In 1994, the Tokyo international rain water conference was hosted in Japan. Japan is one of the developed countries in Asia who fostered from the very beginning an intensive international exchange in the field of rainwater utilization (http://www.rainwaterconference.org/fileadmin/user_upload/files/Englische_Seite/Rainwater_Harvesting _A_Global__Issue_Matures.pdf Accessed 18 Aug 2015). The activities of the administration of SumidaCity are internationally well known and recognised since the first rainwater utilisation conference in Japan in 1994. At the World Congress ―Global Cities 21‖ in 2000 in Dessau, it received a distinction for its activities. In the Rainwater Museum of Sumida, national and international projects are presented and products exhibited which come partly from Germany. In the past few years, the number of urban buildings in Tokyo utilising rainwater has increased considerably from 3 plants in 1970 to about 1000 in 2003. The city supports residents and firms in the planning and installation of rainwater plants. Newly constructed public facilities must collect and use rainwater. Other Japanese cities are following in their steps. Topics like ―Treatment to drinking water‖ and ―Water storage for fire-fighting‖ are thus strongly promoted. The significance of the rain water conference is important as it represented a turning point in perceptions regarding the role, application and potential for rainwater catchment system technologies world-wide. Rainwater harvesting has played a vital role in solving water crisis in Tokyo and growing in megaities around the world. In Tokyo and elsewhere in Japan there has also been much interest in the use of household water storage systems to provide water for fire fighting and other uses. These household water reservoirs, though small, can provide emergency domestic water supplies in the period immediately following any major seismic events. Although rainwater is still not utilised much in Tokyo, there has been serious investigation into potential role that rainwater catchments systems could play in water supply, flood preservation and disaster mitigation strategies (http://www.rainwaterharvesting.org/international/tokyo.htm Accessed 18 Aug 2015). A Sumo-wrestling arena in Sumida City utilizes rainwater on a large scale (Photograph 19.7). The 8,400m2 rooftop of this arena serves as the catchment surface for the rainwater utilization system. The system drains the collected rainwater into a 1,000m3 underground storage tank and uses it for toilet flushing and air conditioning. Following this example, many new public facilities including the City Hall 133
has begun to introduce rainwater utilization systems. At the community level, a simple and unique rainwater utilization facility, ―Rojison‖, has been set up by local residents in the Mukojima district of Tokyo to utilise rainwater collected from the roofs of private houses for garden watering, fire-fighting and drinking water in emergencies (Figure 19.5). To date, about 750 private and public buildings in Tokyo have introduced rainwater collection and utilization systems. Rainwater utilization is now flourishing at both the public and private levels.
Photograph 19.7: The Ryōgoku Kokugikan (両国国技館 Ryōgoku Kokugikan), also known as Ryougoku Sumo Hall, is an indoor sporting arena located in the Yokoami neighborhood of Sumida in Tokyo. It is used for Sumo wrestling matches and has a hug rainfall harvesting system (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ry%C5%8Dgoku_Kokugikan Accessed 11 Aug 2016).
Figure 19.5: "Rojison", a simple and unique rainwater utilization facility at the community level in Tokyo, Japan (Source: (http://www.rainwaterharvesting.org/international/tokyo.htm Accessed 18 Aug 2016). 134
Conclusion In conclusion, there is no doubt that rainfall harvesting is a great way to increase water resources availability by creating an alternative/supplementary water source, thereby leading to water savings and enhancing of water security. The USM Project showed great success in terms of enhancing the name of USM as a sustainability-led university by ―walking the talk‖. If this project can be replicated in all buildings in USM, the water savings can be enormous. This would surely bring down USM‘s water consumption from the current unsustainable level to a more acceptable level. The rainwater harvesting component showed the greatest promise and saved more water than could be used. USM must now ride on this wave of success and keep the momentum moving by replacing all age-old traditional water fittings (that waste a lot of water) with water-friendly fittings. For the staff and students, many became more aware of the importance of water and became convinced of the many benefits of rainwater harvesting. This project can be easily replicated in other apartments across the country and globally, proving that water demand management is ―workable‖. The N Park Condominium project was equally successful, if not more. Water savings were significant and it also enhanced neighbourliness and ethnic harmony between the apartment residents. The rainfall harvesting system in Japan also proved that harvested rainfall can be critical during times of emergencies. The Japanese has also adopted rainfall harvesting for individual households and started to popularize this. Overall, all projects proved that rainfall harvesting has great potentials in a wet countries such as Malaysia, Japan and other Asian countries. Cities should implement a policy that makes rainfall harvesting mandatory for all new buildings. Most importantly, businesses and people are not buying the idea of installing rainfall harvesting systems because the water tariffs are too low to justify it and there are no economic incentives. City Governments (or other levels of governments) should give incentives to businesses and families in order to promote the installation of affordable rainfall harvesting systems as a way to ensure greater water security and sustainability in cities. Rainfall harvesting systems is potentially a great strategy to acquire a reliable alternative source of water. Acknowledgements: The authors would like to acknowledge the funding from the Universiti Sains Malaysia Special Project approved by Vice-Chancellor titled ―Universiti Sains Malaysia Water Savings Project 2012-2017‖, August 2010 to July 2017, Account No. 311/PHUMANITI/4117420, which supported the data and writing of this chapter. References Agarwal, A. and Narain, S. (1997) Dying Wisdom: Rise, fall and potential of India’s water harvesting systems, Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi. Chan, N.W. (2002a) Saving Water for the 21st Century: The Responsibility of All. Butterfly Futures 4(1), December 2002, 8-11. Chan, N.W. (2002b) ―Rainfall Harvesting: Only One of Many Water Conservation Practices Towards the Evolution of a Water Saving Society". In Elias Ismail and S. Sundaraj (Editors) Proceedings of the Workshop on Rainfall Harvesting As A Tool for Sustainable Water Supply & Storm-water Management. Kuala Lumpur: Construction Industry Development Board Malaysia, 11-26. Chan, N.W. (2012) Chapter 6 The N-Park Negalitres Project: A Pilot Water-Saving Initiative Using Green Technology and Changing Water Use Behaviour. In Ardakanian, R. and Dirk, J. (Editors) ―Water and the Green Economy: Capacity Development Aspects‖. Bonn, UN-Water Decade Programme on Capacity Development (UNW-DPC): 75-90. Chan, N.W. (2013) Water - Issues and Conservation in the Asian Region: Benefits & Challenges in the School of Humanities Universiti Sains Malaysia Water Saving Project. Invited Keynote Paper presented 135
at the International Sustainable Campus Network (ISCN) 2013, Working Group 1 Program as of June 12, 2013, National University of Singapore, Buildings and their sustainability impacts. Chan, N.W. and Bouguerra, L. (2007) Introduction to Water Issues on a Global Perspective. In N.W. Chan and L. Bouguerra (Editors) (2007) World Citizens’ Assembly on Water: Towards Global Water Sustainability. Penang: Water Watch Penang and Alliance for a Responsible, Plural and United World, 19-42. Helen Fields (2009) Fog Catchers Bring Water to Parched Villages. National Geographic, July 9, 2009 (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/07/090709-fog-catchers-peru-water-missions.html Accessed 17 Aug 2015) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ry%C5%8Dgoku_Kokugikan (Accessed 11 Aug 2016). http://synergy-contract.com/ (Accessed 11 Aug 2016). http://www.barbourproductsearch.info/rainwater-harvesting-prod006028.html (Accessed 18 Aug 2015). http://www.rainwaterconference.org/fileadmin/user_upload/files/Englische_Seite/Rainwater_Harvesting_ A_Global__Issue_Matures.pdf (Accessed 18 Aug 2015). The Star, 22 August 2009 & 3 November 2009. www.hum.usm.my (Accessed 11 Aug 2016). www.usm.my (Accessed 11 Aug 2016). Zakaria, N.A., Aminuddin, A.G., Abdullah, R., Sidek. L.M., Kassim, A.H. and Ainan, A. (2004) MSMAA new urban stormwater management manual for Malaysia. Paper presented at the The 6th Int. Conf. on Hydroscience and Engineering (ICHE-2004), May 30-June 3, Brisbane, Australia. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
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CHAPTER 20
DRINKING WATER SUPPLY
Ngai Weng Chan, Nor Azazi Zakaria, Aminuddin Ab Ghani, Suhaimi Abdul-Talib and Lariyah MohdSidek Introduction The urban water cycle processes are not by themselves solely affected by changes in nature such as climate change. These processes of the hydrological cycle are dynamic and change due to a combination of changes in natural processes as well as changes in the human system (see Chapter 15). Zakaria et. al. (2013) have found that effective management of natural systems is just as important as careful management of human systems, and combing hydrological, engineering/technical and societal interactions is necessary to see the overall picture of changing urban water systems. Therefore, to achieve sustainability in water resources and water supply, one must combine the management of bith natural and human systems equally (Chan, 2015). Drinking water means different things to different people in different countries. For a person in the developed countries such as the USA, Japan and the United Kingdom, drinking water is treated water that is clean and disinfected. But to a person in the least developed countries suffering from acute water scarcity, drinking water can mean water from a contaiminated well, a polluted river or even from a drain. Generally, drinking water, which is also known as potable water (the word potable came into English from the Latin potabilis, meaning drinkable) or improved drinking water, is treated water that is safe enough for drinking and for food preparation. Of course, water that is untreated from a pristine source such as the headwaters of an unpolluted stream or uncontaminated well can also be considered as drinkable water. Globally, about 90 % of the people had access to water suitable for drinking. Nearly 4 billion had access to piped water while another 2.3 billion had access to wells or public taps. However, another 1.8 billion people still use an unsafe drinking water source which may be contaminated by all sorts of dangerous pollutants such as human and animal feces, organic and inorganic pollutants, sediments, bacteria and viruses, and animal urine. By 2025, 1.8 billion people will be living in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity, and two-thirds of the world population could live under water stress conditions ((http://www.unwater.org/statistics/thematicfactsheets/en/ Accessed 18 Aug 2015). Drinking contaminated water has dire consequences as it can cause diarrheoa, cholera and typhoid, among others. UN Water states that every day, 2 million tons of human wastes are disposed of in watercourses, and in developing countries 70 % of industrial wastes are dumped untreated into waters where they pollute the usable water supply. But not only industry contaminates our water resources, so does also agriculture. The contribution of the food sector to the production of organic water pollutants, are in high-income countries 40 % and in low-income countries 54 % (http://www.unwater.org/statistics/thematic-factsheets/en/ Accessed 18 Aug 2015). Water is essential and vital for life. There is no life without water (Chan and Bouguerra, 2007). However, the exact amount of drinking water required by different people is variable, depending on the size, health status and physical condition of the person as well as on physical activity, age, mental strength, and environmental conditions. It is estimated that the average American drinks about one liter of water a day with 95% drinking less than three liters per day. People working on physically strenous jobs in hot climates may need up to 16 liters a day, while those who work in a non-strenous office environment (e.g. a clerk) may need just 3-4 litres a day. Water makes up about 70% of a human by weight (i.e. about 60% of weight in men and 55% of weight in women). Infants are about 70% to 80% water while the elderly are around 40-45%. Water quality standards may vary greatly between developed and developing countries. In the most developed countries, typically, the tap water quality is good as it meets stringent drinking water quality standards benchmarked against international standards. The World Health Organization (WHO) provides drinking water standards (see http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/gdwq0506.pdf Accessed 18 Aug 2015). 137
In domestic households, most water is used in washing, toilets, and irrigation/gardening (http://tn.water.usgs.gov/wustates/tn/factoffstream.html Accessed 18 Aug 2015). Only a small amount of the entire household‘s water use is for drinking and cooking (Figure 20.1). Hence, rainwater or greywater (water from kitchen and bathroom) may also be re-used for toilets or irrigation. However, such water reuse for irrigation may be associated with some risks. The greywater may be unacceptable due to high levels of toxins, suspended solids or other pollutants. Given the fact that reduction of waterborne diseases and development of safe water resources is a major public health goal in developing countries, the re-use of greywater should be done with utmost care. In many countries where the treated water is ―unacceptable‖ either due to perception or low standards, bottled water is widely used for public consumption. Italy is the world‘s highest per capita consumer of bottled water followed by Mexico and UAE. In terms of total volume of bottled water, the USA is the top followed by Mexico and China (http://www.sbdcnet.org/small-business-research-reports/bottled-water-industry Accessed 18 Aug 2015). Bottled Water Due to the lack of confidence in piped water and the convenience provided by bottled water, the bottled water business is one of the strongest growing industries in the world. Bottled water provides many with the opportunity of cleaner and safer drinking water. It is both accessible and easy to carry around. Bottled water has provided us a lot of positive things. Sicknesses caused by bad water lessened. Even for some countries it has been a necessity to have bottled water due to the lack of clean sources nearby. Bottled water consumption at the global level reached 154 billion liters in 2004. The United States is the leading country in total bottled water consumption and Italians drink more per person than any other country. However, the fastest growth in bottled water is coming from developing countries with consumption tripling in India and more than doubling in China over the past five years (http://www.sbdcnet.org/smallbusiness-research-reports/bottled-water-industry Accessed 18 Aug 2015) (Table 20.1). Table 20.1: Countries leading in total bottled water consumption in the world (http://www.sbdcnet.org/small-business-research-reports/bottled-water-industry Accessed 18 Aug 2015). _________________________________________________________________________________ 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
United States (6.8 billion gallons) Mexico (4.6 billion gallons) China & Brazil (approximately 3.1 billion gallons each) Italy & Germany (approximately 2.8 billion gallons each) France (2.2 billion gallons) Indonesia (1.9 billion gallons) Spain & India (approximately 1.4 billion gallons each)
Countries leading in per capita (per person) consumption: 1. Italy (48.5 gallons) 2. Mexico (44.5 gallons) 3. United Arab Emirates (43.2 gallons) 4. Belgium-Luxembourg (39.1 gallons) 5. France (37.4 gallons) 6. Spain (36.1 gallons) 7. Germany (33.0 gallons) 8. Lebanon (26.8 gallons) 9. Switzerland (26.3 gallons) 10. Cyprus (24.3 gallons) 11. United States (23.9 gallons) 12. Saudi Arabia (23.2 gallons)
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Figure 20.1: Amount of water used for various chores (http://tn.water.usgs.gov/wustates/tn/factoffstream.html Accessed 18 Aug 2015).
inside
the
home
Today, one in two people on the planet live in a city. The world's cities are growing at an exceptional rate and urbanisation is a continuum. 93% of the urbanization occurs in poor or developing countries, and nearly 40% of the world's urban expansion is growing slums. Whether the source of water supply is from surface water, groundwater or bottled water, cities are desperate for more and more water to sustain their growth. Treatment Process of Drinking Water Coagulation is the first process raw water has to go through in the water treatment cycle. It removes dirt and other particles suspended in water. Alum and other chemicals are added to water to form tiny sticky particles called "floc" which attract the dirt particles. The combined weight of the dirt and the alum (floc) become heavy enough to sink to the bottom during sedimentation (Figure 20.2). Coagulation is often followed by flocculation whereby the turbidity of water is made clearer by removal of suspended particles in the raw water. In the USA, the upper limit of turbidity has been set higher from 1.0 NTU in 1989 to 0.3 NTU today. Many utilities even commit to treat water until turbidity falls below 0.1 NTU in order to guard against pathogen contamination. After coagulation and flocculation, the heavy particles (floc) are allowed to settle to the bottom and the clear water moves on to filtration. The floc which settles to the bottom of the sedimentation tanks is subsequently removed via backwash. After sedimentation, the water passes through filters, some made of layers of sand, gravel, and charcoal that help remove even smaller particles. At the final stage of water treatment, a small amount of chlorine is added to the water or some other disinfection method is used to kill any bacteria or microorganisims that may be present in the water. Water is placed in a closed tank or reservoir in order for disinfection to take place. Finally, the treated water then flows through pipes to homes and businesses in the community.
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Figure 20.2: The water treatment process typically comprises coagulation, sedimentation, filtration, disinfection and storage before the treated water is distributed to consumers (http://water.epa.gov/learn/kids/drinkingwater/watertreatmentplant_index.cfm Accessed 18 Aug 2015) Water Supply versus Water Demand In the past when the populations of countries were small, and water demands low, there was hardly any pressure on the depletion of water resources availability. During that time, when water was needed for any development, the authorities built dams and treatment plants, and supplied water to the users – i.e. based on the Water Supply Management (WSM) Model. Hence, not surprisingly, the current predominant approach to solving increasing water needs in many countries, particularly developing countries, is focused almost entirely on the supply side, i.e. via increasing water supply. Such an approach is ineffective because: It addresses only one side of the problem, i.e. the supply side; It does not involve the users and hence, does not encourage conservation; the total amount of water in the country (rainfall, rivers, lakes and groundwater) is finite but population growth and development is not; and modernization and consumerism increases consumers‘ water demand significantly. WSM alone cannot work as all over the world, river basins in each country are polluted and developed beyond their water supply capacities. Hence, no more dams can be built on these rivers. Chan and Nitivattananon (2006) have found that WSM should be considered as one of many water management strategies, and not as the only way. It has to go hand-in-hand with Water Demand Management (WDM). Many countries with water stress and practicing WDM have proven that it can work. Some examples are Singapore, parts of Australia, the Middle-east and Japan. In Melbourne, for example, WDM has been shown to delay the need for additional supplies for six years, and increased WDM efforts are estimated to provide additional lead time for new water supply projects for 10 years. However, in many countries and cities, instead of impressing on the users to reduce and control their usage, a wrong signal may have been sent to them when the authorities keep announcing the building of new dams and treatment plants. Arguably, WSM can provide additional jobs via large mega water projects, but it cannot by itself solve a country‘s or a 140
city‘s water demands in the future. It is imperative that planners and policy makers change their old mindset of WSM in favour of a more comprehensive combination of WSM and WDM to manage water resources in the country. Ideally, future water resource planning will need to plan on the basis of limited, if not inadequate water. Right now, many cities are running out of water. Some like Beijing (China) and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) have started to transfer water from neighbouring water-rich states. It is envisaged that more and more states will explore inter-basin and inter-state transfers of water to meet their water needs in the near future. WSM is largely a top-down approach dependent on government or private sector water supply that does not involve the end users. Clearly, there is a need to manage on the part of the supplier (WSM) as well as a need for consumers to manage water via Water Demand Management (WDM). Employing a single approach of WSM is clearly not solving the problem, as manifested in numerous water crises in recent years. Clearly, there is a need to involve the consumers as well as NGOs and industry in WDM in order to bring about a more comprehensive strategy of sustainable management of water resources (Figure 20.3).
Figure 20.3: A Model of Water Management Based on A Combined Strategy of Water Supply Management (WSM) and Water Demand Management (WDM).
To stress the importance of WDM, one needs only to compare population increase and its increasing demands on water. Obviously, population increase equals increase in water demand as people need to use water, and more people means more water is needed. For example, the average per capita daily consumption of water in Malaysia is estimated at 287 litres in 2001. Based on the total population of the country in 2001 of about 23.266 million, the amount of water consumed would be 6,677 million litres per day (MLD). Based 141
on the estimated population increase, the year 2005 would have 26.036 million people, and assuming the rate of usage stays the same, the amount of water used in 2005 would be 7,742 MLD, i.e. an increase of 1,065 million litres (Table 20.1). This represents an increase of about 16 % over less than 5 years. This is the major reason why Selangor will run out of water by 2007, and even the new Selangor Dam will not be able to cater for the increase in water demand. Hence, the need to transfer water from Pahang via inter-state water transfer. Pahang can afford to do so at this moment in time because its population is small and its water demands much lower compared to Selangor. Likewise, Pulau Pinang is also expected to face water shortages by 2010 when its existing water production capacities will be outstripped by population and economic growth. Like Selangor, Pulau Pinang is currently also negotiating with neighbours Perak and Kedah for inter-state transfer of water. Consequently, no matter how one looks at the population issue, one cannot escape from the need for water. There are many ways in which WDM can be implemented effectively in Malaysia. WDM can be implemented by the federal government at the national level, by state governments and by local governments. WDM can also implemented by industries (e.g. by a factory or a hotel), and by local communities, families and individuals. A detailed account on how each of these entities can implement WDM, as well as the incentives to encourage WDM is given by Chan (2007). Table 20.1: Projected Total Water Demand for Domestic, Industrial and Agriculture in Malaysia 2000 – 2050 Year
Domestic & Industrial Agricultural Total Water Annual % % Increase DemandX DemandY DemandY IncreaseX Over 2000Y _____________________________________________________________________________________ 2000 9,543 20,094 29,637 2010 15,285 32,184 47,469 6.0 60 2020 20,388 42,929 63,316 3.3 114 2030 24,285 51,134 75.419 3.0 154 2040 28,181 59,338 87,519 1.5 195 2050 31,628 66,596 98,224 1.2 231 _____________________________________________________________________________________ X Y
Estimate by Malaysia Water Industry Guide 2003 (The Malaysian Water Association, 2003:69) My Estimates.
Therefore, a balance must be attained between water supply and water demand. Water supply must always be able to meet water demand to ensure water availability is sustainable. The United Nations documents that half of humanity now lives in cities and, within two decades, nearly 60% of the world‘s population -5 billion people- will be urban dwellers. Urban growth is most rapid in the developing world, where cities gain an average of 5 million residents every month. The exploding urban population growth creates unprecedented challenges, among which the demand for water is one of the most pressing and painfully felt when lacking. The relationship between water and cities is crucial. Cities require a very large input of freshwater and in turn have a huge impact on freshwater systems. Cities cannot be sustainable without ensuring reliable access to safe drinking water (http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/swm_cities_zaragoza_2010/pdf/facts_and_figures_long_final_eng .pdf Accessed 18 Aug 2015). In order to meet increased water supply demand the municipal/city government has to incur large capital works expenditure (CAPEX) to construct new dams and new water treatment plants as well as new piping 142
distribution systems to provide additional water supply capacity to exploding population and industries. Furthermore, there will be also be increased operational expenditure (OPEX) due to increased pumping and maintenance cost of the distribution system. There will also be the non-quantifiable cost arising from the negative impacts of the capital works on the environment. For example, in Selangor State, Malaysia, the unit cost of providing the additional water supply capacity from the proposed new capital works has been computed from the total estimated project cost for the Selangor inter-basin water transfer project divided by the amount of water supply capacity the project is supposed to deliver. The estimated unit capital cost to provide 100 litres per day water supply capacity to Selangor residents is MYR282 (MYR1 = US$0.25). This does not include the recurrent operational costs and associated economic costs of mitigating the negative environmental impacts arising from the construction of the dams and tunnels, and the intangible impacts and recurrent cost to the environment. Thus, it makes economic and environmental sense to invest in plans to help consumers reduce their demand, recycle and reuse water, install rainwater harvesting and water saving facilities. This is where WDM comes in. Through this paradigm shift, the government would be better off, both in financial and environmental terms, to replace part of its plan to spend money to construct new water supply capacity with a plan to spend some money to create awareness among and provide incentives to water consumers to reduce their per capita water supply capacity demand. If all domestic consumers in the city were to heed this call to reduce their water demands, even by a small percentage, the total amount of water saved is huge. WDM is defined as any method or attempt to reduce water demands or water use. It is based on the understanding that the volume of water supplied is fixed. Therefore, given a fixed amount of water but with population increasing, water consumers will have to reduce and manage their demands. An operational definition of water demand management is proposed with five components: (i) reducing the quantity or quality of water required to accomplish a specific task; (ii) adjusting the nature of the task so it can be accomplished with less water or lower quality water; (iii) reducing losses in movement from source through use to disposal; (iv) shifting time of use to off-peak periods; and (v) increasing the ability of the system to operate during droughts (http://pugwashgroup.ca/events/Water/2008-Water-BrooksWDM-Defn.fnl%5B1%5D.pdf Accessed 18 Aug 2015). This definitions brings out the drivers of water saving and permits tracking of gains by the source of the saving. It is also applicable to nations at different stages of economic development. And it shows how goals of greater water use efficiency are linked to those of equity, environmental protection, and public participation. Taken together, these goals make water demand management less a set of techniques than a concept of governance. Suhaimi AbdulTalib et. al. (2014) have found that WDM can be integrated with water and environmental engineering: to embrace a multi-disciplinary approach through advanced technologies for overall water sustainability. WDM in terms of domestic consumers is can be implemented via a campaign on water savings or via an education programme. Increased commitment by the government and the public to devote funds and efforts to reduce per capita water supply consumption is a relatively low cost way of sustainable water management. WDM is also quick to implement compared to the construction of a dam. Awareness programs on ways to increase water-use efficiency, reduced water wastage and the use of water savings equipment are developed. Best of all, WDM engages the water consumers and the public. This throws the ball on to the court of the public and make them responsible towards water demand management. There are many success stories of WDM in cities such as Singapore, Copenhagen, Cape Town, etc. For example, the city of Cape Town has implemented the WDM and Water Conservation Strategy successfully since 2007. Via this strategy, Cape Town has reduced water demands significantly (Figure 20.4)(http://www.capetown.gov.za/en/Water/WaterservicesDevPlan/Documents/WSDP_2012_2013/Topi c8_WCWDM_STRATEGY_2.pdf Accessed 18 Aug 2016). WDM includes smart partnerships in water efficiency management that aims towards arriving at a Green Economy (Chan, 2012).
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Figure 20.4: Water Demand Projections for Cape Town based on three Scenarios (http://www.capetown.gov.za/en/Water/WaterservicesDevPlan/Documents/WSDP_2012_2013/Topic8_ WCWDM_STRATEGY_2.pdf Accessed 18 Aug 2015). Conclusion Many megacities and cities in the world are facing water stress, not because the climate or environment do not provide enough water but because of huge demands by industry, businesses, domestic households, tourists and other city activities. For example, Los Angeles is a city on the brink of disaster because it relies on importing much of its water from the Colorado River system which itself is facing unsustainability as it serves seven states and over 40 million people. Water demands in the city keep going up as the city is still growing, and this is exacerbated by climate change. Beijing is another city facing imminent water disaster, again dut to its huge population and the inmigration. In Malaysia, the cities of Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Petaling Jaya, Shah Alam and Kelang are all facing water stress due to increasing water demands. All these cities now rely on importing water from outside their boundaries. Inter-state or inter-city water transfers can never be sustainable as cities rey on water that is not rightfully theirs. What would happen when the exporters of water themselves need the water for growth in the future? This is exactly what happened to Singapore which has always in the past relied on importing raw water from neighbouring Malaysia. Singpore has embarked on a committed comprehensive strategy of combining technology (use of recycled water and desalinantion), gazettement of all remaining water catchments and a nation-wide water demand management campaign to sensitise its people. Singapore has done it despite its very poor water respource base. Cities all over the world now looks at Singapore and try to emulate it in terms of water management. Water supply can never catch up with water demands. This is because the total water availability is finite while demands are now. WDM can leverage on the results of successful cities in WDM to embark on the promotion of water conservation and appreciation 144
for the importance of conserving water to protect our water supply source. WDM creates a responsible citizenry for the city as it engages water consumers to get mobilised. WDM can lead to the creation of a ―water valuing‖ community network in any city. Cities must develop a holistic plan for Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) that incorporates both WSM and WDM with a fine balance to ensure future water resources sustainability. Questions for Discussion 1. With reference to your local city, identify the issues and challenges related to water supply management and water demand management and suggest ways in which your city can balance the two. 2. Given the fact that water supply is finite but water demand infinite, how can your city be watersecured? What are the obstacles to achieve water security for your city? How can these obstacles be removed so that your city can become water-secured? Acknowledgements: The authors would like to acknowledge the funding from the Kementerian Pendidikan Tinggi Long Term Fundamental Grant Scheme (LRGS) Account Number 203/PKT/6724003 for Data used in the final write up of this chapter. References Chan, N.W. (2007) Application of Domestic Water Audit and Other Water Demand Management (WDM) Strategies. In Malaysian Environmental NGOs’ Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) Training Module. Petaling Jaya: Malaysian Environmental NGOs, Global Water Partnership and Malaysian Water Partnership, 25-44. Chan, N.W. (2012) Smart Partnerships in Water Efficiency Management Towards a Green Economy with Particular Reference to Malaysia. IWRA (India) Journal (Half Yearly Technical Journal of Indian Geographical Committee of IWRA) 1(Issue 1), 4-13. Print ISSN: 2277-1298. Online ISSN: 2277-1301. Chan Ngai Weng (2015) Chapter 6: Human Aspect of Water Security Focussing on Governance, Water Demand Management and Non-Revenue Water in Urban Areas in Malaysia. In Urban Water Cycle Processes, Management & Societal Interactions: Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability. Penang: River Engineering and Urban Drainage Research Centre Publication, 225-266. Chan, N.W. and Bouguerra, L. (Editors) (2007) World Citizens’ Assembly on Water: Towards Global Water Sustainability. Penang: Water Watch Penang and Alliance for a Responsible, Plural and United World. Chan, N.W. and Nitivattananon V (2006) ―Effective Management of Water Resources Via Demand Management: Some Examples from Southeast Asia‖. In Sethaputra S and Promma K (Editors) Proceedings of IHP International Symposium on Managing Water Supply for Growing Demand, Bangkok, Thailand, 16-20 October 2006. Jakarta, UNESCO: IHP Technical Documents in Hydrology No 8, 23-38. http://pugwashgroup.ca/events/Water/2008-Water-Brooks-WDM-Defn.fnl%5B1%5D.pdf (Accessed 18 Aug 2015). http://tn.water.usgs.gov/wustates/tn/factoffstream.html (Accessed 18 Aug 2015). 145
http://www.capetown.gov.za/en/Water/WaterservicesDevPlan/Documents/WSDP_2012_2013/Topic8_W CWDM_STRATEGY_2.pdf (Accessed 18 Aug 2015). http://www.sbdcnet.org/small-business-research-reports/bottled-water-industry (Accessed 18 Aug 2015). http://www.unwater.org/statistics/thematic-factsheets/en/ (Accessed 18 Aug 2015). http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/swm_cities_zaragoza_2010/pdf/facts_and_figures_long_final_eng. pdf (Accessed 18 Aug 2015). http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/gdwq0506.pdf (Accessed 18 Aug 2015). Suhaimi Abdul-Talib, Chia-Chay Tay, Nor-Azazi Zakaria, Aminuddin Ab-Ghani,Lariyah Mohd-Sidek and Ngai-Weng Chan (2014) Water and Environmental Engineering: Embracing Multi-Disciplinary Approach Through Advanced and Inegrated Technologies for Sustainability. Journal of Asian Scientific Research 4 (4), 194-206 [ISSN 2223-1331]. The Malaysian Water Association (2003) Malaysia Water Industry Guide 2003. Kuala Lumpur: The Malaysian Water Association. Zakaria, N.A., Ab. Ghani, A., Abdul Talib, S., Chan, N.W. & Mohamed Desa, M.N (2013) Urban Water Cycle Processes, Management, and Societal Interactions: Crossing From Crisis To Sustainability. World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2013: 1240-1246. DOI: 10.1061/9780784412947.122. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
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CHAPTER 21
WASTE WATER
Chern Wern Hong and Ngai Weng Chan Introduction Wastewater is a term for water with its quality affected via ‗unwanted‘ anthropogenic sources thus the word ‗waste‘. Types of wastewater can include those from domestic household, commercial, agricultural etc. Domestic wastewater or better known as municipal wastewater is conveyed to sewers and treated at wastewater treatment plant. Under the umbrella term of sanitation, wastewater can also be managed via septic tank discharge, which is a type of on-site treatment unit. Municipal sewage consists mostly of greywater (showers, dishwasher sinks, cloths-washer etc), blackwater (toilet flushes with human waste an excreta), soaps and detergents. Wastewater treatment plant can be centralized or decentralized into small localities to increase operational efficiency. The conventional wastewater treatment system includes processes such as primary treatment (removal of suspended solids and large solid objects via screening process), secondary treatment (removal of dissolved solids and organic matter via basic activated sludge, coagulation, disinfection etc.) and tertiary treatment (additional process to further remove nutrients) (Figure 21.1). Wastewater treatment process must not be mistaken as water treatment plant as the effluent product of wastewater treatment plant will exit to other water-bodies such as rivers, ponds and lakes instead of directly to drinking water distribution system. By-products such as sludge will be removed and sent to landfill. In some cases, sludge is reused for composting or for research purposes.
Figure 21.1: Conventional Waste Treatment Process Source: watertreatmentprocess.net (2015) Another wastewater treatment system would be the septic system. This is a small-scale system for areas that are not connected to any sewage pipe for conventional wastewater treatment plant. According to Figure 21.2, septic system includes an inlet, outlet and a sedimentation zone. The term septic refers to anaerobic condition that develops in the system that decomposes the waste. As an on-site treatment system, the septic tanks can be installed with bio-filters or aeration systems to better treatment efficiency (American Ground Water Trust, 2014).
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Figure 21.2: Schematic of a septic tank Source: Tillet et al. (2014) In Japan, on-site wastewater treatment accounted for about 30% of the total nation‘s coverage (Japan Sanitation Consortium, 2015). This special on-site wastewater treatment is popularly known as ‗Johkasou‘. This refined septic system technology can treat domestic wastewater for individual or group households by discharging high quality effluent of less than 20mg/l in BOD (Figure 21.3). The Johkasou system includes two tiered anaerobic filter tank, aeration tank and sedimentation tank. This technology enables treated water to be easily reused while the sludge can be used as fertilizer or for biomass production. Apart low installation cost and high resistance against earthquake, small rivers can be conserved without polluting them as well as groundwater protection.
Figure 21.3: Example of a Johkasou System Source: Ogawa (2002) Eutrophication Untreated wastewater could pose various environmental impacts such as eutrophication, which is due to phosphates in detergents, soaps and non-organic fertilisers (Schindler and Vallentyne, 2004). A popular example of eutrophication is algae bloom due to increase of phytoplankton due to high nutrient. Algae 148
bloom will result in negative environmental effects such as oxygen depletion in the water, which will lead to death in aquatic animals. This happens when huge amount of algae die, the decomposition process that consumes oxygen will reduce the concentration of dissolved oxygen. This impact will also affect human health where eutrophic conditions could interfere with drinking water treatment (Bartram et al., 1999). Policy concerning the prevention and reduction of eutrophication can be divided into technologies, public participation, economic instruments, and cooperation (UNEP, 2000). In the role of technology, domestic wastewater treatment should be a primary concern for policy regarding eutrophication in order for it to be reused safely. For public participation to work effectively, the public must be aware of that human is the root-cause and should be educated to preventing untreated wastewater from flowing into water bodies. In terms of economic instrument, incentives can be given to promote the usage of organic fertilizer in organic farming. In Kramer (2006) study, it was found that organically fertilized fields has "significantly reduce harmful nitrate leaching". Nitrate leaching is one of the many factors contributing to algae bloom. Cooperation ranging from state governments, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and local community is crucial in preventing further pollutions in water bodies. NGOs can play role in educating the public while the government can provide financial support towards campaigning and education awareness programme. Re-Use of Wastewater – The Story of NEWater in a Water-Stressed City The concept of re-using wastewater is neither new nor innovative. Centuries ago, our fore fathers have used urine mixed with wastewater for fertilisers. So, recycling wastewater for re-use is certainly not new, if it is for non-consumpive use. However, recycling wastewater for human consumption is a different matter. Initiatives of recycling wastewater for consumption have been started many decades ago, notably in Israel, Spain, Scandinavian countries and the United States. However, these were rather low profile and suppressed initiatives which the practising countries were not proud of. In Australia, purifying wastewater has been going on for years, but the wastewater that is purified is not for drinking. Australians need a consistent water supply to protect against the unpredictability of climate. In most countries, one single source of water is certainly no longer enough to guarantee water security. Mostly, purified water in Australia is used for irrigation and farming to produce food, as despite the scientific sanction of the safety of purification, most people are skeptical about drinking purified wastewater. Winning public trust and acceptance is needed. However, when Singapore burst on to the scene with NEWater, the country quickly gained an international reputation as an icon for efficient recycling of wastewater for consumption (Photograph 21.1). NEWater currently supplies around one third of the country‘s water demand, and this is expected to increase to more than half by the year 2060. Singapore, therefore, is perhaps the most remarkable country that has put wastewater back into re-use, not just for non-consumptive re-use like flushing toilets or watering plants, but also for drinking purposes (Tortalajada, 2006). As one of Asia‘s most powerful economies, Singapore is very poor in terms of water resources, due to its small land area and small water catchments. Hence, the city state lacks a reliable water supply, a resource that is vital to sustain its economy and people. Hence, it has no choice but to re-use wastewater. The country has done it over the span of a few decades and wastewater-reuse plants could change that by soon recycling enough sewage to meet 50 percent of the nation‘s water needs. Singapore's 'toilet to tap' concept may be hard to stomach in many countries, but left without a choice, it is the logical way forward. Duerr (2013) reported that despite water imports from Malaysia dropping below 30 % of its total supply, Singapore‘s 17 reservoirs do not provide enough water to meet the country‘s needs. It has to find other options. Although desalination of sea water is doable and viable, it is cost-intensive and therefore only makes up around 10 % of Singapore‘s water supply. All these pressures have forced the Singapore government to launch a project called ―NEWater‖ back in 2003 (Photograph 21.2). NEWater is in fact a wastewater recycling programme to re-use wastewater via recycling highly purified water. This became a more cost-efficient and eco-friendly solution as wastewater is turned into "NEWater". 149
Photograph 21.1: NEWater drinks reday to be cosumed in attractive (http://www.dw.com/en/singapores-toilet-to-tap-concept/a-16904636 Accessed 11 Aug 2016).
bottles
Photograph 21.2: A NEWater plant in operation in Singapore (http://www.dw.com/en/singapores-toiletto-tap-concept/a-16904636 Accessed 11 Aug 2016). The first of NEWater's treatment plants went into operation in 2002. In 2013, there were four purification NEWater plants in the country, producing a total of 430 million liters of NEWater a day. The NEWater technology for recycling sewage into drinking water is not new. Sewage water is filtered to extract larger particles, bacteria and viruses. Then, through reverse osmosis, membranes refine the water again, sifting out further contaminants and getting rid of any disease-causing agents. Finally, ultraviolet disinfection is used to make sure the water is truly pure and ready to use (http://www.dw.com/en/singapores-toilet-totap-concept/a-16904636 Accessed 11 Aug 2016). . Despite all the hype about drinking recycled NEWater, actually the majority of NEWater produced is consumed by industry or by big cooling facilities. The rest of the NEWater is combined with nutrient-rich reservoir water, purified again and filled into bottles for public consumption. The bottled NEWater is not for sale, and Singapore‘s environment ministry says it has no plans to change that. It is just for reassurance. Instead, bottled NEWater is distributed at major public events to help raise awareness about NEWater and Singapore‘s water security. This has bore fruits as the majority of Singaporeans are highly sensitised about water use and water conservation. The Public Utility Board (PUB) which manage NEWater has cleverly set up a visitor‘s center offering daily tours for tourists and schoolchildren to share more information with the public (Photograph 21.3). Today, around 5 % of Singapore‘s tap water comes from NEWater. This is a very small percentage and is really insignificant in terms of vlolume. However, in terms of public education and political mileague, NEWater has served its purpose. Th PUB authorities argue that NEWater is a safeguard against the vagaries of climate change. For example, during dry months when reserves in Singapore‘s rainwater reservoirs fall rapidly, the PUB moves quickly to supplement the shortfall in raw water supply with greywater. Hence, with wastewater, Singapore is now less dependent on the weather. The story of NEWater is a success stiory that all water-stressed cities should emulate. ―The NEWater is continusly tested and found to be 150
ultra-clean and of high-grade quality water, although it is basically wastewater before treatment. Recycling wastewater is an immense success story and satisfaction for Singapore, not to mention securing its own water security without having to rely on another country for water supply.
Photograph 21.3: Visitors (including school children) can do tours of NEWater's facilities. The idea is to raise public acceptance for recycled sewage water (http://www.dw.com/en/singapores-toilet-to-tapconcept/a-16904636 Accessed 11 Aug 2016). NEWater is so pure that it exceeds the FAO‘s safety standards for drinking water. Over the last two decades or so, via all its water investments and NEWater, Singapore has solved its water problems. In fact, Singapore‘s success story from a water-insecure country to one that is now with high water security, has projected the country on the global arena. Singapore is no longer concerned whether or not its water contract with malaysia, due to expire in 2061, will be renewed. It has by any measure, secured its own destiny. Both as a country as well as a city, whichever you call it, Singapore has achieved water security. They have done it the hard way, even to the extent of drinking recycled wastewater. But reusing wastewater has been proven by Singapore to be a viable model for the future. Singapore‘s success story with using wastewater has completely revolutionalised the thinking of the world. Though drinking wastewater like Singaporeans may not appeal to many, that day appears not to be too far off, especially for those in water-stressed countries and cities. Singapore has not only offered NEWater as an important model for the entire Asia Pacific region, but also an option of alternative water source. Conclusion As resources become scarce, particularly water resources, wastewater has become a ―resource‖. Treated wastewater can be put ibnto many uses. Wastewater recycling is now commonly practised in many developed countries. Hence, recycling is n longer merely applied to paper, aluminum cans, glass bottles, and newspapers, but wastewater too. Water recycling is therefore reusing treated wastewater for beneficial purposes such as agricultural and landscape irrigation, industrial processes, toilet flushing, and replenishing a ground water basin (referred to as ground water recharge). Water recycling offers resource and financial savings, especially for cities that are water-scarce. For example, many cities such as Singapore have managed to treat wastewater to a technologically high level whereby the treated wastewater is purer than conventional treated raw water for concumption. Singapore‘s Newater is such a product (http://www.pub.gov.sg/about/historyfuture/Pages/NEWater.aspx. Accessed 18 Aug 2015). Therefore, in these days of hightech water treatment using reversed osmosis and high quality membranes, wastewater treatment can be tailored to meet the water quality requirements of a planned reuse. Yes, even for drinking as in the case of Newater. However, with conventional wastewater treatment technology, recycled wastewater can only be used for landscape irrigation as it requires less treatment than recycled water for drinking water. No documented cases of human health problems due to contact with recycled wastewater that has been treated to standards, criteria, and regulations have been reported. For many 151
cities, wastewater is often treated and recycled/reused onsite. This is the case when an industrial facility recycles its wastewater for cooling processes. A common type of recycled water is water that has been reclaimed from municipal wastewater, or sewage. The city of Pattaya in Thailand, which is water scarce during certain months, uses recycled wastewater for watering its plants or landscaping. The term water recycling is generally used synonymously with water reclamation and water reuse. In other cities, another type of recycled water called "greywater" is treated for re-use. Greywater is reusable wastewater from residential, commercial and industrial bathroom sinks, bath tub shower drains, and clothes washing equipment drains. Greywater is often not treated and reused onsite, typically for landscape irrigation. Use of non toxic and low-sodium (no added sodium or substances that are naturally high in sodium) soap and personal care products is required to protect vegetation when reusing greywater for irrigation. Hence, cities should consider this option of using treated wastewater (both greywater and blackwater) for re-use. Questions for Discussion 1. With reference to your local city, identify the issues and challenges related to wastewater. 2. What sort of treatment is used to treat wastewater in your city? 3. Is treated wastewater re-used in your city? If Yes, discuss how. If No, why not? 4. In an extreme scenario, if wastewater is to be treated for human consumption, discuss the obstacles to achieve acceptance by the public. How can these obstacles be removed so that your city folks can accept drinking treated wastewater? Acknowledgements: The authors would like to acknowledge the funding from the Kementerian Pendidikan Tinggi Long Term Fundamental Grant Scheme (LRGS) Account Number 203/PKT/6724003 for Data used in the final write up of this chapter. References American Ground Water Trust. (2014). Septic Systems for (http://www.agwt.org/content/septic-systems Accessed on 30 July 2015).
Waste
Water
Disposal
Bartram, J., Wayne W. Carmichael, Chorus, I., Jones, G. and Skulberg, O.M. (1999) Chapter 1. Introduction, in: Toxic Cyanobacteria in Water: A guide to their public health consequences, monitoring and management (http://www.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/42827/http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/42827/1/041923 9308_eng.pdf?ua=1 Accessed on 30 July 2015). Duerr, R,A. (2013) Singapore's 'toilet to tap' concept (http://www.dw.com/en/singapores-toilet-to-tapconcept/a-16904636 Accessed 11 Aug 2016). http://www.dw.com/en/singapores-toilet-to-tap-concept/a-16904636 (Accessed 11 Aug 2016). Kramer, S. B. (2006). "Reduced nitrate leaching and enhanced denitrifier activity and efficiency in organically fertilized soils" in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103 (12): 4522–4527.
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Ogawa, H. (2002) Domestic Wastewater Treatment by Johkasou Systems in Japan by Japan Education Center of Environmental Sanitation (https://www.env.go.jp/recycle/3r/en/asia/02_06/01.pdf Accessed on 30 July 2015). Tilley, E., Ulrich, L., Lüthi, C., Reymond, Ph., Zurbrügg, C. (2014) Compendium of Sanitation Systems and Technologies - (2nd Revised Edition). Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), Duebendorf, Switzerland. ISBN 978-3-906484-57-0 (http://www.sswm.info/sites/default/files/reference_attachments/TILLEY%20et%20al%202014%20Com pendium%20of%20Sanitation%20Systems%20and%20Technologies%20%202nd%20Revised%20Edition.pdf Accessed on 28 July 2014). Tortalajada, C. (2006) Water Management in Singapore. International Journal of Water Resources Development, Vol 22 (2), 227-240. UNEP (2000) "Planning and Management of Lakes and Reservoirs: An Integrated Approach to Eutrophication." United Nations Environment Programme, Newsletter and Technical Publications. International Environmental Technology Centre (http://www.unep.or.jp/ietc/Publications/TechPublications/TechPub-11/ Accessed on 20 July 2015). @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
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CHAPTER 22
MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE
Chern Wern Hong, Ngai Weng Chan and Ta Wee Seow Introduction Municipal solid waste (MSW) constitutes daily discarded items by the public and collected by the municipal. They are commonly known as thrash/garbage in the USA or rubbish/refuse in the UK. General composition of MSW can be divided into food waste, papers, plastics, glasses, aluminium cans, e-waste etc. However, industrial wastes, agricultural wastes, medical waste, radioactive waste or sewage sludge are mostly not included as part of composition of MSW. Though, composition of MSW varies from country to country depending on availability of types of waste management system and facilities. According to Figure 22.1, management of MSW spans from the least preferred option, which is via direct disposal to landfill to the most preferred option, which is via prevention of waste creation. Execution of preferred MSW management is based on the municipalities/countries‘ solid waste management, policy, and education system, which constitute the awareness of the general public about the importance to practice waste minimisation.
Figure 22.1: Solid Waste Management Hierarchy The least preferred option of MSW management which is via disposal method consists of solid waste collection process include collection of solid waste at point source (home, shophouse, etc.) by municipalities or private solid waste management company and to be transferred to a dumping site which is popularly known as landfill. Landfills are commonly divided into sanitary (engineered) landfill and non-engineered open dumping site. Sanitary landfills are equipped with leachate treatment technology and are often regarded as the most cost-efficient method especially for countries with vast open spaces or lands. Solid waste are dumped and covered cum compacted with soils to be degraded (Figure 22.2).
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Figure 22.2: Source: Conventional Municipal Solid (Source: Waste Collection System of Patrick County Taxpayer Watchdog Group, 2015) Depending on the landfill size and ‗incubation‘ period, the landfill can be converted into parks or even small-scale housing development. For example, the Sai Tso Wan Recreation Ground in Hong Kong was the first ever landfill-based recreational park to be opened. The landfill held approximately 1.6 million tons of waste between 1978 and 1981 and was sealed off with soil only to undergo restoration work from 1995 to 2004 to transform the land into a recreational ground (Figure 22.3).
Figure 22.3: Sai Tso Wan Recreation Ground (Source: Ngchikit/Wikimedia Commons) Just above the least preferred option in solid waste management tier, is the energy recovery option. Energy recovery is a process of generating energy in the form of electricity and/or heat via incineration of waste. Incineration is a process that involves the combustion of solid waste, which in turn will convert the 155
waste into ashes, flue gases, and heat. Incineration processes reduce the solid mass of the original waste by 80-85% and the volume by 95–96% (Han, 2012). This process is particularly popular in land-scarce country such as Japan. In a developed country such as Japan, the heat generated via incineration is recovered for electricity generation. This energy recovery technology could in turn contribute towards offsetting greenhouse gases from fossil sources such as coal, oil and gas-fired power plants. However, as energy recovery is the second least preferred waste management option, incineration technique has its bane on the environment. Without adequate air pollution control technology, the flue gases may contain heavy metals, sulphur dioxide and the most publicized of all, dioxins. Apart from flue gases, the ashes must be carefully gathered and disposed at the landfill. Recycling as an Option in MSW Management Another concept towards promoting waste minimization is the popular 3R concept. ‗3R‘ simply stands for reuse, reduce and recycle which is based on the ‗cradle to grave‘ analysis. By practicing this concept, the process of disposing waste or incineration could be reduced apart from utilising of new raw materials. Based on the waste hierarchy, recycling option is preferred compared to energy recovery option followed by reusing, reducing (minimization) and ultimately prevention of waste. Recycling is defined as a process to modify waste materials into new product/material. This practice is to reduce consumption of fresh raw materials as well as reducing waste disposal rate (Murphy, P., 1993). The process of recycling includes collection, sorting and rinsing. Household recyclable items include paper, glass, plastic materials, aluminium and e-waste products. Rate of recycling in a municipality or country depends on the availability of technology, facilities, policy and public awareness. Another challenges faced in recycling process is on the ability to separate and breakdown a product into different parts of material. For example, a smart phone consists of plastic and steel casings as well as electronic components, which could pose challenges in separating them into different parts of materials for recycling process. Ao and Kono (2011) have proposed that a product to be designed in such a way that could ease the process of breaking down into different parts of materials to ease product separation. Recycling, though promotes the reduction in new raw materials consumption, will consume energy for its process. Thus another preferred option is to ‗reuse‘ an item instead of recycling it. The term ‗reuse‘ literally means using an item (mostly non-degradable) again after it has been used. Item that is being reused could be in the form of same functionality or modified into different functionality. For example, in terms of same functionality, glass milk bottles are washed and refilled with milk again or rethreading car tires. An example of modified functionality could be in crushed bottles used to incorporate into wall design or reusing the discarded car tires as artificial coral reefs. By practicing ‗reuse‘, it will lead to savings in energy and raw material consumption as well as reducing disposable waste. This practice will also promote cost saving in economic activities. Some of the disadvantages of ‗reuse‘ are water is needed for cleaning as well as reduction in efficiency and toxicity especially in old automobiles or electrical appliances. At the pinnacle of waste hierarchy, efficient MSW management system is equivalent to promoting waste minimization and elimination of waste in best possible strategy. This ultimate aim aligns with the umbrella term sustainable consumption that minimizes consumption of new raw materials, energy as well as creation of waste. This strategy can only work with the presence of strong political-will in promoting good solid waste management, improving waste treatment and recycling technology. Inter-city and international cooperation are also possible in terms of resource circulation (for recycling and reusing) to promote zero waste generation.
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Conclusion In conclusion, solid wastes should not be treated as wastes but should increasingly be looked upon by cities as ―resources‖. There are several ways in which city governments in developing countries can enhance solid waste reduction. Firstly, citizens should be kept informed and engaged the need for solid waste separation and recycling, and the needs of sold waste workers. Public campaigns are needed as well as extensive public education to develop the public‘s understanding and build the capacities in terms of the need for further source separation to improve the potential for composting and to remove the stigma of association with waste materials. Secondly, cities need to promote recycling industries and enterprises that are green. Green industries must be encuraged at the expense of dirty/polluting industries. Thirdly, composting of organic solid wastes has great potentials and must be encouraged. This is because organic wastes form a major portion of the household solid waste. When reduction of organic solid wastes are dealt with, via successful composting, half the battle is won. Keeping organics pure for composting will require more thorough source separation than is done at present. Fourthly, cities must advocate key areas for waste reduction for industrial sector, especially during the manufacturing stage (e.g., reduction of paper/plastic packaging; coding of paper/plastics to improve recycling). As waste generation and waste reduction reflect many complex economic, social and cultural factors, cosmopolitan cities must study these before implementing any solid waste management system. No one size fits all. It is the same with solid waste management. One strategy may work for one city but will backfire in another. Hence, no city may blindly adopt/adapt recommendations from another city. Each city must examine its own wastes, and the potential for extending waste reduction. Privitization of SWM should be carried out in a transparent manner. Waste reduction should, however, be the first principle of solid waste management. Questions for Discussion 1. With reference to your local city, identify the issues and challenges related to solid waste management. 2. What sort of disposal/treatment is used to manage your city‘s solid wastes? 3. Is treated solid wastes re-used in your city? If Yes, discuss how. If No, why not? Acknowledgements The authors would like to acknowledge funding from the project titled ―Developing Optimization Model for Solid Waste Management in Johor Bahru City, Johor‖. Research Acculturation Collaborative Effort (RACE) Fasa 2/2013. Grant provided by the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia. Account Number 1001/PHUMANITI/AUPRM0058. References Ao, M and Kono, N. (2011) Model for Environmental Cooperation in Asia: Analysis of 3 Factors to Convert City to 5R Society Highlighting Yokohama and Kawasaki as a model case (http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTURBANDEVELOPMENT/Resources/3363871296405826983/7699103-1296623042596/6AoKonoYCUBBL.pdf Accessed on 10 June 2015). Han, D. (2012). Concise Environmental Engineering. PhD and Ventus Publishing ApS ISBN 978-87-4030197-7 Murphy, P. (1993). In The League of Women Voters: The Garbage Primer. New York: Lyons & Burford. pp. 35–72. ISBN 1-55821-250-7. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ 157
CHAPTER 23
ORGANIC WASTE
Lay Mei Sim Introduction The world population is predicted to grow from 6.9 billion in 2010 to 8.3 billion in 2030 and to 9.1 billion in 2050. The main challenge facing the agricultural sector is not so much growing 70% more food in 40 years, but making 70% more food available on the plate (UNITED NATIONS, 2012). Up-to-date, the world is flooded with 900 million people who are still starving or hungry and 1 billion of the population is overfed (FAO, 2013). According to UN 2012, by 2030, food demand is predicted to increase by 50% (70% by 2050). Throughout the world, there are about 1.3billion tonnes of food produced for the human consumption is thrown away annually and this has becoming a global and national problem with an estimation of 50% food lost or wasted between the field and fork (FAO, p.6 2013 & SMIL, V. 2000) as shown in Table 23.1. Table 23.1: Global Food Production lost or wasted.
Source: FAO 2013 (http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/nr/sustainability_pathways/docs/Factsheet_FOODWASTAGE.pdf) According to FAO (2011), food wastage annually from consumers in rich countries contributed about 222 million tonnes whereas industrialised and developing countries respectively wasted approximately 670 million and 630 million tonnes. Huge amounts of global food waste and losses which happened in our fields, factories, homes and restaurants had brought significant impacts on health and environmental issues that will eventually lead to direct economic costs. The economic value of the food wastage is estimated around US$ 750 billion or US$470 per tonne (FAO, 2013).
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Definition of Food Waste The term food waste is no longer a stranger to us and every scholar, organizations or countries has their own definition of waste (Figure 23.1). Food waste is food products that were discarded from the food supply chain, which have lost commercial value, but can still be intended for human consumption (SEGRÈ, A. et al. 2010). According to OECD, waste is defined as materials that are not prime products (i.e. products produced for market) for which the generator has no further use or for own purpose of production, transformation or consumption, and which he discards, or intends or is required to discard... Excluded from the definition are: residuals directly recycled or reused at the place of generation (i.e. establishment); waste materials that are directly discharged into ambient environment.
In Great Britain, the Waste Resources Action Programme (WRAP) defined food waste with some distinctions such as: Avoidable: food and drinks that are thrown away despite still being edible (for example, slices of bread, apples, meat, etc.); Possibly Avoidable: food and drinks that some people consume and some do not (for example, bread crusts), or food that can be edible, if cooked one way instead of another (such as potato skins, etc.); Unavoidable: waste deriving from the preparation of food or drinks that are not, and could not, be edible (for example, meat bones, egg shells, pineapple skins, etc.). The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in United States offer a definition of food waste as uneaten food and food preparation waste from residences and commercial establishments such as grocery stores, restaurants, bars, and company cafeterias (BCFN 2012, p.19).
Figure 23.1: A Filipino scavenger collects food waste from a market in Manila, Philippines. Photograph: Joshua Mark E Dalupang/EPA (source: http://www.theguardian.com/globaldevelopment/2011/may/12/food-waste-fao-report-security-poor) Table 23.2 show types of waste and the time frame needed for the waste to be degenerated if left untreated. Biodegradable waste products will decompose by itself with the passage of time but it will produce smell and odour to the environment if the decomposition rate is slower than the waste generation rate. Table 23.2: Rate of Degeneration of Waste Items Type of Waste Organic wastes(vegetable, fruit, food, etc) Paper Cotton cloth Woolen cloth Tin, aluminium and other metal cans Plastics Glass
Time needed to degenerate, if left untreated 7-15 days 10-30 days 2- 5 months 12 months 200-500 years 100-1000+ years Not determined
Source: Global Development Research Centre, 2013
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Basically, waste can be divided into three categories such as solid, liquid and gaseous waste. Owing to the increase of the world population, high consumption and industrialization, there has been a significant increase in the generation of household waste or municipal solid waste (MSW). The most common practice of handling the solid waste in developing countries is by disposing the wastes on the landfills as it is the cheapest method with low maintenance (Environmental Protection Department, 2011). What will happened when there is no more area or land to be used as landfill? Deposition of the organic waste on the dumpsites or landfills will create unnecessary health hazard to neighbouring communities and the leakage from the sites will cause water, land and air pollution. IPCC (2007) reported that organic waste decomposition under anaerobic conditions contain approximately 50% of the methane gas which is the second largest contributor of greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide which will lead to global problem of climate change. Good Practices in Developing Countries Due to the health and environmental issues, various activities and initiatives taken by the local government especially in the developing countries to curb the solid waste disposal. The 4 Rs methods of reduction, reuse, recycle and recover has been implemented in some countries. a) Surabaya, Indonesia Surabaya is a second largest city in Indonesia and has a population of 3 million people and practise the 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle) method. In 2001, due to lack of finances and poor solid waste management in Surabaya, the Keputih Disposal Site which accommodate the waste from more than 150 temporary disposal site was shut down due to opposition from the people of Keputih. Because of that, there was no place for the waste to be thrown, the streets and drains were filled with litters. Furthermore, the Benowo landfill only left with short lifespan of few years to support the city‘s wastes. To improve the situation in Surabaya, Kitakyushu city extended its support to Surabaya in 2002 and introduced Super Depo (recycling center) and composting program which is based on science of fermentation. According to WAC 173.350, composting is defined as biological degradation and transformation of organic solid waste, under controlled conditions designed to promote aerobic decomposition. Through the support from Kitakyushu and local government, the average daily amount of waste disposal has reduced from 1500 tonnes per day in 2005 to 1300 tonnes per day in 2007 and 1 150 tonnes per day in 2008 (Figure 23.2). The Benowo landill waste has diminished by 20% in 4 years and 30% reduction in 5 years. Location of composting centers in Surabaya City is shown in Figure 23.3.
Figure 23.2: Average daily amount of waste disposed at Benowo Final Disposal Site in Surabaya * Note: Benowo is the only final disposal site in Surabaya City. Source: City Development Planning Department (BAPPEKO), Surabaya; prepared by Maeda (2009) 160
Figure 23.3: Location of composting centers in Surabaya City Source: Surabaya City, 2011 Currently, there are 20 composting centres established in Surabaya which are located in Babat Jerawat, Gayung Sari, Bibis Karah, Gunung Sari, Jambangan, Menur, Bratang, Srikana, Tenggilis Utara and Rungkut Asri (Surabaya City Government, 2013). In order to reach out more to the community, the compost baskets was distributed to each household. The impacts was significant as most of the households started to produce compost from the kitchen waste using the compost basket and used the products as fertilisers for their plants and flowers. Surabaya city become liveable and the environment condition has improved tremendously. b) Muangklang, Thailand Muangklang is a small sized municipality moving towards low carbon city which is located in Rayong Province and has a population of 16 000 people. Figure 23.4 showed an Integrated Waste Management System was initiated by integrating a competent performance of waste collection and transportation service, building facilities for waste-sorting, anaerobic digestion and composition and the collected organic waste could be used as animal feed.
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Figure 23.4: The existing Integrated Municipal Solid Waste Management (IMSWM) system in Muangklang municipality (percentages are calculated based on wet weight) Source: IGES Policy Brief October 2012: 24
The results of IMSWM in Muangklang are even commendable: Installation of low-tech incinerator for disposition of non-recyclable and non-compostable waste Installation of simple outdoor conveyer belt to aid manual segregation of waste A facility to collect and treat organic waste for producing compost Natural gas powered buses were introduced, their tram-like appearance encourage people to use public transport instead of cars, in the process reducing the consumption of fuel Effective Micro-organism (EM) concentrate was added at regular points in the municipal sewer. The EM concentrate was created with fruit and vegetable refuse Grease traps were installed in the houses and shops to reduce the river’s organic load and for the collection of ―fuel bars‖. Source: Compendium of Global Good Practices, p.8 (2015) Conclusion The 3Rs method is used in many cities in the world. For example, in Belo Horizonte, Brazil and San Francisco, United States, food with short expiry date is donated by the supermarkets to respective NGOs to distribute the food to shelters of homeless people. Food and organic wastes can serves as a precious asset not just in ceramics and glass-making industry but in many aspects such as animal feeds, biogas, fertilisers, etc. Questions for Discussion 1. With reference to your local city, identify the issues and challenges related to organic waste management. 2. What sort of disposal/treatment is used to manage your city‘s organic wastes? 162
References Global Food Losses and Food Waste FAO, 2011 The environmental crisis: The environment’s role in averting future food crisis – UNEP, 2009 Written by: Andrew Parry, Keith James and Stephen LeRoux Waste Resources Action Programme (WRAP) FAO (2013). Food Wastage Footprint: Impact on http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3347e/i3347e.pdf (Accessed 20 Aug 2016).
Natural
Resources;
FAO (2011). Global Food Losses and Waste. Extent, Causes and Prevention (available at http://www.fao.org/docrep/014/mb060e/mb060e00.pdf . Accessed 20 Aug 2016). FAO (2010). The State of the World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA). Rome (available at http://www.fao.org/docrep/013/i1820e/i1820e00.htm). Accessed 20 Aug 2016). IPCC (2007). Changes in Atmospheric Constituents and in Radiative Forcing. In Climate Change 2007:The Physical Science Basis.Contribution ofWorking Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. SEGRÈ, A., L. FALASCONI and E. MORGANTI (2010), Last Minute Market. Increasing the economic, social and environmental value of unsold products in the food chain, in K. Waldrom, G. K. Moates and C. B. Faulds, Total Food. Sustainable of Agri-Food Chain, RSC Publishing, Cambridge, pp. 162-67. SMIL, V. (2000), Feeding the World: A Challenge for the 21st Century, The MIT Press, Cambridge. The Swedish Institute for Food and Biotechnology (SIK) on request from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). OECD Environmental Data Compendium. http://www.oecd.org/env/environmentalindicatorsmodellingandoutlooks/oecdenvironmentaldatacompendi um.htm (Accessed 20 Aug 2016). USDA, Waste Not, Want Not: Feeding the Hungry and Reducing Solid Waste Through Food Reco - very, http://www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/materials/organics/pubs/wast_not.pdf (Accessed 20 Aug 2016). @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
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CHAPTER 24
FOOD
Lay Mei Sim Introduction Food is a basic human right. Having adequate food to eat is one of the basic elements of human rights. The nation‘s local food systems, vital to our health, security and economic well-being, have long been an under-recognized as force for regional economic development. Agriculture is an important source of commodity food and source of income in most developing countries and international agreements are crucial to a country‘s food security. The world population is predicted to grow from 6.9 billion in 2010 to 8.3 billion in 2030 and to 9.1 billion in 2050. By 2030, food demand is predicted to increase by 50% (70% by 2050). The main challenge facing the agricultural sector is not so much growing 70% more food in 40 years, but making 70% more food available on the plate (UNITED NATIONS, 2012).Food production depends heavily on the total use of natural resources, such as land (e.g. FAO, 2002), fresh water (e.g. FAO, 2003Aa; FALKENMARK, 1989b; ROSEGRANT and RINGLER, 1998; ROCKSTROM, 1999), and fossil energy carriers (e.g. KRAMER, 2000). The following pages aim to give a broad and contemporary overview of the food system, world market situation, food situation in Malaysia and Penang. Food Systems Food system is a process that includes the production of agricultural goods, purchasing and processing of those goods, distribution and marketing of value-added products, end-user preparation and consumption, and waste disposal (PIROG, VAN PELT, ENSHAYAN& COOK, 2001). Figure 24.1 shows a raw materials production chain of the system, the system boundary and the network of supporting business sectors. The food production system consists of three levels: the first level is the processing of raw materials, the second level is the raw materials chain, and the third level is the food production web. For example, to produce cookies, we needs various agriculture commodities such as wheat, sugar beet, milk, cacao and eggs. The basic ingredients for cookies: sugar, flour, cacao and butter are processed by the food industry. Lastly bakeries make the cookies by using ingredients from different supply chains. To provide the global availability of commodities and foods are transported by airplane, boat, train or trucks.
Figure 24.1: Overview of the food production system, the system boundary, the output to consumers and the network of supporting business sectors that provide their services to other production systems. (GERBENS-LEENES, P.W. 2006: p.10) 164
Table 24.1 shows an overview of energy requirements for processes and transportation in production chains of Dutch vegetables (Kok et al., 2001). It discloses big differences among the specific energy requirements for production processes and mode of transportations (MJ per kg, or MJ per 1000 kg per km). Table 24.1: Overview of energy requirements in production chains of vegetables available in the Netherlands (Kok et al, 2001)
For example, locally produced open air fresh vegetables require only 6 MJ per kg whereas the fresh vegetables produced in Africa and transported by airplane to the Netherlands require 88 MJ per kg (KRAMER et al., 1994). The final food is highly influenced by the differences among production methods, transportation modes, and food mileage (GERBENS-LEENES, 2006). Market Situation Global food prices have increased considerably since in the mid-2000s. Policymakers were caught offguard by the global food price crisis during 2007 and first half of 2008, when escalating food prices led to riots and public protests in at least 43 countries around the world, for example, pasta price protests in Italy (AP, 2007; von Grebmer et al., 2008; FAO, 2008a). During the clashes with local police in March 2008, a protestor in Abidjan, Côte d‘Ivoire stated, ‗We only eat once during the day now. If food prices increase more, what will we give our children to eat and how will they go to school?‘ (IRIN, 2008). Since early 2007, there is tremendous increase in food prices and the price continues to increase in 2008 and cause political and economic instability and social unrest in both poor and developed nation. According to FAO, the food commodity prices will not return to their previous low level for the foreseeable future and they are projected to rise from the year 2010 till 2017 since the food crisis in year 2008 (Figure 24.2). Cereal prices are expected to diminish in the near term due to influence of slow economic growth and strong recovery of world grain supply after the 2012 droughts in the United States and CIS countries (OECD-FAO, 2014, p.129). In this example, the wheat prices are expected to climb up to USD 270/t in nominal terms by 2023, starting at USD 284/t in 2014, the lowest levels since 2010. The wheat prices will farther drop for one or two more years due to production surpluses in the United States, Canada and Brazil, reaching USD 267/t in 2016. Due to ample production in the United States, the Russian Federation and Argentina, the prices of coarse grain are also projected to decrease at the end of projection period around USD 225/t in nominal terms (USD 160/t in real terms).
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Figure 24.2: Cereal prices fall over the medium-term, Evolution of prices expressed in nominal (left) and real terms (right) Source: OECD and FAO Secretariats 2014, p.129 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/888933099865) The cheap rice for the past 25 years came to the end when international rice prices started to surge in 2005 and escalated in 2007 and 2008 and expected to slide further down until reaching USD 391/t in 2023 (UNCTAD Commodity Price Bulletin & OECD-FAO, 2014). The rice prices rose in 2008 was due to introduction of export restrictions by India and Vietnam and the world‘s leading exporter, Thailand also began to control the foreign rice sales. China and Cambodia also halted exports of rice about the same period in the early of 2008. After the reduction in 2011, the nominal world rice price is expected to recuperate but to continue to fall in real terms. Food Situation in Malaysia For many countries, including Malaysia, agriculture has been long neglected and the food self-sufficiency is declining year by year (INDRANI, T 2001, p.1). It is not that there is no land to produce food in Malaysia but it is just that the priorities have been shifted to more profitable cash crops such as palm oil, cocoa and rubber (ibid). Malaysia is a net importer of food products for more than five decades with annual import of more than RM38 billion in 2013. Malaysia also imports raw materials such as cereals and dairy products for further processing. Total processed food was valued at MYR14.2 billion (MYR1=US$0.25 in August 2015) in 2013(EXIM Bank of Malaysia, 30th March 2015). For the past 5 years, the share of food being exported from total exports has risen to 2.86% in 2009 to 3.07% in 2013 at an average of 2.93% (Figure 24.3).
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Figure 24.3: Total cereal production and imports in Malaysia. (Source : Department of Statistics, Malaysia) Being dependent on imports makes Malaysia susceptible to world market volatilities and instabilities. Malaysia would face trade competition to purchase sufficient grains to meet the country‘s needs if the world food market face any periods of scarcity. This has been proven by time when Malaysia has to weather crises such as financial crisis in 1997 and high crude oil price and food prices in 2008. Food Situation in Penang In Penang, almost all the food we consume is imported from other parts of Malaysia and other countries. The total area of Penang state is 1046 km square of which the island comprises 293 km square. Most of the lands in Penang are used up for buildings and roads. Since land is so precious, there is not enough supply of land for vegetables farming and other food crops to keep people in Penang fed. Due to shortage of arable land and rapid conversion of agricultural land for housing, agricultural sector in Penang is given little emphasis and this makes Penang depend primarily on imports to meet its food requirements (Ong, The Antdaily, 30th July 2014). These makes Penang face a very real risk of compromising food security and more susceptible to market volatilities and instabilities. For example, in early of June 2011, fish price hike in Penang in wake of strike by the trawler operators had cause supply of fish in Penang had dropped by at least half and causing prices of to go up by 15% due to the subsidy-cut by the federal government for diesel used by them (Mysinchew.com, 16TH JUNE 2011). Cases that has happened in the past like bird flu, mad cow disease, Melamine in milk, etc. shows how vulnerable Penang. In 2000, agriculture in Penang is the only sector to record negative growth in state, contributing only 1.3 % to the state GDP. Penang‘s share paddy area to the national paddy area accounts for only 4.9 % (Tengku Mohd Ariff Tengku Ahmad, 2000). Conclusion Increment in supply and resource productivity would meet projected global resource demand, but reduction of food loss and waste along the food chain can reduced the tensions between the production and access to food and improve agricultural supply chains. Malaysia‘s dependency on food imports has increased the cost of food in the daily lives of Malaysians. Policymakers must take responsibility for the current state of food insecurity. Blaming the food crisis on high fuel prices, lower yields and increasing 167
food consumption is not taking responsibility for the crisis. We need to find short-term and long-term solutions to food insecurity. Malaysia is blessed with abundant natural resources for agricultural production. Malaysia government should introduce more short and long-term policy to boost more food production, particularly in Sabah and Sarawak. Questions for Discussion 1. With reference to your local city, identify the issues and challenges related to food. 2. How can your city be self-sufficient in food? References Associated Press (AP) (2007) ‗Pasta price hike prompts protests in Italy‘, 13th September 2007, posted at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20763381/ (Accessed 10th May 2015). Blas, Javier (2009). ―Number of Chronically Hungry Tops 1 bn.‖ Financial Times. 26 March. FAO (2008a) ‗Soaring food prices: Facts, perspectives, impacts, and actions required‘, Information Paper prepared for the High-Level Conference on World Food Security: The Challenges of Climate Change and Bioenergy, Rome, 3–5 June, FAO, Rome. Gerbens-Leenes, P.W. (2006) Natural resource use for food: land, water and energy in production and consumption systems.University of Groningen, the Netherlands. 16th June 2011. http://www.mysinchew.com/node/58885GEORGE TOWN IRIN (2008) ‗Côte d‘Ivoire: Food prices hikes spark riots‘, 8 April 2008. Available at http://allafrica.com/stories/200803311850.html (accessed on 11th May 2015). Kok, R., Benders, R.M.J. and Moll, H.C. (2001) Energie-intensiteiten van de Nederlandseconsumptievebestedingen anno 1996. Center for Energy and Environmental Studies (IVEM), IVEM-onderzoeksrapport 105. Groningen, the Netherlands. OECD/Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2014), OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2014, OECD Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/agr_outlook-2014-en (Accessed on 18th May 2015). Ong, E.U. (2015) Rapid loss of agricultural land to housing raises alarm in Penang 30 th July 2014 http://www.theantdaily.com/Main/Rapid-loss-of-agricultural-land-to-housing-raises-alarm-in-Penang (Accessed on 18th May 2015). Pirog, R., van Pelt, T., Enshayan, K. & Cook, E. (2001) Food, fuel, and freeways: An Iowa perspective on how far food travels, fuel usage, and greenhouse gas emissions. Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Iowa State University, June 2001. Von Grebmer, K., Fritschel, H., Nestorova, B., Olofinbiyi, T., Pandya-Lorch, R. and Yohannes, Y. (2008) Global Hunger Index: The challenge of hunger 2008, Deutsche Welthungerhilfe, International Food Policy Research Institute and Concern Worldwide, Bonn, Washington, DC, and Dublin. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
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CHAPTER 25
ECO2 CITIES: ECOLOGICAL CITIES AS ECONOMIC CITIES
Lay Mei Sim Introduction In the 21st century, massive urbanization is happening worldwide especially in developing countries and act as platform for driving the demographic shifts, structural of national economic changes as well as social structure of population. As shown in Figure 25.1, the global urban population is projected to increase from 3.5 to 6.3 billion by 2050 while the world rural population is expected to decrease.
Figure 25.1: Population Trends and Projection, 1950-2020 (Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division 2011; 2012: p. 56) Cities are important economic drivers in their entire nation and world stage (UN System Task Team, 2012). Although the transitions that are taking place provide huge opportunities for innovation and economic development, but it has tremendous implications to the environmental and socio-economic challenges such as global warming, poverty, congestion of population and population (The World Bank, 2010). How cities can play a crucial role in moving our societies toward a more environmentally sustainable future and environmentally sensitive local politics (Stren et al., 1992)? In order to sustain our Earth in this urbanization wave, it is important to have a paradigm shift to overcome the current and future challenges. World Bank Initiatives The World Bank(2009: p. xvii) offer a definition of ecological cities as the cities which enhance the wellbeing of their citizens and society through integrated urban planning and management that fully harnesses the benefits of ecological systems, and protects and nurtures these assets for future generations. Economic cities are known as cities which create value and opportunities for citizens, businesses, and society by efficiently utilizing all tangible and intangible assets, and enabling productive, inclusive, and sustainable economic activity (ibid).
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Eco2Cities are the fusion of ecological cities and economic cities. Eco2 Cities project which is a part of the new World Bank Urban Strategy was initiated by World Bank in 2009 to build and support the cities and urban places in developing countries in recognising the importance of ecological and economic sustainability. Sebastian et. al. (2011) defined Eco2Cities as cities that provide economic opportunities for their citizens in an inclusive sustainable and resource-efficient way, while protecting and nurturing the local ecology and global public goods such as the environment for the future generation.
Eco2Cities model is created based on 4 key principles which become the contributors of Eco2Cities initiatives: A city based approach. Enables local governments to lead a development process that takes into account their specific circumstances, including their local ecology. An expanded platform for collaborative design and decision-making. Accomplishes sustained synergy by coordinating and aligning the actions of key stakeholders. A one system approach. Enables cities to realize the benefits of integration by planning, designing, and managing the whole urban system. An investment framework that values sustainability and resiliency. Incorporates and accounts for lifecycle analysis, the value of all capital assets (manufactured, natural human, and social), and a broader scope of risk assessments in decision-making. (Source: Sebastian et. al., 2012, p. 2) City-Based Approach
The first principle in the Eco2Cities is a city-based approach (Figure 25.2) with two complementary messages: Cities on the frontline of development and management Importance of incorporation of the specific aspects particularly ecology assets
Figure 25.2: The city based approach is bottom-up (Source: Sebastian and Arish, 2010: p.5) The city-based approach use both bottom-up and top-down approaches at same time. Top-down approach is used to help the decision makers at the state or national levels to enforce local solution while the bottom-up approach works at the local level to help to create solutions towards self-sufficiency cities (see Figure 25.2). Both approaches are important in equipping the city with finance and technical knowledge at different levels of knowledge sharing, planning and implementation (Suzuki et. al., 2010). 170
Stakeholder Participation Participation of stakeholders from public, private, NGOs and citizens are very important to determine the future of the cities. Eco2Cities initiatives involved collaboration from three categories of tiers from the corporate, municipal and regional (Suzuki et. al., 2011).
Figure 25.3: The City‘s collaborative working group at three tiers: Corporate, Municipal and Regional (Source: Sebastian et. al., 2011: p.9) In Figure 25.3, the outermost tier will be the regional level, followed by municipal and lastly the municipal level. As we moved from the innermost to the outermost level, the number of stakeholders are increasing as well as the complexity and the range of potential benefits. The three-tier is an important engagement platform which allows the stakeholders in city to take part and co-operate towards the Eco2Cities project. Life Cycle Approach Commonly, the investment in cities are basically kept as low as possible and focussed on the short-run internal costs and technology innovation is deterred to prevent any financial risks. Eco2Cities emphasised on urban sustainability systems incorporation approaches. All the major investments from public are subjected to the analysis of life cycle cost and measures taken to maximise the co-benefits on community sustainability and resiliency and minimised the cost of the project (Eco2Cities Guide,2012). Apart from that, the capital assets such as manufacturing, natural, social and human capital and their services which needed an equal attention are valued appropriately using a set of indicators. Cultural, historical and aesthetic aspects are taken into consideration in costs and benefits assessments. The Life cycle costs of a building way beyond construction is over also needs to be considered (Figure 25.4).
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Figure 25.4: The Life cycle costs of a building go way beyond construction (Source: Brick 2008: p.11) Conclusion Development of Eco2Cities is a continuous long term process which require co-operation of citizen and stakeholders from different levels and may involve policy and structural changes. Curitiba, Brazil; Stockholm, Sweden; Yokohama, Japan; Singapore; Vancouver, Canada; Auckland, New Zealand and Brisbane, Australia are the cities which have took part in the Eco2Cities programme. These cities, largely, have been successful in balancing the ecological aspects as well as the economic, and their examples should be emulated by all cities which are aiming to achieve sustainable development goals. Questions for Discussion 1. With reference to your local city, do you consider it to be more an ―ecological city‖ rather than an ―economic city‖? Why? 2. What sort of obstacles do you envisage if your city embarks on a journey to become a ecological as well as an economic city? How can these obstacles be removed? References Suzuki, H. and Arish, D. (2010) Eco2 Cities: Ecological Cities as Economic Cities Synopsis, The World Bank, Institute for Research and Planning of Curitiba http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTURBANDEVELOPMENT/Resources/3363871270074782769/Eco2Cities_synopsis.pdf (Assessed on 7th July 2015) Suzuki, H., Arish, D., Sebastian, M., Nanae, Y. and Hinako, M. (2010) ―Eco2 Cities: Ecological Cities as Economic Cities.‖ (Eco2 Book), World Bank, Washington, DC. http://www.worldbank. org/eco2 (Assessed on 3rd July 2015) Sebastian, M., Suzuki, H. and Ryoko, I. (2011) Eco² Cities Guide Ecological Cities as Economic Cities (http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTURBANDEVELOPMENT/Resources/3363871270074782769/Eco2_Cities_Guide-web.pdf Assessed on 1st July 2015) Sebastian, M., Suzuki, H. and Ryoko, I. (2012) Proposal: Eco2 Cities Guide-Ecological Cities as Economic Cities, The First Eco2 East Asia Programme: Proposal of Knowledge Management and Capacity Building Cities Alliance Project Output http://www.citiesalliance.org/sites/citiesalliance.org/files/CAFiles/Projects/Eco2_Cities_Guide-web.pdf (Assessed on 1st July 2015) United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2011 & 2012) @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ 172
CHAPTER 26
INTEGRATION OF FLOWS AND FORMS IN CITIES
Patrick Rulong Introduction In 2008, for the first time in human history, the majority of the world‘s population was living in urban areas. Urbanization, population growth, and rural-to-urban migration is estimated to lead to an additional 3 – 3.5 billion urban dwellers by 2050 (Weisz, 2010). Therefore, by 2050, it is estimated that approximately 70% of the world‘s population will live in urban areas, as this trend is to occur primarily in Asian and African cities. Thus, comprehensive globally implemented strategies to ensure that ongoing urban development and already existing urban areas undergo a sustainable transformation are absolutely pivotal in preventing catastrophic climate change, while preserving the natural systems which human civilization is dependent upon for its survival. Current urban infrastructural and support systems that aim to maintain the necessary stocks and flows of energy, water, and materials to meet demand from the respective population is utterly unsustainable. The primary issue is that most urban systems have a linear metabolism and function with a less efficient use of energy, water, and matter than natural systems, which result in the impossibility of continuing at current conditions. Urban systems currently do not account for replenishing such voracious input consumption behavior and various outputs produced from such an exceptionally inefficient model of functioning, which then results in the dispersion of waste and pollutants entering the biosphere. The devastating environmental degradation which is occurring due to this urban linear metabolism threatens to lead to the collapse of the natural systems that are the foundation to human civilization‘s life support systems. Therefore, for sustainable urban regions to transpire, than urban metabolism should evolve from a linear to a circular metabolism. Even more specifically, urban regions should aim for a state of closed cycle resources management (Leduc, 2013). In haste to meet seemingly ever growing demand there has been unsatisfactory attention placed upon the design, construction, and operation of infrastructures, particularly in relation to energy, waste, water, sanitation, and transportation. Such elements of an urban system shape how resources are procured, used, and disposed of by the city. In view of the fact that many of the resource flows that cities depend on are finite, the conclusion must be made that the continuation of global economic growth depends upon the decoupling if this economic growth from rising resource use. Most urban systems with a linear metabolism have been designed, built, and operate with a particular set of technical modalities and governance routines which largely presume an uninterrupted flow of resources. Thus, a transformative reconfiguration of urban infrastructures is necessary, in order for the decoupling of economic growth and resource use to become a reality (Hodson, 2012). Material Flows Analysis and Consumption-Based Footprinting A necessary first step on the road to decoupling is to track the stocks and flows of energy, water, and materials within a city, in order to determine precisely where the urban system needs to be transfigured. Detailed studying of such flows within a city is critical in order to optimize solutions in achieving sustainable resource management. Material Flows Analysis (MFA) is commonly used in studies of urban metabolism, in order to track material inputs, changes in stock, export of goods, and the release of waste and pollution (Ramaswami, 2012). An alternative measurement to MFA is Consumption-Based Footprinting, which combines consumer expenditure surveys with a life cycle assessment describing the production of goods and services. Therefore, a city-wide infrastructure footprint using MFA and a separate consumption-based footprint enable complimentary views of a city as a producer and a 173
consumer, respectively. Accurate quality data on direct urban inflows and outflows of energy, water, and materials can help to develop precise estimates of stocks, in order to begin to properly address concerns of resource scarcity and supply chain inefficiencies (Ramaswami, 2012). However, a complete study of urban metabolism also includes cultural, social, political, and ethical issues. Energy and Material Flows – Production-Spatial Interaction-Consumption Currently, the global population uses over 500 ExaJoules of primary energy and extracts 60 billion tons of raw materials annually. However, vast inequalities exist in per capita energy and material use. For example, the highest consuming 10% of the world‘s population uses 40% and 27% of the world‘s energy and materials respectively (Weisz, 2010). Cities are enormous networks of interconnected infrastructures that have been built and expanded upon for many years, in order to integrate immense and varied flows of resources that enter into, circulate within, and exit from them with the intention of supporting the human population (Hodson, 2012). Therefore, a balanced approach to reducing the energy and material flows from a production and consumption perspective is necessary to transform from a linear to circular urban metabolism. From the production approach, the economic and industrial activities are typically the primary factor, for example if the city is a major harbor, airport hub, or industrial center. Numerous studies confirm that high urban population density correlate with lower transportation energy requirements. Therefore, an extensive and efficient public transportation system that is electrified from renewable energy sources is pivotal in reducing the energy and material flow of a city. Deterrents of automobile ownership and equitable access to public transit are a few requirements to necessary sophisticated urban planning decisions (Weisz, 2010). Cities consist of networks of interdependent and interactive social and economical relationships. The dense spatial concentration of human activity within cities reinforce locational grouping of capital and labor, along with an emerging agglomeration with various competitive advantages and social benefits (Hesse, 2010). Clusters of economic activity within cities depend upon an array of sites, institutions, and connections, which actually constitute the clusters themselves. Therefore, it is more accurate to understand cities as sites within spatially stretched economic relations that reach far outside of the city‘s supposed borders. Thus, cities should reorganize sites and situations to be more effectively absorbed into the chains of energy, water, and material flows. By implementing such an urban planning strategy than cities may behave like organizational units, which attempt to seize a specific position in the chain of flows. This ‗insertion‘ tactic may lead to cities gaining access to added economic values and to positive labor market effects (Hesse, 2010). Meanwhile, the consumption approach accounts for the resource use by urban households directly upon fuels and electricity, and indirectly upon goods and services (Weisz,2010). Urbanization does not drive up energy, water, and material use per se but instead the increase in consumption rates is more directly correlated with rising household income. Cities become the epicenter of affluent households which typically consume energy, water, and materials at much higher rates per capita. Buildings are the largest single sector in energy end use world-wide. Therefore, building retrofits including appropriate insulation, shading, ventilation, and passive design represent enormous potential for reducing heating and cooling energy demand (Weisz, 2010). A transformation from the current unsustainable dependence upon finite carbon intensive resources to sustainably managed renewable resources is the foundation to building, maintaining, and operating sustainable cities. Wastes must be integrated into the energy, water, and material flow, in order to harness their potential productive capacity. For example, organic wastes such as food, sewage, and animal waste contain precious nutrients, gases, and water that can be reused to meet the needs of the city. Municipal 174
sewage treatment plants may be erected to capture methane, in order to produce heat and electricity, while reducing GHG emissions. Also, another example includes the reuse of wastewater for grey water purposes. The nutrients wastewater contains are able to be reused as an organic alternative to environmentally degrading chemical fertilizers. For the decoupling of resource use and a sustained economic growth to occur than more efficient use of finite resources, enhanced management of renewable resources, and the reuse of wastes is integral of new initiatives aimed at the sustainability of urban areas (Hodson, 2012). Urban Watershed Management Urbanization affects watershed systems through altercations in urban spatial patterns and modifies water quality and quantity (sources, sinks, ecological support systems, and impacts on human well-being) at the local, regional, and global levels. Hydrologic and ecological processes are becoming severely altered through further urbanization. Extensive impacts on hydrologic and ecological processes occur as urban landscapes succumb to unsustainable water withdrawals, wastewater discharge, and impervious cover. These changes often lead to unintended consequences on flow regime, water quality and quantity, and ecosystem services (Randhir, 2014). A first step in guiding policy-making and decision-making is a city-based watershed model and analysis. This is a necessary precursor to achieving social, economic, and environmental sustainability. Urban sprawl often negatively impacts quality of life through crowding and congestion. Thus, a watershed-based ecosystem is imperative to collaborative urban land use planning. Additionally, negative environmental consequences from urbanization include seasonal changes in flows and water quality, nonpoint source pollution of surface and groundwater, reduction in vegetation, and diminished water quality as a result of increased impervious surfaces. Therefore, vegetation and landscaping strategies and best management practices that have been incorporated into a low impact development design, will help maintain sustainable recharge rates and will minimize or prevent increases in runoff quantity and pollutant loading (Randhir, 2014) Conclusion In conclusion, it can be seen that the form of a city affects the flows. City form affects wind flow, river flow, runoff (from rainfall) flows, as well as the flows of resources in and out of the city. City form must be integrated with its flows to make the city sustainable. If there are too many skyscrappers, it will reduce widn flow and enhace the urabn heat island effect, making the city unsustainable in terms of its microclimate. If the form of a city has adequte greenlungs, it reduces heat and the urban heat island effect. If a city grows generates enough renewable energy, it will not need to import fossil fuels and thereby will help towards controlling micro as well as global climate. The use of public transportation, recycling, green spaces, rainfall harvesting, sustainable urban drainage, and green roofs, amongst others are city forms that integrates the flows of resources towards sustainable development of the city. Questions for Discussion 1. With reference to your local city, discuss what are the necessary stocks and flows of energy, water, and materials necessary to meet demand from the city population in order to be sustainable. 2. How can form affect flow and vice versa in your city?
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References Hesse, M. (2012) 'Cities, Material Flows And The Geography Of Spatial Interaction: Urban Places In The System Of Chains'. Global Networks 10.1 (2010): 75-91. Hodson, M., Marvin, S., Robinson, B. and Swilling, M. (2012) 'Reshaping Urban Infrastructure'. Journal of Industrial Ecology 16.6 (2012): 789-800. Jacobson, C.R. (2011) 'Identification And Quantification Of The Hydrological Impacts Of Imperviousness In Urban Catchments: A Review'. Journal of Environmental Management 92.6 (2011): 1438-1448. Leduc, W.R.W.A. and Van Kann, F.M.G. (2013) 'Spatial Planning Based On Urban Energy Harvesting Toward Productive Urban Regions'. Journal of Cleaner Production 39 (2013): 180-190. Randhir, T.O. and Raposa, S. (2014) 'Urbanization And Watershed Sustainability: Collaborative Simulation Modeling Of Future Development States'. Journal of Hydrology 519 (2014): 1526-1536. Ramaswami, A., Chavez, A. and Chertow, M. (2012) 'Carbon Footprinting Of Cities And Implications For Analysis Of Urban Material And Energy Flows'. Journal of Industrial Ecology 16.6 (2012): 783-785. Weisz, H. and Steinberger, J.K. (2010). 'Reducing Energy And Material Flows In Cities'. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 2.3 (2010): 185-192. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
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CHAPTER 27
TRANSIT-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT (TOD)
Ngai Weng Chan, Akihiro Nakamura and Hidefumi Imura Introduction The 21st is the century of cities and of automobiles. More than half the world‘s people, or 54 % of the world‘s population (UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs 2014), reside in urban areas, and 7 of every 10 people will live in cities by 2050, with about 90 % of the growth in developing countries (UNHabitat 2013). According to Suzuki et. al. (2015), Cities globally generate about 75 % of gross domestic product. But urbanization also bears social, economic, and environmental costs. Cities consume about 67 % of energy and produce about 70 % of greenhouse gas emissions. And the problems of car-dependent urban development—congestion, air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, lengthy commutes, and social inequality in accessibility—have been increasing in rapidly growing cities in developing countries. Enrique Peñalosa, former mayor of Bogotá, said (in 2005), ―Transport differs from other problems developing societies face, because it gets worse rather than better with economic development‖ (cited by Suzuki et. al. 2015:2). As wealth increases, people shift from walking to bicycling, and then from bicycling to riding motorbikes and to driving cars. By 2050, China is projected to have 900 million cars, or more than the number in the world today (Lew and Cazzola, 2008). Using automobiles mainly for transportation and mobility is clearly not sustainable because of its numbers, use of fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions, pollution, high costs, etc (Kay, 1997). Transit Oriented Development (TOD) is a new concept focusing on efficient modes of transportation other than the automobile (which is highly polluting with the exception of expensive hybrid or green vehicles). TOD is described as the exciting fast growing model of mobility in cities that can contribute towards the creation of a healthy environment (free from air pollution and traffic jams) that can lead to a stress-free, vibrant and sustainable communities in a livable city. TOD necessitates the creation of compact, walkable, mixed-use communities centered around high quality train systems. According to the Transit Oriented Development Institute (http://www.transitorienteddevelopment.org/ Accessed 20 Aug 2015), every country should have a national planning initiative and every city a city initiative to promote and accelerate the roll-out of walkable, mixed-use communities around rail stations. TOD makes it possible for city folks to live a less stressful life without complete dependence on an automobile for mobility and survival. TOD involves city/urban and regional planning, city revitalization, suburban renewal, and walkable neighborhoods combined. TOD is rapidly sweeping across the world, especially in congested cities, where moving around whether for work, shopping, recreation/tourism, transportation of goods, etc are necessary. When a city is planned and developed based on TOD, city folks have been found to love the concept as their city become very accessible without the need to use their own modes of transportation. This in turn results in their city being a most desirable place to live, work, and play. A city build with TOD approach usually commands high land and property prices as real estate developers/agents are quick to take advantage of the TOD benefits to meet the high demand for such quality urban places that are served by efficient transit systems. Most importantly, in this age of global warming and global climate change, TOD provides a major solution to curb use of greenhouse gases that lead to climate change. TOD also reduces the dependence on fossil fuels and enhance global energy security by creating dense, walkable communities that greatly reduce the need for driving and energy consumption. This type of living arrangement can reduce driving by up to 85% ((http://www.transitorienteddevelopment.org/ Accessed 20 Aug 2015). Currently, leading property developers, cutting edge designers, planners, elected officials, building users, investors and even NGOs are coming together to network and share the excitement and best practices of TOD. Many more are getting ready to be involved in the booming real estate markets and 177
community development trend that is currently sweeping across the United States, resulting in the formation of transit oriented development institute (http://www.transitorienteddevelopment.org/ Accessed 20 Aug 2015). The Transit Oriented Development Institute (TODI) is a United States national planning initiative to promote and accelerate the roll-out of walkable, mixed-use communities around rail stations. Working to increase the supply of new TODs and rail systems, the TOD Institute brings together business and political leaders with experts to advance knowledge sharing and project deal-making. Building upon the work of countless others, the TOD Institute's mission is to promote the current successes and help advance the next wave of Transit Oriented Development across America. TOD has proven highly successful in creating vibrant, livable communities that are successful both financially, as well as creating great places for people to live, work, and play. The Transit Oriented Development Institute is a project of the US High Speed Rail Association, America's leading advocate for the development of a 21st century, national rail system. The TODI promotes increased TOD as well as high quality design standards that deliver the best results to the users, the community, the developers, and the rail systems. The TODI is run professionally by a team of urban planning experts who are also experts in rail, urban design, and real estate development.
Transit oriented development 10 principles According to the TODI, there are 10 principles of TOD. These principles form the general guidelines for planning TOD developments, including transportation networks, easily accessible districts and livable/walkable neighborhoods. Densities, details, and design vary project by project depending on many factors including location, context, availability of redevelopment property, surrounding development, etc. According to TODI, the 10 principles are a starting point for further work preparing specific local development plans working with the community. The 10 prinicples are as shown in Table 27.1. Table 27.1: The 10 Principles of Transit Oriented Development http://www.transitorienteddevelopment.org/ (Accessed 20 Aug 2015).
(TOD)
(Source:
____________________________________________________________________________ 1. Put stations in locations with highest ridership potential and development opportunities. 2. Designate 1/2 mile radius around station as higher density, mixed-use, walkable development. 3. Create range of densities with highest at station, tapering down to existing neighborhoods. 4. Design station site for seamless pedestrian connections to surrounding development. 5. Create public plaza directly fronting one or more sides of the station building. 6. Create retail and cafe streets leading to station entrances along main pedestrian connections. 7. Reduce parking at station, site a block or two away, direct pedestrian flow along retail streets. 8. Enhance multi-modal connections, making transfers easy, direct, and comfortable. 9. Incorporate bikeshare, a comprehensive bikeway network, and ride-in bike parking areas. 10. Use station as catalyst for major redevelopment of area and great place-making around station.
____________________________________________________________________________ Transit Centres TOD transit centres are stations (usually rail) that form the connecting point between the rail system and the city - the place where everything comes together. Stations represent the facilities where patrons encounter the transit system and experience its image, service, and convenience. Proper location and design can elevate stations to become important civic icons of a city. Stations are also connecting points to other forms of transit and mobility including other rail systems, light rail and streetcars, buses, taxis, automobiles, bicycles, and walking. Station design, location, and operations strongly affect passenger convenience, comfort, and safety, as well as ridership levels and frequency. Station design and operations 178
also strongly affect service reliability, operating speed, and line capacity. There is a hierarchy of station scale and design with varying components that are appropriate for different system types and locations. TOD transit centres range from the highest (Regional TOD Centre) to the lowest (A TOD Corridor). In between these two are urban centres, sub-urban centres, transit town centres, urban neighbourhood, transit neighbourhood, and special use/employment district (http://www.transitorienteddevelopment.org/ (Accessed 20 Aug 2015) (see Figure 27.1).
Figure 27.1: TOD transit centres hierarchy depicting the top two transit centres that usually dominate the heart of the city (http://www.transitorienteddevelopment.org/ (Accessed 20 Aug 2015). Examples of Transit Oriented Development Cities TOD Denver, USA Cities are huge consumers of energy. Haas et. al. (2010) demonstrated that the shape cities take through development, infrastructure and transportation produces powerful effects on greenhouse gas production and emissions. As transportation contributes more than a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions (more in larger cities such as Los Angeles and New York), TOD, which is a mix of residential and commercial development within walking distance of public transportation, can play a significant role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. By simply living in a neighborhood that is within a half mile of public transportation, Haas et. al. (2010) showed that in the Chicago Metropolitan Region, most households have lower transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions from auto use, i.e. 43 % lower than households living in the average location in the Chicago Metropolitan Region. Households living in a downtown – which typically have the highest concentration of transit, jobs, housing, shopping and other destinations – have 78 % lower emissions. This study implies that similar household behavior when observed in other metropolitan areas, is predicted to result in similar reductions in greenhouse gases, and TOD is therefore a potentially powerful tool in curbing air pollution and climate change. Hancock (2014) has documented a complete profile of implementation plans on making Denver a Transit Oriented city with a transit oriented development strategic plan 2014. The office of the Mayor is leading in this endeavor. The Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Strategic plan is intended to guide the critical City-led actions needed for successful TOD in Denver. Since the 2006 TOD Strategic Plan, multiple stations have been planned and needed infrastructure improvements have been identified. Multiple city 179
departments and agencies have policies, goals, and strategies that broadly and specifically address TOD. This strategic plan does not revise station area plans or alter long-standing TOD policies; rather, it focuses these multiple efforts into a concise work program for the City. According to Hancock (2014), Strategic Planning is an important step to successful TOD implementation for several reasons: (i) Station area plans have identified needed, but unfunded, investments; (ii) Barriers to TOD implementation exist at multiple stations; (iii) Stations are at varying levels of market and development readiness for TOD; (iv) The City has limited resources to implement TOD; (v) Alignment of City departments‘ approaches to TOD improves implementation efficiency; and (vi) Some station areas best suited for near-term TOD may require focused financing strategies for needed investments. A map of the TOD of Denver is shown in Figure 27.2.
Figure 27.2: A map of the TOD of Denver (http://denvergov.org/Default.aspx?alias=denvergov.org/TOD Accessed 20 Aug 2015). Denver‘s TOD Strategic Plan is not merely about public transportation. It also provides a foundation to guide public and private investments at rail stations. Residents, business owners, builders, and public employees can use this strategic framework to eliminate or reduce barriers to TOD, create realistic financing plans, and direct growth and investment to rail stations with the best opportunity for development in the near future. The TOD Strategic Plan contains both city-wide, high-level policy recommendations and on the ground, station-level action items with the intent to foster implementation of TOD at rail stations and support the development of transit communities in Denver. As a strategic plan, this document is intended to facilitate the implementation of existing recommendations and projects identified in adopted city plans, including Comprehensive Plan 2000, Blueprint Denver, neighborhood plans, and station area plans (Hancock, 2014). Whether one is a resident or business owner in a station area, a developer or builder in a station area or a public employee, one can use the strategic plan for one‘s benefits. Residents and business owners in Denver can use the TOD Strategic Plan as a guide for making real estate decisions, renovating property, or opening a store. The vision for individual station areas can be found in the appropriate adopted station area plan with the strategic plan containing additional information regarding city-led investments and implementation activity. Developers or builders in Denver can use the TOD Strategic Plan to get information on the City‘s TOD focus areas, identify properties for new development, and take advantage of city investments in station areas. Developers and builders take on the critical responsibility of 180
constructing office, retail, and a mix of housing options within station areas necessary to increase the walkable, urban nature of the city and reconnect all of Denver‘s neighborhoods together. Public employees should use the TOD Strategic Plan to establish a city-wide TOD implementation work program, direct city funds efficiently to the most opportunistic areas, determine the projects that offer the maximum return on public investment, and pursue funding for key infrastructure projects. City plans provide vision for station areas and TOD Strategic Plan is intended to assist in implementing that vision. New York and Hong Kong New York and Hong Kong are another two major cities in the world that have embraced TOD, especially in the use of railways. According to Loo et. al. (2010), the idea of using transit-oriented development (TOD) in reducing automobile dependency and improving the sustainability of transportation activities has gained wider support in recent years. Research findings have shown that residents living in TOD neighborhood used transit more frequently than people having similar socio-economic characteristics but living elsewhere. Most of the existing studies on TOD and transit ridership used recently developed sites or suburban neighborhoods as case studies. However, limited research studies have been conducted on TOD using city-wide station-level data. By using the heavy rail systems in New York City and Hong Kong as case studies, factors which are expected to contribute to higher rail transit ridership are analyzed by using multiple regressions. The study by Loo et. al. (2010) produced results that show a combination of variables in different dimensions, including (i) land use, (ii) station characteristics, (iii) socio-economic and demographic characteristics and (iv) inter-modal competition were important in accounting for the variability of rail transit ridership. In particular, station characteristics appeared to be the most important dimension in affecting average weekday railway patronage. Car ownership is both significant and positively associated with railway patronage. The result suggests that higher car ownership may be associated with more pick-ups, drop-offs and park-and-ride activities to transit stations for longer transit trip legs. Furthermore, place-specific factors are important in influencing railway patronage. Based on their study of the TODs in New York City and Hong Kong, it was found by Loo et. al. (2010) that: Firstly, station characteristics appeared to be relatively more important than other dimensions in affecting average weekday railway patronage in all three models. In other words, the results of this analysis confirm the value of TODs in generating railway patronage under different socio-economic contexts. Future research on TOD may pay more attention on examining how various aspects of station characteristics can be modified to increase railway patronage. Besides, car ownership is also both significant and positively associated with railway patronage in all models. The result suggests that higher car ownership may be associated with more pick-ups, drop-offs and park-and-ride activities to the transit stations for the longer transit trip legs. Unlike buses, metro systems at these large metropolitan cities are often offering good or even better services than automobiles in terms of cost (including parking charges), safety, speed and reliability especially within the congested CBD areas and during peak hours. Furthermore, this study shows that place-specific factors are important in influencing railway patronage. In the future, more fruitful cross-country comparisons can be made to better understand factors affecting metro ridership. The major difficulty lies with data availability. In particular, detailed land use data around the catchment area of each railway station have to be collected and analyzed. Furthermore, detailed station-level railway patronage data like those used in the current study are commercially sensitive and difficult to get. Nonetheless, further research on comparing metro systems in different parts of the world can help to provide a more in-depth understanding on the ways of achieving sustainable urban transportation. In particular, TOD research along the four dimensions of land use, station characteristics, socio-economic and demographic characteristics, and inter-modal competition should be encouraged to identify policy measures for promoting transit ridership and reducing automobile dependency in large metropolitan cities (Loo, et. al., 2010).
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Conclusion There is no doubt that cities will continue to expand and their populations explode. There is also no doubt that the automobile is not a sustainable mode of transportation, at least not in compact cities with high population densities where amenities, schools, hospitals, the central business district, etc are located close to one another. Many cities have therefore adopted TOD successfully, which is anchored by some form of public transportation, whether it is the train system, bus system, MRT or LRT, tram lines, integrated system, etc. TOD has been widely accepted as an important planning paradigm shift from the traditional automobile or road-based model to create attractive, livable and sustainable urban environments. The purpose of TOD is to concentrate housing and commercial development close to existing (or occasionally, extended) transit infrastructure, thereby providing an alternative to automobile trips. Most TOD development radiates roughly a half mile – or less than 10 minutes walking distance – from its anchoring rail station. In most cities world-wide, potential sites for TOD are plentiful and can be developed. Existing rail or bus stations can be integrated with the MRT system, automobile parking system, bicycle lanes, tram lines, walking paths, etc. TOD can be implemented by integrating existing commuter rail lines in the new developments. TODs can also be anchored by bus stations or terminals, or near major stops along Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems. With TOD, cities will significantly reduce automobile ownerships, number of cars on the roads, traffic jams, and associated air pollution and carbon emissions. Conversely, TOD will make cities more livable as air pollution is reduced, less traffic jams, less lost man-hours, more productive hours spent at work, quicker access to amenities, and more convenience as amenities, shops and recreation spots are all located nearby. All these eventually make the city sustainable. Questions for Discussion 1. Is TOD relevant to Asian cities where development density is already high, land use mixture is a common practice, and the share of transit use is ten times higher than in the United States? If so, how can TOD principles apply to Asian cities? 2. What can be learned from the Asian experience for American TODs in developing around transit? 3. Is TOD relevant to your city? Why? Acknowledgements: The author would like to acknowledge the Fundamental Research Grant (FRGS) from Ministry of Education titled ―Effects of Floods on Human Society and the Role of Social Capital in Recovery in Malaysia‖, Account Number 203/PHUMANITI/6711393. References Haas, P., Miknaitis, G., Cooper, H., Young, L. and Benedict. L. (2010) Transit Oriented Development and The Potential for VMT-related Greenhouse Gas Emissions Growth Reduction. Center for Transit Oriented Development (http://www.ctod.org/ Accessed 20 Aug 2015). Hancock, M.B. (2014) Transit Oriented Denver: transit oriented development strategic plan 2014. Denver: Office of the Mayor (http://www.denvergov.org/Portals/193/documents/DLP/TOD_Plan/TOD_Strategic_Plan_FINAL.pdf Accessed 20 Aug 2015). http://www.transitorienteddevelopment.org/ (Accessed 20 Aug 2015). Kay, J.H. (1997) Asphalt Nation: How the Automobile Took Over America, and how We Can Take it Back. Berkeley: University of California Press. Lew, F. and Cazzola, P. (2008) ―Transport, Energy, and CO2 in Asia: Where Are We Going and How Do 182
We Change It?‖ Presented at ―The Better Air Quality 2008 Workshop,‖ Bangkok, November 12. Loo, B.P.Y., Chen, C. and Chan, E.T.H. (2010) Rail-based transit-oriented development: Lessons from New York City and Hong Kong. Landscape and Urban Planning 97 (2010) 202–212. Suzuki, H., Murakami, J., Hong, Y.H. and Tamayose, B. (2015) ―Financing Transit-Oriented Development with Land Values: Adapting Land Value Capture in Developing Countries.‖ Overview booklet. World Bank, Washington, DC. License: Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0 IGO. UN-Habitat (United Nations Human Settlements Program). 2013. The State of the World‘s Cities 2012/2013: Prosperity of Cities. New York: Routledge. UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs. 2014. World Urbanization Prospects: the 2014 Revision Highlights. New York. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
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CHAPTER 28
FINANCING TRANSIT-ORIENTED WITH LAND VALUES
DEVELOPMENT
Ngai Weng Chan, Akihiro Nakamura and Hidefumi Imura Introduction Rapid unprecedented growth in many cities world-wide, especially in developing countries, has made cities overly dependent on automobiles (motorbikes, cars, vans, buses, etc) for transportation and this has led to a multitude of problems (e.g. environmental pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, urban heat islands, traffic jams, lost man-hours in jams, accidents, etc). In terms of the economy of cities, many investors (global multinationals and local firms) are staying away from congested cities as companies and factories located in these cities tend to lose employees time and production outputs due to traffic jams and congestion. Eventually, this leads to loss of profits and competitiveness. At the domestic front, parents also complain that their children are developing respiratory diseases (e.g. asthma). This is also true about the general population living in polluted conditions. Most importantly, it is noticed that city folks sacrificed many hours getting to work, to school, to the market, to the hospital, to visit relatives/friends, to outings/recreation, etc. In most developing countries that lack capital, the fleet of buses is slow, aging, and overcrowded, and forever stuck in ever-worsening gridlock (Suzuki et. al., 2015). Even when a new metro system has been proposed, the costly price tag of more than US$1 billion makes it unaffordable to the developing countries whose immediate priority is providing healthcare, education and amenities. Even though many cities‘ economy has grown, and revenues have increased, cities‘ expenditures on the construction of schools, public housing, water treatment and wastewater plants have also increased. Financing all these developments looks daunting. Although decentralization and fiscal autonomy have given cities greater expenditure responsibilities, corresponding financing aid from the national/state governments is lacking. Many cities have tried to secure financing via raising of public utilities‘ tariffs such as increase in water, electricity, train and bus fares, property assessment tax and other city taxes, but these efforts have been confronted with protests by the NGOs and the unhappy masses. Raising these tariffs or taxes is also considered by politicians and existing government officials as politically incorrect and highly risky, especially in light of upcoming political elections (Suzuki et. al., 2015). Transport Oriented Development (see Chapter 27) is undoubtedly one of the very popular approached in implementing sustainable development in cities with the aim of reducing a city‘s carbon footprint. However, TOD is not cheap as the city needs to build the infrastructures (rails, trains, stations, electric lines, depots, commuters‘ stops/kiosks, etc. Many cities have adopted TOD but have found it problematic to find the necessary financing for TOD. Many cities have also implemented TOD and achieved commendable transportation improvements that support regional livability within their boundaries. Because of this, both the city authorities and the public want more TODs. Riding on the success of TOD projects, city planners have inevitably recommended the continuation to strengthen urban land uses based on TOD. This is to continue the momentum of TOD for continued healthy growth of the city, by reducing Vehicle Miles of Travel (VMT), reducing the combined costs of housing and transportation, and making more efficient use of transportation infrastructures. However, there are many challenges to TOD. Even after TOD plans are approved and adopted, such developments face significant financial and regulatory barriers that impede construction/implementation. The financial barriers include higher land costs around transit stations, infrastructure upgrades needed to support increased density, the need to assemble small parcels of land to reach a critical mass, and the need to replace existing surface parking reservoirs with structured parking. Project implementation is often delayed because these barriers cannot easily be addressed through traditional funding and financing mechanisms available to local jurisdictions and developers (Center for Transit-Oriented Development, 2008). Clearly, a flexible funding mechanism that includes the core strengths of the existing program, but does more to facilitate actual development is 184
needed. The intention of an expanded program would be to respond to changing regional demographics, provide needed affordable and accessible housing, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and create local centers for community, through a collaborative program working together with regional and local agencies. In a White Paper produced by the Center for Transit-Oriented Development (2008) on TOD redevelopment in the San Francisco Bay Area, it was recognized that there are many potential program approaches that would support TOD, but many questions need to be answered before the most costeffective approaches and most appropriate for the area are adopted. For example, the Portland METRO and the Met Council in the Twin Cities both have successful model programs that address TOD needs in different ways. Both incorporate involvement from a broad base of stakeholders coupled with professional expertise in evaluating grant proposals. There are critical funding needs in both urban and suburban communities, but the tools to overcome specific barriers may be different. Funding through the program should thus be flexible to respond to local needs and communities with different market dynamics. The stated goals of an expanded TOD program will need to be evaluated based on cost-benefit analysis, particularly the ability of the program to address sustainability goals. There are many issues that must be addressed and resolved in the design of an expanded TOD program, including the source of funds, the eligibility of projects as well as their size and location, and how TOD program funding can be used to augment existing and future local funding sources, rather than replace them. The White Paper prepared by the Center for Transit-Oriented Development (2008) recommends several key actions to enhance the TOD program: (i) Create a flexible TOD financing program that responds to different market conditions within the region and provides funding for a range of uses that help achieve regional goals for livability, efficient transportation, and improved environmental quality. (ii) Create a hybrid structure with both grant and loan funding. (iii) Identify local or regional funding sources so that the program can be more flexible than if it were to rely solely on federal funding. (iv) Create a transparent evaluation system that builds on the current evaluation system. (v) Clearly define eligible uses and expectations. (vi) Establish minimum thresholds for funding allocation, as well as utilizing a more detailed evaluation of outcomes, and continue to implement a regular funding cycle, ideally on an annual, or even semi annual basis. Land Value Capture (LVC) Suzuki et. al. (2015) define Land value capture (LVC) as ―…a public financing method by which
governments (a) trigger an increase in land values via regulatory decisions (e.g., change in land use or Floor Area Ratio [FAR]) and/or infrastructure investments (e.g., transit); (b) institute a process to share this land value increment by capturing part or all of the change; and (c) use LVC proceeds to finance infrastructure investments (e.g., investments in transit and TOD), any other improvements required to offset impacts related to the changes (e.g., densification), and/or implement public policies to promote equity (e.g., provision of affordable housing to alleviate shortages and offset potential gentrification). There are two main categories of LVC: development-based LVC and tax- or fee-based LVC. Development-based LVC can be facilitated through direct transaction of properties whose values have been increased by public regulatory decisions or infrastructure investment. Tax- or fee-based LVC is facilitated through indirect methods, such as extracting surplus from property owners, through various tax or fee instruments (e.g., property taxes, betterment charges, special assessments, etc.). 185
TOD and Land Value Capture (LVC) Suzuki et. al. (2015) found that it is possible to finance TOD in cities of developing countries that are experiencing rapid growth with land values via adapting land value capture. But this is often accompanied by the negative impacts of car-dependent urbanization such as congestion, air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, inefficient use of energy and time, and social inequality of accessibility. The World Bank's transforming cities with transit: transit and land-use integration for sustainable urban development (Suzuki et. al., 2013) concluded that compact, mixed-use; pedestrian-friendly development organized around a transit station is one of the most effective strategic initiatives to address the negative effects of motorization. Despite increasing recognition of transit-oriented development as an effective strategic approach for sustainable urban development, most cities, particularly those in developing countries, do not have the practical know-how and expertise to make transit-oriented development happen. Because these cities are almost always under a severe fiscal constraint, they face great challenges in financing capital-intensive mass transit systems to reverse car-dependent urbanization. Development-based land value capture (LVC) in Hong Kong SAR, China; Tokyo; New York; Washington, DC; and London allows these cities not only to generate funds for transit investment and operation and maintenance but also to promote sustainable urban development. If adapted well to local contexts, such schemes have great potential to become an effective finance and planning apparatus for cities in developing countries. Murakami (2012) has also found that Transit Value Capture (TLVC) in new town is potentially viable in Co-development Models and Land Market Updates for the cities of Tokyo and Hong Kong. Smolka (2013) also found that implementing Land Value Capture is viable in many Latin American cities. The story typical of many rapidly growing cities in the world is about the enormous challenge of urban transit that confronts city leaders. Although there is no one size fits all and no panacea to fix urban transit problems overnight, there are success stories of some cities in the world that have successfully mobilized funds to develop their transit systems by capturing incremental land values attributed to transit investment. According to Suzuki et. al. (2013), these land value capture schemes were used not only to raise the funds to construct transit but also to develop more sustainable urban spaces by exploring the synergy between land value capture and transit-oriented development. The underlying principle of land value capture is to jointly create value from transit-oriented development and to share this with all stakeholders. Adapting a land value capture scheme requires considerable effort from governments, transit agencies, investors, and communities, but it also provides a great opportunity. With robust economic growth and increasing populations, the conditions are favorable for undertaking land value capture in many rapidly growing cities in developing countries, particularly middle-income countries. The World Bank supports cities that adapt land value capture schemes to construct and operate transit systems that promote sustainable spatial development. It presents the key conditions and enabling factors— such as vision, strategy, policies, financing methods, and institutional and legal framework—and specific land value capture techniques based on the experiences of Tokyo; Hong Kong SAR, China; and other cities worldwide that have benefited from incorporating these schemes into their development plans. Suzuki et. al. (2013) ask these questions: “Should you let cars dominate your cities and towns, preventing citizens from reaping the benefits of urbanization? Or should you take the initiative to reclaim them by unlocking the value of land?” The choice is clear. We believe that unsustainable development trajectories caused by rapid motorization can be reversed—and we are committed to supporting your efforts to pursue inclusive and sustainable urban development through transit-oriented development. Conclusion Suzuki et. al. (2015)‘s conclusion on TOD and LVC is clear as they conclude that high-quality transit is indispensable for sustainable urban development. The following paragraphs depict clearly their conclusion on integrating TOD with LVC: Well-integrated transit and land use fosters cities’ economic competitiveness, environmental sustainability, and social equity. More specifically, transit-oriented 186
development—which creates articulated densities around transit hubs by locating amenities, employment, retail, and housing in close proximity—is one of the most effective ways to achieve sustainable urban development. Properties in well-designed areas gain a price premium thanks to their accessibility and agglomeration benefits. Collaborative efforts of municipalities, transit agencies, developers, landowners, and communities can maximize this premium. Joint value-creating between cities/municipalities and transit agencies can lead to value creation either through zoning changes (FARs and land use) or through transit investment. Adapting various development-based LVC schemes in their respective local context, they can recoup some of their transit investment, operation, and maintenance costs. The rapid population increase and robust economic growth in rapidly growing cities in developing countries, particularly in middle-income countries, are certainly favorable for development-based LVC. Regardless of diverse political, institutional, and regulatory frameworks, regardless of different economic development stages and financial positions, and regardless of state leasehold or market freehold systems, all cities are endowed with invaluable land resources that have made them what they are. Policy makers, government officials, transit practitioners, developers, landowners, and citizens can together decide their cities’ future—whether they continue to let cars dominate their places or whether they reclaim those places for the benefit of society. To reverse unsustainable development trajectories caused by rapid motorization, cities can unlock unexplored land values to finance TODs for the wellbeing of people today and for their sustainable future. (Suzuki et. al., 2015:28) Questions for Discussion 1. ―Should you let cars dominate your cities and towns, preventing citizens from reaping the benefits of urbanization? Or should you take the initiative to reclaim them by unlocking the value of land?‖ 2. How can your city use Land Value Capture (LVC) to finance Transit Oriented Development? Acknowledgements: The author would like to acknowledge the Fundamental Research Grant (FRGS) from Ministry of Education titled ―Effects of Floods on Human Society and the Role of Social Capital in Recovery in Malaysia‖, Account Number 203/PHUMANITI/6711393. References Center for Transit-Oriented Development (2008) Financing Transit-Oriented Development in the San Francisco Bay Area Policy Options and Strategies. Metropolitian Transportation Commission, San Francisco (http://www.reconnectingamerica.org/resource-center/browse-research/2008/financing-transitoriented-development/ Accessed 20 Aug 2015) Suzuki, H., Cervero, R. and Iuchi, K. (2013) Transforming Cities with Transit: Transit and Land-Use Integration for Sustainable Urban Development. Washington, DC: World Bank. Suzuki, H., Murakami, J., Hong, Y.H. and Tamayose, B. (2015) ―Financing Transit-Oriented Development with Land Values: Adapting Land Value Capture in Developing Countries.‖ Overview booklet. World Bank, Washington, DC. License: Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0 IGO. Murakami, J. (2012) ―Transit Value Capture: New Town Codevelopment Models and Land Market Updates in Tokyo and Hong Kong.‖ In Value Capture and Land Policies, edited by Gregory K. Ingram and Yu-Hung Hong, 285–320. Cambridge, MA: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. Smolka, M.O. (2013) Implementing Value Capture in Latin America, Policy Focus Report. Cambridge, MA: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
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CHAPTER 29
PRESERVATION OF HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL HERITAGES
Ke Shin Ong Introduction Cities are the cradles of civilization. Many cities are historical cities that not only have a long history but also house cultural heritage. However, urbanization and urban sprawl have seen cities expand beyond recognition. Coupled with haphazard planning, many historical and cultural heritage in cities have been destroyed or lost. It is therefore vital that historical cities be conserved and their cultural heritage protected. According to UNESCO (http://whc.unesco.org/en/cities/ Accessed 21 Aug 2015), the World Heritage Cities Programme is one of six thematic programmes formally approved and monitored by the World Heritage Committee. It aims to assist States Parties in the challenges of protecting and managing their urban heritage. The programme is structured along a two-way process, with the following: (i) the development of a theoretical framework for urban heritage conservation; and (ii) the provision of technical assistance to States Parties for the implementation of new approaches and schemes. UNESCO is committed towards the protection and preservation of cultural heritage. Concerned by the multitude of World Heritage Cities facing difficulties in reconciling conservation and development, the World Heritage Committee at its 29th session in Durban, South Africa (July 2005) requested the development of a new standard-setting instrument to provide updated guidelines to better integrate urban heritage conservation into strategies of socio-economic development. The World Heritage Committee relegated this task to UNESCO in view of the fact that such challenges were faced by all historic cities, not only those inscribed onto the World Heritage List, to muster the broadest possible support from the international community, and to underline the role of UNESCO as standard-setting organization (http://whc.unesco.org/en/cities/ Accessed 21 Aug 2015). UNESCO has also set up the Historic Urban Landscape initiative, an international working group comprising ICOMOS, IUCN and ICCROM (as Advisory Bodies to the 1972 World Heritage Convention) and other partner organizations, including UIA (International Union of Architects ), IFLA (International Federation of Landscape Architects ), IFHP (International Federation for Housing and Planning), OWHC (Organization of World Heritage Cities), the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, IAIA (International Association of Impact Assessment), the World Bank, UN-Habitat, UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme), OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development), IDB (Inter-American Development Bank), ISoCaRP (International Society of City and Regional Planners), the J. Paul Getty Foundation and WMF (World Monuments Fund), as well as individual experts from different geo-cultural regions and professional backgrounds. All these shows how serrious UNESCO is about the threats towards historical cities and the destruction of cultural heritage. More importantly, it informs the global community of the need to gazette cities or parts of cities as World Heritage sites with the aim of protecting and preserving them. In order to protect historical urban landscapes, the UNESCO‘s General Conference adopted the new Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape by acclamation on 10 November 2011, the first such instrument on the historic environment issued by UNESCO in 35 years (http://whc.unesco.org/en/cities/ Accessed 21 Aug 2015). This recommendation is aimed at protecting and preserving Historic Urban Landscapes and is not meant to replace existing doctrines or conservation approaches. Rather, it is an additional tool to integrate policies and practices of conservation of the built environment into the wider goals of urban development in respect of the inherited values and traditions of different cultural contexts. However, this tool is not mandatory, as it is considered as a ―soft-law‖ to be implemented by Member States only on a voluntary basis. In order to facilitate implementation, the UNESCO General Conference recommended that Member States take the appropriate steps to: (i) adapt this new instrument to their 188
specific contexts; (ii) disseminate it widely across their national territories; (iii) facilitate implementation through formulation and adoption of supporting policies; and (iv) to monitor its impact on the conservation and management of historic cities. The tool further recommends that Member States and relevant local authorities identify within their specific contexts the critical steps to implement the Historic Urban Landscape approach, which may include the following: (i) To undertake comprehensive surveys and mapping of the city‘s natural, cultural and human resources; (ii) To reach consensus using participatory planning and stakeholder consultations on what values to protect for transmission to future generations and to determine the attributes that carry these values; (iii) To assess vulnerability of these attributes to socio-economic stresses and impacts of climate change; (iv) To integrate urban heritage values and their vulnerability status into a wider framework of city development, which shall provide indications of areas of heritage sensitivity that require careful attention to planning, design and implementation of development projects; (v) To prioritize actions for conservation and development; and (vi) To establish the appropriate partnerships and local management frameworks for each of the identified projects for conservation and development, as well as to develop mechanisms for the coordination of the various activities between different actors, both public and private (http://whc.unesco.org/en/cities/ Accessed 21 Aug 2015). Examples of Cities as UNESCO World Heritage Sites Many cities all over the world have been declared as UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including more recently Georgetown and Melaka in Malaysia. Being two of the three historic Straits Settlements, the two cities of Georgetown and Melaka have developed over 500 years of trading and cultural exchanges between East and West. According to UNESCO (http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1223 Accessed 21 Aug 2015). George Town, together with Melaka was jointly inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008 (Figure 29.1). As described by the UNESCO: These two cities were once a time a bustling trading port that attracts traders and merchants from all over the world, leaving these two cities with unique architectural and cultural townscape (UNESCO). “These are the most complete surviving historic city centres on the Straits of Malacca with a multicultural living heritage originating from the trade routes from Great Britain and Europe through the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent and the Malay Archipelago to China. Both towns bear testimony to a living multi-cultural heritage and tradition of Asia, where the many religions and cultures met and coexisted. They reflect the coming together of cultural elements from the Malay Archipelago, India and China with those of Europe, to create a unique architecture, culture and townscape." – UNESCO Outstanding Universal Values (OUVs) George Town and Melaka met three of UNESCO's Outstanding Universal Values making it being recognised and highlighted as sites with unique example of multiculturalism and historically important port cities (UNESCO). OUV 1 – Multicultural trading towns forged from exchange of culture OUV 2 – Testimony to multicultural tangible and intangible heritage OUV 3 – Melting pot of multicultural architecture and townscape
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Figure 29.1: UNESCO CITIES Image (Source: http://tourismpenang.net.my/page.cfm Accessed 21 Aug 2015). Method of preservation – the core principle In order to retain its World Heritage Status, it is essential for George Town to safeguard the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV). Thus, the Penang state government‘s fundamental conservation principle for all heritages building is maximum retention and minimum intervention. All building to be conserved shall be retained, restored in accordance to this guideline and total reconstruction is strictly prohibited in order to retain its cultural significant. Adaptive reuse of heritage building is recommended and encouraged to generate new life to such buildings in line with the living heritage concept (MPPP). Preserving the tangible heritage in George Town Heritage buildings in George Town are divided into two categories: Category (1) being building and monument which was declared as ancient building, gazetted under the Antiquities Act 1976. Category (2) comprises shophouses with heritage value. An approval and permit must be obtained from the Heritage Department of Penang Municipal Council prior to any repair work being carried out on building under these two categories to ensure that the relevant rule and regulation are adhere to (Figure 29.2).
Figure 29.2: Typical shophouse in George Town (image source: http://penangshophouse.blogspot.com/ Accessed 21 Aug 2015). 190
Preservation and promoting the intangible heritage in George Town Other than conserving heritage building, the state government also aims to preserve the intangible cultural heritage in George Town. Hence, George Town World Heritage Incorporate has embark on numerous projects such as (1) oral history to document the existing knowledge and insights on social histories and (2) inventory of intangible heritage to identify traditional performing arts and artisan skills, and traditional crafts and trades in George Town for the use of future planning and research as well as to increase public awareness (Source: GTWHI) Other than the above mentioned documentation, in keeping alive the priceless traditional arts and skills, Penang Heritage Trust has launched a program; ―PAPA‖ - Penang Apprenticeship Programme for Artisans (PAPA). Under this programme, those aspire youth, undergoing as young apprentice has the opportunity to learn and inherit from the experienced artisans and performers in assuring the continual survival of the skill (Looi, 2014) (Photograph 29.1).
Photograph 29.1: May Lim – a Peranakan who teaches beading; a traditional Nyonya-fashioned foot ware at the Penang Heritage Trust's workshop in Lebuh Acheh, Penang (image courtesy of The Malaysian Insider – Hasnoor Hussain) Collaboration between stakeholders and community Similar to many urban township, George Town share the same fate of gentrification. Escalating housing price and rental have resulted in the local resident moving away from the inner city. In addressing this phenomenal, Think City and a few NGOs have embarked on a pilot affordable housing scheme aiming to bring the selected house owner and its tenants together in co-existing and continual occupying the said premise. Through this scheme, the tenant are required to take up a soft loan from Think City and the mentioned NGOs for the restoration of the occupied house, in return, they receive the benefit of paying the same amount of rent for the subsequent 10 years. Hence, it is a win-win situation for both house owner and the tenant. More importantly, the urban culture heritages of George Town are retained. One such example is bringing Hock Teik Cheng Sin Temple being the landlord and the tenants together through people participatory process as mentioned (Khoo et al., 2014). Conclusion Cities are the cradles of our civilization. Cities contain our history, culture and heritage. Whether or not a city is a world heritage site, from the point of view of history, culture and heritage, there are no poor countries or cities. Every country or city has their own rich history, culture and a significant and priceless Heritage Wealth. This Heritage constitutes the collective memory of Humanity in that country or city. UNESCO states that ―Cultural Heritage‖, as a non renewable resource, should be managed according to Quality principles, ensuring its preservation in the context of sustainable development. For this, UNESCO has suggested that each city or country should have a clear classification of monuments, sites and 191
museums to provide orientations to tourism managers and the general public, letting visitors have a better understanding of the places they visit; they will then be motivated to support conservation and management of cultural heritage and the work of specialists. These classifications should also be recognized according to the significance they have for a group of people as well as for the capability to transmit the message they embody, including as well their related characteristics, conservation features, communication aspects and services offered. As world heritage sites, cities benefit tremendously when they ride on the band wagon of tourism which becomes a key contributor to preserving heritage and culture from tourist revenues. Such revenues go a long way towards preserving and improving conservation efforts. Therefore, tourism at heritage sites should be managed with quality and sustainability principles in mind. To match this goal quality management of cultural heritage should be a priority in all cities. Managing cities as world heritage sites will lead to safeguarding and valorizing of cultural heritage which then becomes translated into a kind of collective global responsibility. Questions for Discussion 1. ―How important is heritage conservation in your city? How can your city take steps to conserve its cultural heritage?‖ 2. How can your city find finances to fund heritage conservation other than government funds? Reference: UNESCO Melaka and George Town, Historic Cities of the Straits of Malacca. Available at: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1223 GTWHI , 2014 George Town World Heritage Site Available at: http://www.gtwhi.com.my/ MPPP, 2005.Guidelines for Conservation Areas and Heritage BuildingsBythe Municipal Council of Penang (MPPP). Available at https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9xYbwmtmA8HWDhyNURadGQtT2M/edit?pli=1 (Accessed 21 Aug 2015). http://whc.unesco.org/en/cities/ (Accessed 21 Aug 2015). http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1223 (Accessed 21 Aug 2015). Looi S.C (2014). The Malaysia insider.Nyonya ‗manik‘ beading: keeping Peranakan culture alive one bead at a time - thttp://www.themalaysianinsider.com/features/article/nyonya-manik-beading-keepingperanakan-culture-alive-one-bead-at-a-time#sthash.Vz42UH2Q.dpuf (Accessed 21 Aug 2015). Khoo, S.L., Badarulzaman, N., Samat, N., & Dawood, S.R.S.(2014) Capitalising on urban cultural resources for creative citydevelopment: A conceptual review and the way forward for Malaysia‘s George Town.Malaysian Journal of Society and Space, 10(5)pp.20 – 29.
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CHAPTER 30
LAND USE PLANNING
Narimah Samat Introduction Land cover is defined as physical material at the surface. It includes forest, asphalt, trees, bare ground or water bodies. Land cover is distinct from land use; however, these two terms are often being used interchangeably. Land use is the human use of land (Chapin and Kaiser, 1979), which is associated with socio-economic activity on the land. Land use involves the management and modification of natural environment or wilderness into built environment such as fields, pastures, settlements, and industrial. Land use especially urban land has various functions which transforms from mono-functional to multifunctional (Deakin et al., 2007: 289). Urban land use often experiences rapid changes particularly from agriculture or open space into residential or commercial activities. Such changes needs to be closely monitored and planned to ensure sustainable used of land. Land Use Planning Land use planning is defined as planning for the allocation of activities to land areas in order to benefit humans. Planning involves three sets of activities namely; forecasting requirements or demand for goods and services, estimating the supple of land available to produce these goods and services, seeking to influence the activities of firms and households through guidance, regulation and incentives, and describing a range of concerns, expressed through many specific policies. Thus, planning encompasses of various strategies which seek to order and regulate land use in an efficient and ethical way, thus preventing conflicts in land use. Recently land use planning has often been aimed at achieving sustainable land use activity. Sustainable planning focuses on development that improves the long-term health and ecological systems, which aims to achieve sustainable land use and produce livable communities. Land use planning, therefore, is about devising strategies for reshaping or protecting the built and natural environment. These strategies may take a variety of forms and their implementation need not necessarily be guided by a design blueprint and plan. In Japan, for example, planning process takes into consideration the social, political and historical backgrounds. Urban planning is a legal construct as well as concept. Thus city planning law applies to urban and urbanizing areas and stipulates contents, procedures, regulations and projects. Land use planning deals with all possible uses and aims to devise strategies that will lead to sustainable use of resources and desired end states. Thus, it deals with the idea of decisionmaking to achieve a given goal In regulating land use effectively and protecting the interest of land owner, zoning has often being used. Zoning is public regulation of land, where zoning decisions have important influence on land use activity and environment. Thus, it can be used to safeguard and ensure sustainable use of land. Zoning involves the physical separation of land uses within a given tract, with the mixture of uses carefully controlled to minimize conflict and the tract overall managed as a single management unit. Large scale zoning is also practiced widely, in order to allocate available land resources as equitably as possible between competing resource user groups and for different (and at times incompatible) function. In Japan, for example, land use regulations are not very strict as some other countries. Compatible land use other than residential uses such as neighbourhood commercial services is allowed exclusively in residential districts. Other example of zoning practice in Japan is land protection on the island of Hokkaido which has involved designation of three major land classes, National Parks, Quasi National Parks, and Prefectural Parks, and the zoning of each into three categories with differing degrees of development control (special protection areas, 193
special areas, and ordinary areas). In Malaysia, planning regulation was very influence by planning regulation practiced in Britain. Land use zoning is well established. Land use is guided by the structure plan, which becomes planning document used as planning guideline in the form of zoned land and resource allocations (Cloke & Park, 1985). Land use zoning policies tend to be more effective when applied to the planning of new development particularly on public land. Zoning can be used to control growth and protect areas from certain types to control growth and protect areas from certain types of development. For example, cities such as Portland, Oregon (USA), and Curitiba, Brazil have used zoning to encourage high density development along major mass transit corridors to reduce automobile use and air pollution (Elkin, 1974; (Miller and Spoolman, 2009). Although zoning has effectively been used to control growth, it has several drawbacks. For example, developers may influence or modify zoning decision in ways that threaten or destroy wetlands, agriculture land, forested areas, and open space. Another problem is that zoning often favors high-cost housing and other business over providing low cost housing due to high return of investment. Zoning may also discourage innovative approaches to solve urban problems. In addition, cities like Melbourne used urban growth boundary concept to contain or limit urban spatial growth into designated areas. Such planning policy attempts to predict land use demand to accommodate population growth and land use demand within specific period. Urban growth boundary has often been associated with sustainable land use planning since demand for land will be quantified and development only will be allowed within designated growth boundary (Tayyebi, 2010). Land use regulations Urban land use regulation is one of the oldest means of promoting economic development (Chapin and Kaiser, 1979). It attempts to create rules regarding the use of public and private land in a city, with the goal of constraining and coordinating private land use decisions and achieving a uniform, consistent vision of city land use. Land use regulations make land available for different types of productive uses. Other tools such as infrastructure improvements including streets, utilities, and other amenities are necessary to support urban development (Berg, 2007). Land adjustment and consolidation Land adjustment allows consolidation of public land and acquisition of important resource value. This land consolation method is one of the methods of land development for developing or improving urban infrastructure and also enhancing utility/value of land. This process is conducted by installing urban infrastructure by means of the land contribution to public facilities according to a layout plan. Land parcels are replotted according to layout and land use plan and all land rights are legally transferred to the new replots y the land replotting disposition. In Japan for example, farmland adjustment structure was conducted in agriculture sector such that the relocation of land resources was undertaken to reduce costs, increase productivity ad gain international competitiveness. The aim is farmland concentration thus increase the average size of operational farmland (Arimoto, 2011). Good Practices in Yokohama Yokohama has practice urban redevelopment as an example of city-wide system change towards an ecocity. Urban built environments have developed to accommodate the needs and welfare of citizens and to create a greener engine of future development. Various strategies have been undertaken in order to plan for sustainable use of land. The planning activity undertaken in the City of Yokohama, Japan namely experiencing rapid growth during the post-war years, which successfully overcame its environmental problems by adopting strategic projects based on public-private partnerships. These projects are the Yokohama Green-Up Plan, Yokohama Smart City Project, Yokohama Partnership of Resources and 194
Technologies (Y-PORT) and Future City Yokohama. The Yokohama Green-Up Plan aims to improve urban greenery through forest and farmland conservation as well as greenery promotion, paid for through the Yokohama Green Tax. Yokohama Smart City aims to make Yokohama the world‘s leading smart city through a Central Energy Management System (CEMS) involving numerous private companies. Y-PORT is an international technical cooperation project based on public-private partnership and drawing on the resources and technology of Yokohama. The Future City project aims to create a city beneficial for all its inhabitants through the environment (low carbon and energy saving technologies), economy and society (with an emphasis on the ageing society problem). Based on initiatives undertaken, th environmental state of Yokohama has improved dramatically. The city was ranked above average in terms of energy use and CO2 emissions, environmental land use and building regulations, sustainable transportation, waste management, air quality and environmental governance. It was also ranked well above average in term of water quality and management– considered among the best in Asia. In 2008, Yokohama was honored by the Japanese Government as an eco-model city. In Malaysia, for example, Putrajaya (Photograph 30.1) was planned based on sustainable development concept to become a low carbon green city. A Green City is defined as a city planned with the principles of sustainable development with programs and initiatives to preserve the environment and natural resources in the view to reducing the negative impact of human activities onto the environment and natural. In addition it has often been associated with management of renewable and non-renewable resources, management of waste and the reduction of the impact of greenhouse gases (GHG) such as carbon dioxide resulting from various human activities. It is still a long way to go but the initiative undertaken aims to improve quality of life and achieve sustainable development.
Photograph 30.1: An aerial photograph of a well planned Putrajaya (Source: http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/aerial-view-of-putrajaya-royalty-free-image/175706924 Accessed 11 Aug 2016).
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Urban Growth Boundary Although various strategies have been introduced and implemented to control urban expansion and land use transformation, urbanization process continues to be one of the major issues facing cities especially in the Asian countries. For example, it was estimated that world‘s population will grow from 6.06 billion in 2000 to 8.27 billion in 2030 where cities population will increase from 3.86 billion to 4.98 billion (UN, 2008; McGee, 2009). Ironically, of these new urban dwellers, approximately 2 billion will concentrate in cities of developing nations. The rapid pace of urbanization caused cities to grow into conurbations or metropolises into mega-urban regions. Mega-urban-region is a transactional space comprising a part of the cities network measured based on transport flows, economic linkages (industry, services, and agriculture), labour market, and population movements (McGee, 2009). This area becomes the centre of population, social and economic activities with fully developed infrastructure and provides favourable environment for both domestic and foreign capital and in-migration (Shiliang et al., 2011). Significant increase of its population caused the cities to be spreading over to countryside, encroaching into rural agricultural and natural spaces, and changing land use/cover and landscape in the hinterland (Simon et al., 2004; Kumar et al, 2011; Shiliang et al., 2011). This has caused population growth to occur at the fringe as compared to urban core, and urban growth is predicted to concentrate predominantly in a smaller town at the fringe of mega-urban-region (McGee, 2009). Such phenomenon causes cities to grow at the expense of arable land, minimizing the time and distance between and in-and-out of the cities (Simon et al., 2004). Rural areas, on the other hand, experience land loss to housing and services, agriculture intensification and commercialization, environmental degradation and agriculture decline Urban and rural areas, therefore, provide essential and complimentary linkages where these areas rely on combination of agriculture and non-agriculture income sources for their likelihood (Tacoli, 1998). As a result, this situation has created a blurring urban and rural boundary. In Malaysia, for example, The 11th Malaysia Development Plan (2015-2020) envisages city to be major for economic growth and prosperity of the nation. Urban development is driven by state-led investment which focuses on improving infrastructure in order to attract foreign investment with the hope of fostering local economy. Politics has significant influence on planning decision such that the location of infrastructure is closely related to certain political decision. Furthermore, lands for educational institutions, public facilities and other infrastructure are being acquired away from existing urban centres in order to promote economic growth. This type of growth termed urban sprawl or leap-frog type of growth created serious problem on land price and inefficient use of land. For example, due to the present of infrastructure, land speculation hikes up the price of land causing serious threat to agriculture land at the fringe areas (McGee. 2009; Samat et al., 2014). Urban development for a local municipal council is guided by the Structure Plan, a long term planning document, prepared for a period of twenty years and reviewed at every five years, and local plan, a short-term planning document, prepared specifically for small area. At present, however, these documents are prepared in most cases by the consultants which have limited background on the study area and presented in texts format (Samat et al., 2014). Thus, it could only be used to guide planning for urban development and have limited capability for analysis such as trying to investigate the impact of proposed development on the existing urban areas. Planners, therefore, have to develop a practical and easy to use model that could be used to demonstrate the impact of urban development and test different planning policy on the spatial pattern of urban growth. Another limitation of existing planning document is that it only can describe the amount of land needed for example for residential or infrastructure in the near future. It could not be used to determine areas most likely be used to satisfy the demand for those activities. Thus, the sustainability of urban development could not be taken into consideration (Samat, 2009; Muhammad et al., 2015).
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Decision Support System for Urban Planning A decision support system (DSS) is a computer program application that analyzes data and presents it so that users can make planning decisions more easily (see Chapter 31). It is an informational application that gathered data to assist in decision making. Chan et. al. (2016) described in detail the basic requirements and functions of a DSS for urban planning. With the advance of Geographic Information System, computer based software that can be used in acquiring, managing, manipulating and analyzing, and displaying spatial and non-spatial information, DSS makes used of GIS has led to the development of planning decision support systems (PSS) that assist planning making process. PSS uses indicators and alternative development scenarios to measure the attributes and performance of communities and their plans. PSS is instrumental to successful community planning and public participation processes because they focus on the needs and the know-how of users as opposed to focusing on or requiring a high degree of GIS expertise. It can also be used to evaluate the performances of different planning scenarios according to planner- or citizen-defined indicators for land use, transportation, natural resources, and employment. The study by Samat (2002) for example, used GIS and spatial model to simulate urban spatial growth based on five different planning scenarios. Such an approach allows planners to test various planning strategies within computer environment prior to its implementation. Thus, the strategy allows planners and policy makers to anticipate the impact of policy adopted. In addition, the ultimate goal of such planning tool is to bring together all potential players to work collaboratively on a common vision for their community. GIS-based planning support systems allow planners and citizens to quickly and efficiently create and test alternative development scenarios and determine their likely impacts on future land use patterns and associated population and employment trends, thus allowing public officials to make informed planning decisions. Questions 1. What is GIS? How GIS can be used in planning land use activities? 2. Explain what is meant by development control and discuss different techniques used to implement it. 3. Describe why Yokohama has been successfully in planning and achieving sustainable urban redevelopment. 4. What is an urban growth boundary? How can it be used to plan for sustainable development? 5. By referring to one city, describe how planners have effectively used Geographic Information Systems in ensuring sustainable use of land resource. 6. Describe the role of planning regulations towards achieving sustainable land development. Acknowledgements: The author acknowledges funding from the grant Spatial Inequalities: Framing Phenomena, Formulating Policies. Research University Team Grant, 15 July 2013 - 14 July 2017, which led to the publication of this chapter. References Arimoto, Yutaka (2011). The Impact of Farmland Readjustment and Consolidation on Structural Adjustment: The Case of Niigata, Japan, Centre for Economic Institutions Working Paper Series, Tokyo. Berg, B. F. 2007. New York City politics: governing Gotham: Rutgers University Press. USA. Chan, N.W., Narimah Samat and Nguyen Minh Hoa (2016) Chapter 31: Decision Support System for Urban Planning. In Chan, N.W., Imura, H., Nakamura, A. and Ao, M. (Editors) (2015) Sustainable Urban Development Textbook. Penang: Water Watch Penang & Global Cooperation Institute for Sustainable Cities, 199-203. 197
Chapin, F.S. and Kaiser, E. J. (1979) Urban Land Use Planning, Urbana: University of Illinois Press. Cloke P. J. & Park, C. C. 1985. Rural Resource Management. Billing & Sons Limited. Worcester. Deakin M., Mitchell, G., Nijkamp, P., Vreeker, R. 2007. Sustainable Urban development volume 2: The environment assessment method: Routledge USA. Elkin, S. L. 1974. Politics and land use planning: London experience: Cambridge University Press. UK.
http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/aerial-view-of-putrajaya-royalty-freeimage/175706924 (Accessed 11 Aug 2016). Kumar, D.S, Arya, D.S. & Vojinovic, Z. (2013) Modelling of urban growth dynamics and its impact on surface runoff, Coumpters, Environment and Urban Systems, 41, 124-135. Longley, P., Goodchild, M., Maguire, D., and Rhind, D. (2011) Geographic Information Systems & Science, 3rd Edition, United States: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. McGee, T. (2009) Building Liveable Cities in the Twenty First Century Research and Policy Challenges for the Urban Future of Asia, International Symposium on Sustainable Living, 4th June 2009, Seremban, Malaysia. Miller, G. T. & Spoolman, S. 2009. Living in the Environment: Princples, connections and solutions: Yolanda Cossio, Canada. Muhammad, Z, Masron, T & Abdul Majid, A. (2015) Local Government Service Efficiency: Public Participation Matters, International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, 5(10), 827-831. Samat, Narimah (2002) A Geographic Information System and Cellular Automata Spatial Model of Urban Development for Penang State, Malaysia, PhD Thesis, University of Leeds. Samat, Narimah (2009) Integrating GIS and CA-MARKOV Model in Evaluating Urban Spatial Growth, Malaysian Journal of Environmental Management, Vol 19(1), 83-100. Samat, Narimah, Ghazali, S., Hasni, R. and Elhadary, Y. (2014) Urban Expansion and its Impact on Local Communities: A Case Study of Seberang Perai, Penang State, Malaysia, Pertanika - Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vol. 22 (3). 2014. Shiliang Su, Zhenlan Jiang, Qi Zhang & Yuan Zhang (2011) Transformation of agricultural landscapes under rapid urbanization: A threat to sustainability in Hang-Jia-Hu region, China, Applied Geography, 31, 439-449. Simon, D., McGregor, D., and Nsiah-Gyabaah, K.(2004) The changing urban-rural interface of African cities: definitional issues and an application to Kumasi, Ghana, Environment and Urbanization, 16(2), 235-248. Tayyebi, A, Pijanoski, B and Tayyebi, A.H., (2010) An urban growth boundary model using neural networks, GIS and radial parameterization: An application to Tehran, Iran, Landscape and Urban Planning, doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2010.10.007., accessed 12 Dec 2010. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ 198
CHAPTER 31
DECISION PLANNING
SUPPORT
SYSTEM
FOR
URBAN
Ngai Weng Chan, Narimah Samat and Nguyen Minh Hoa Introduction According to Timmermans (1997) in his paper ―Decision Support Systems in Urban Planning‖, the planning of urban infrastructures has important spatial implicationsthat needs decision support system. Decision support systems (DSS) enable evaluation of alternative courses of action that requires the explicit consideration of multiple criteria as they have important social, economic, and environmental effects. A good decision support system offers the users (e.g. the Mayor, city government or municipal agencies) a flexible and user-friendly environment to provide decision aid in urban infrastructure planning. For example, using Geographic Information System (GIS) not only gives visualization of available alternatives on maps but also enables analysis to be made based on many layers of interaction in the GIS software. For example, an overlay of land use and flood-prone areas provides the user with better choices to make when choosing land for housing or other developments, as flood-prone areas can be avoided. GIS-enabled intervention certainly provides a value-added for decision support processes in urban infrastructure evaluation process. According to Ahris Yaakup et. al. (2009) in their paper ―Decision Support System for Urban Sustainability Planning in Malaysia‖, development planning requires an effective approach to achieve the desired goals and objectives, evaluate alternatives as well as control development programs that are in line with current and future prospects. In the quest toward urban sustainability planning, a support tool in the form of an information system is required for enhancing analyses and deriving rational decisions. Planning support system (PSS) and DSS are among the tools for achieving quality planning for optimum development. Both tools support the tasks of plan formulation, monitoring and review which inevitably involve the assembly and integration of geographic information via GIS are known to be widely used in considering alternative spatial development strategies as well as assessing development potentials involved in land use planning. Ahris Yaakup et. al. (2009) show that various uses of DSS with a focus on its functionalities can support development planning and management at various levels of development planning and implementation. Urban Planning Urban planning is a technical and political process concerned with the use of land, protection and use of the environment, public welfare, and the design of the urban environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas such as transportation, communications, and distribution networks.Urban Planning is also referred to as urban and regional, regional, town, city, rural planning or some combination in various areas worldwide. Urban planning guides and ensures the orderly development of cities, their settlements and infrastructures with a view of their satellite communities which commute into and out of urban areas or share resources with it. It concerns itself with research and analysis, strategic thinking, architecture, urban design, public participation and consultation, policy recommendations, implementation and management (Taylor, 2007). Urban Planners work with colleagues in a diverse area encompassing experts from the fields of Architecture, Landscape Architecture,Civil Engineering and Public Administration to achieve strategic, policy and sustainability goals. Early urban planners were often members of these cognate fields. Today urban planning is a separate, independent professional discipline. The discipline is the broader category that includes many different sub-fields such as land-use planning,zoning, urban environmental management, environmental planning and transportation planning. 199
Urban Planning is a wide field that includes planned cities (A planned community, or planned city, is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed in a previously undeveloped area. For example, in the ancient world, Machu Picchu (Photograph 31.1) is considered a very well planned city. This ancient Incan city is considered ―mindbogglingly complex and planned‖. The city is built on top of a mountain, through a process of terraces leading up the mountainside to the top, is both beautifully stunning as well as functional as torrential rains were dealt with by a multilayer of different materials in the terraces combined with complex aqueducts and ridges throughout the city. The planned aqueduct system also supplies water everywhere in the city, with a process that calculated how to keep a constant precise rate of flow even in the rain (https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-most-wellplanned-city-in-the-world Accessed 11 Aug 2016).This contrasts with settlements that evolve in a more ad hoc or unplanned-haphazard manner). Urban planning also includes Redevelopment, which refers to state and federal statutes which give cities and counties the authority to establish redevelopment agencies and give the agencies the authority to attack problems of urban decay. The fundamental tools of a redevelopment agency include the authority to acquire real property, the power of eminent domain, to develop and sell property without bidding and the authority and responsibility of relocating persons who have interests in the property acquired by the agency. It also includes Urban Design, which is the process of designing and shaping cities, towns and villages. In contrast to architecture, which is of smaller scale as it focuses on the design of individual buildings, urban design deals with the larger scale of designing groups of buildings, transportation hubs and streets/railways, greenlungs and public spaces, housing estates and neighbourhoods and districts, and even entire cities. The ultimate goal of urban planning is to create urban areas that are all at once functional, attractive and sustainable (Inam, 2013). Urban planning also includes Transit Oriented Development (TOD) (see Chapter 27) which focuses on transportation planning, among other things.
Photograph 31.1: Machu Picchu, an ancient Incan city that is mindbogglingly complex and planned. The building of the city atop a mountain, through a process of terraces leading up the mountainside to the top, was stunning. The large amounts of rain were dealt with by creating a multilayer of different materials in the terraces combined with complex aqueducts and ridges throughout the city. The development of the aqueduct system to also supply water everywhere in the city, with a process that calculated how to keep a constant precise rate of flow even in the rain, is also pretty awesome in how it works. 200
Urban planning is multi-disciplinary field that although branching out of architecture, includes many disciplines such as engineering, social science, geography, urban environmental management (UEM), planning, amongst others. Urban planning seeks to organize city/metropolitan areas into livable areas via careful planning, sustainable development as well as mitigate problems caused by spontaneous expansion of cities encroaching into rural areas. Urban or city planning aims to provide a safe, organized, and enjoyable home and work life for residents of both new and established towns. Today, some of the largest concerns of urban planning are building locations, zoning, transportation, and how a town or city looks. Planners also try to eliminate run down areas and prevent their development, as well preserve the natural environment of the area. One f the concepts of Urban planning is Building Locations and Zoning. The location of buildings, coupled with designating certain areas of a city for specific purposes (i.e., residential zones, commercial areas, and industrial sections), is extremely important in urban planning. For example, the majority of parents do not want their children's playground right next to a water treatment plant, and having a hospital in a central location can literally save lives. In order for law enforcement personnel to be effective, they need to be able to get anywhere in the city within minutes. This means stations need to be both centrally located and scattered throughout the area, and that roads should be designed to make getting anywhere fast as easy as possible. Sustainable urban planning takes all of these and many more factors into consideration when choosing the locations for buildings, and sets up appropriate zones accordingly. Transportation is another aspect that needs proper planning in cities. Not withstanding the use of TOD, Ensuring there are enough roads and highways, as well as easy-to-access public transportation, is also a priority in this field. Anticipating growth and traffic needs for a big city is important, and urban planners often consider how future growth will affect traffic flow. With this information, they often try to eliminate potential trouble spots before they become a problem. With new cities or expansions, planning for public transportation, whether under or above ground, is also important, especially as major metropolitan areas move more towards more environmentally friendly practices. Urban planning must also ensure the Appearance and Environmental Aspects of cities. Urban planning is a branch of architecture and, as such, form and function are just as important in a city as they are when designing a new building. Outside of ensuring the health and safety of residents, urban planning also takes into account what the city looks like, from specific building designs to incorporating landscaping and green spaces into the area. City planners often need to consider how to make city expansion sustainable as well as practical and functional. Planners need to consider air quality and noise pollution to minimize noise and air pollution and to plan smaller housing developments to limit the impacts on the environment. Newly planned cities often take the incorporation of green spaces and the use of environmentally friendly power sources and transportation seriously. Urban planning would have failed if cities are littered with slums and squatter settlements. Hence, Eradication of Slums/Squatter Settlements is an important aspect of good urban planning. Much of urban planning is based on a combined knowledge of architecture, economics, human relations, and engineering. For this reason, there are numerous theories on the development of slums and the occurrence of urban decay. Slums, defined as overcrowded, run down sections of a city occupied by people in the lowest socioeconomic bracket, are often at the forefront of the field. Urban planners and other city officials often work to eliminate or improve existing slums and to ensure that new ones do not develop. This is a challenge, however, as many different social, political, and economic factors are involved not only in the development of such areas, but in their continued existence. In 2012, the United Nations estimates that over one billion people live in these types of conditions.
Decision Support System Narimah Samat (2016) in Chapter 30 has described in detail that a decision support system (DSS) is a computer program application that analyzes data and presents it so that users can make planning decisions more easily. It is an informational application that gathered data to assist in decision making. With the 201
advance of Geographic Information System, computer based software that can be used in acquiring, managing, manipulating and analyzing, and displaying spatial and non-spatial information, DSS makes used of GIS has led to the development of planning decision support systems (PSS) that assist planning making process. A Decision Support System (DSS) is defined as a computer-based information system that supports any kind of decision-making activities, be it in a city, business organization or factory. A good DSS will help the organization saves costs, time and resources. DSSs serve the management, operations, and planning levels of an organization. DSS help people make more accurate decisions about problems that may be surface due to rapidly changing environments, viz. the unstructured and semistructured decision problems. Decision support systems can be either fully computerized, human-powered or a combination of both. While academics have perceived DSS as a tool to support the decision-making process, DSS users see DSS as a tool to facilitate organizational processes. Some authors have extended the definition of DSS to include any system that might support decision-making. Sprague (1980) defines DSS by its characteristics: (i) DSS tends to be aimed at the less well structured, underspecified problem that upper level managers typically face; (ii) DSS attempts to combine the use of models or analytic techniques with traditional data access and retrieval functions; (iii) DSS specifically focuses on features which make them easy to use by noncomputer people in an interactive mode; and (iv) DSS emphasizes flexibility and adaptability to accommodate changes in the environment and the decision making approach of the user. DSSs include knowledge-based systems (KBS), i.e. a computer programme that reasons and uses a knowledge base to solve complex problems. The term is broad and is used to refer to many different kinds of systems. The one common theme that unites all knowledge based systems is an attempt to represent knowledge explicitly via tools such as ontologies and rules rather than implicitly via code the way a conventional computer program does. A properly designed DSS is an interactive software-based system intended to help decision makers compile useful information from a combination of raw data, documents, and personal knowledge, or business models to identify and solve problems and make decisions. Typical information that a decision support application might gather and present includes: (i) inventories of information assets (including legacy and relational data sources, cubes, data warehouses, and data marts); (ii) comparative sales figures between one period and the next; and (iii) projected revenue figures based on product sales assumptions. DSSs are often contrasted with more automated decision-making systems known as Decision Management Systems (Taylor, 2012).
Conclusion Urban planning is a very complex process that involves multi-disciplinary approach requiring expertise from many related fields. DSSs from different fields can enhance urban planning by finding solutions quicker and decision-making more objective and accurate. Currently, more and more applications have emerged that integrate knowledge-based DSSs and urban planning. Even artificial neural networks are starting to appear in urban planning, and interest in such integrated DSSs is growing rapidly. Current research is focused on an integrated system in which a knowledge-based DSS is integrated with a multilayer artificial neural network for urban planning. By integrating DSSs, KBSs and artificial neural networks, the urban planning process achieves improvements in implementation and increases the scope of such applications. This approach is very rewarding in its synergism of three technologies to solve complex urban problems. Integrated DSS design and urban development process benefits from a close interaction not only between scientists of different disciplines but also between the urban planners, scientists and IT-specialists.
Questions for Discussion 1. What is DSS? How can you integrate a DSS into urban planning? 202
2. Explain what is meant by redevelopment in cities. How can you use DSS for redevelopment? 3. Describe the role of urban design in ensuring sustainable development. Acknowledgements: The authors acknowledges funding from the grant Spatial Inequalities: Framing Phenomena, Formulating Policies. Research University Team Grant, 15 July 2013 - 14 July 2017, which led to the publication of this chapter.
References Inam, A. (2013) Designing Urban Transformation. New York and London: Routledge. Ahris Yaakup, Siti Zalina Abu Bakar and Susilawati Sulaiman (2009) Decision Support System for Urban Sustainability Planning in Malaysia. Malaysian Journal of Environmental Management 10(1): 101-117. Keen, P. (1980)"Decision support systems: a research perspective. "Cambridge, Mass.: Center for Information Systems Research, Alfred P. Sloan School of Management (http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/47172 Accessed 23 Aug 2015). https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-most-well-planned-city-in-the-world (Accessed 11 Aug 2016). Narimah Samat (2016) Chapter 30: Land Use Planning. In Chan, N.W., Imura, H., Nakamura, A. and Ao, M. (Editors) (2015) Sustainable Urban Development Textbook. Penang: Water Watch Penang & Global Cooperation Institute for Sustainable Cities, 193-198. Sprague, R. (1980) ―A Framework for the Development of Decision Support Systems.‖ MIS Quarterly. Vol. 4 (4): 1-25. Taylor, N. (2007) Urban Planning Theory since 1945. London: Sage. Taylor, J. (2012). Decision Management Systems: A Practical Guide to Using Business Rules and Predictive Analytics. Boston MA: Pearson Education. Timmermans, H. (Editor) (1997) Decision Support Systems in Urban Planning. London: E & FN Spon. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
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CHAPTER 32
INFECTIOUS DISEASES AND PANDEMICS
Ngai Weng Chan, Ta Wee Seow and Jabil Mapjabil Introduction Throughout history, infectious diseases have killed millions of people. Our history informs us that the course of history is often determined by war, in which great conquers and nations are born and great civilizations fall (Iggulden, 2011). Yet, there are nations that have collapsed due to climate and environmental change (Diamond, 2011). According to Shulman (2008), there are many ―stars‖ who represent a few powerful individuals—presidents, monarchs, dictators—whose actions can shift a nation‘s/society's development one way or another. However, according to Sherman (2007), in his book Twelve Diseases That Changed Our World, there are some most influential ―actors‖ who have changed the course of history, and these are not necessarily kings, presidents or conquers, but nasty, ruthless and microscopic ―beings‖. In his book, Sherman (2007), a professor emeritus of biology at the University of California Riverside, documents with proofs how bacteria, parasites, and viruses have swept through cities and devastated populations, felled great leaders and thinkers, and in their wake transformed politics, public health, and economies. According to Sherman, these are the main actors that caused the 12 key infectious diseases of smallpox, tuberculosis, syphilis, AIDS, influenza, bubonic plague, cholera, malaria and yellow fever (Sherman, 2007).For example, the most notorious infectious disease during early history was the Black Death (or Bubonic Plague), considered as a pandemic in human history. It caused the deaths of an estimated 75 to 200 million people world-wide, the most devastating was in Europe in the years 1346–53 (ABC/Reuters, 29 January 2008). Although there were several competing theories as to the etiology of the Black Death, analysis of DNA from victims in northern and southern Europe published in 2010 and 2011 indicates that the pathogen responsible was the Yersinia pestis bacterium, probably causing several forms of plague (Haensch et. al., 2010). Smallpox is another major infectious disease in history. It was mentioned in ancient Sanskrit from China (1122 BC), and the mummified remains of Ramses V bears scars (from Smallpox) that suggest his death in 1156 BC may have resulted from smallpox (Reidel, 2005). Smallpox epidemics were responsible for bringing about the end of at least three empires (Barquet, and Domingo, 1997). Smallpox was also suggested to be used as a biological weapon during the French-Indian War (1754-1767) when a British commander suggested using the virus to reduce the Indian population (Christopher et. al., 1997). During the era of Spanish and Portugist expansion, Smallpox was first brought to the New World by conquistadors from Spain and Portugal, and later by European settlers to the northeastern coast of North America. The virus had devastating effects on populations of Native Americans, including the Inca and Aztec tribes. The slave trade contributed to the incidence of smallpox in America because the disease was endemic in many of the regions of Africa from which slaves were captured (Reidel, 2005). Other major Infectious Diseases in the world are identified by Shulman (2008) as follows: Tuberculosis (TB) - The struggle against TB stimulated some of the first quests for antibiotics. The disease most likely promoted pasteurization, which heats and kills TB and other pathogens that can contaminate milk. The infectious nature of tuberculosis also prompted the building of sanitariums, where people could be isolated and treated. Syphilis - Once treated with heavy metals like mercury, which had devastating effects on patients, syphilis inspired the discovery of chemotherapeutic agents. The sexually transmitted disease prompted chemotherapy pioneer Paul Ehrlich to look for what he called a magic bullet, which turned out to be the drug salvorsan. The history of many drugs can be traced to Ehrlich's work with dye materials that stained not only fabrics but organisms as well, spurring him to look for drugs that could bind to and kill parasites. HIV/AIDS - You can't talk about infectious diseases without discussing AIDS," Sherman (2007) declares. Despite the advances made on chemotherapy medicines, some are effective at reducing the number of AIDS-related deaths, the disease continues to kill millions, especially in poor 204
countries where victims have no access to the expensive medicines. Until today, the most effective cure for this disease is still education and behavioral control. Influenza – According to Sherman (2007), few diseases have had such widespread effects on the number of deaths in the modern world as the flu, which remains a major threat worldwide despite the existence of vaccines against it. The disease very likely influenced the course of World War I by sickening and killing soldiers and straining military healthcare systems. Some have suggested that President Wilson's negotiations during the Treaty of Versailles were affected by the influenza infection he had at the time. Cholera - Spread via paltry or nonexistent sewage systems and lack of clean water, cholera was—and still is—rampant in many parts of the world. But improvements in sanitation have reduced cholera's impact in a number of regions. The power of epidemiology allowed 19th century English physician John Snow to deduce that the disease was present in the water, even though the bacterium wasn't identified until many years later (Sources: Sherman 2007 and Shulman 2008).All these diseases have killed millions of people globally, especially in developing and poor countries. And most of the deaths have occurred in the slum areas of cities where poor water supply, lack of sanitation and dirty environmental conditions allow the diseases to spread like wild fire. According to Dr LEE Jong-wook, Director-General, World Health Organization, "Water and Sanitation is one of the primary drivers of public health. I often refer to it as “Health 101”, which means that once we can secure access to clean water and to adequate sanitation facilities for all people, irrespective of the difference in their living conditions, a huge battle against all kinds of diseases will be won." (http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/publications/factsfigures04/en/ Accessed 22 Aug 2015). What are Infectious Diseases? In medicine, infection is described as the invasion of an organism's/human body tissues by diseasecausing agents/pathogens, followed by their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to these organisms and the toxins they produce. When the immune system of the host is defeated or collapses, the toxins will cause grievious bodily harm and ultimately de4ath if the victim fails to recover. Infectious disease, also known as transmissible disease or communicable disease, is illness resulting from an infection by these agents/pathogens. Infections are usually caused by infectious agents/pathogens such as viruses, viroids, prions, bacteria and hematodes, or parasitic roundworms and pinworms, or arthropods such as ticks, mites, fleas, and lice, fungi such as ringworm, and other macro-parasites such as tapeworms and other helminths. The host/victim can fight infections using their immune system. Mammalian hosts react to infections with an innate response, often involving inflammation, followed by an adaptive response. Specific medications used to treat infections include antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals, antiprotozoals, and antihelminthics. Infectious diseases resulted in 9.2 million deaths in 2013 (about 17% of all deaths). The branch of medicine that focuses on infections is referred to as Infectious Diseases (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infection Accessed 22 Aug 2015). Despite their danger and proven fatalities, currently known infectious diseases may not be the biggest threat to humanity. ―Emerging infectious diseases‖ are now considered as more dangerous and fatal to humanity. This is because the strains of agents/pathogens are either immune to medicine/vaccines or they have evolved to survive antibiotics used to control them. Emerging infectious diseases represent newly evolved strains of existing human pathogens, completely new pathogens or re-emergent pathogens. By their evolvement or mutation, a new strain of antibiotic resistant E. coli may be considered equal to SARS or the re-emergence of M. tuberculosis in a population that had previously seen the disease disappear (Jones et al., 2008).Human population density is considered one of the key driving factors for the emergence of both existing and emergent infectious diseases. This fits with the previous hypotheses that when you pack humans together then the transmission of disease becomes easier thus even weaker emerging diseases can spread and adapt to the new human host. As is pointed out by Jones et al. (2008) the connection of human population density and infectious disease emergence unveils a hidden cost of human economic development. But there were other interesting things uncovered. According to Jens et. al. (2008), the emerging infectious diseases were broken down into four broad categories: zoonotic 205
(wildlife), zoonotic (non-wildlife), drug-resistant and vector-borne. The distinction of wildlife vs. nonwildlife zoonotic diseases is important as it distinguishes infectious disease emerging from wild animals in comparison to those coming from pets. While all four groups had human population density as the most important criteria for infectious disease emergence it seems human population growth (measured as a change in the number of persons per km2 between 1990 and 2000) very strongly drives the emergence of non-wildlife zoonotic and drug-resistant infectious diseases. Shulman (2008) found that urbanisation drives up the emergence of infectious diseases in those areas but primarily these emerged diseases are new strains of drug resistant human pathogens or things we pick up from our pets. Whilst this is scary it could be argued that adaptations of existing pathogens are manageable. An enemy we already know with a different weapon. What about the new diseases we have never seen before? Entirely new infectious diseases emerge from nature, away from the cities. Again looking at Jones et al.‘s data it suggests that amongst the key variables they analysed the two most associated with the emergence of zoonotic diseases from wildlife were human population density and the biodiversity of the region. The more different animals, each with their own suite of diseases, which can come into contact with a large population of humans the more likely some of those diseases will jump the species gap. This data adds to the already established point of view that zoonoses from wildlife are the most significant, growing threat to global health of all the emerging infectious diseases. Infectious Diseases and Cities Cities are ―hotspots‖ for infectious diseases simply because populations are huge and packed close together either in housing estates, high-rise apartments, shopping centres, markets, tourist attractions or slums. Shulman (2008) found that urbanisation drives up the emergence of infectious diseases in those areas but primarily these emerged diseases are new strains of drug resistant human pathogens or diseasecausing agents that humans pick up from animals or other humans. When discussing the ‗cities‘ theme that‘s running across many international and national conferences as well as international (e.g. UN and WHO agendas) or national (e.g. USA Federal Government agenda, Centre for Disease Control [CDC]), it was easy to connect cities and infectious diseases. There are simply too many infectious diseases affecting major cities, most particularly in the developing world. One can look at TB, Dengue Fever, Malaria, plague or cholera, and there are all found within cities. The role that cities play in the emergence of new infectious diseases is pervasive. Commonly, regions most likely be affected by the emergence of infectious diseases would be the developing nations but increasingly, even developed countries are affected by emerging infectious diseases as agents/pathogens mutate into more devastating strains. This has significant implications for funding of surveillance and research as typically developing nations lack the resources to adequately handle their current health burdens let alone monitoring for and dealing with new issues as they arise. So an emphasis must be placed on understanding how diseases emerge, where they emerge and what we can do about it (Shulman, 2008). Figure 32.1 shows the map of derived emerging infectious diseases reported between 1940 and 2004. The data is normalised somewhat but essentially the presence and size of the dot indicates the number of emerging infectious diseases detected at the dot's location. What should be noted here is that the detection of emerging infectious disease occurs in the developed world, primarily Western Europe, Eastern US and Eastern Australia with very little detection happening anywhere else. Diseases don‘t just appear in these locations, but it is where we look for them. Jones et al. (2008) remind us that it is particularly important to put more emphasis and funding on monitoring and surveillance of emerging infectious disease as prevention is better than cure and early warning systems should be put in place. Based on their research, Jones et al. (2008) developed risk maps of the world for their four categories of emerging infectious disease (Figure 32.2).
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Figure 32.1: Global richness map of the geographic origins of Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID) events from 1940 to 2004 (Source: Jones et al., 2008).
Figure 32.2: Global distribution of relative risk of an EID event. Maps are derived for EID events caused by (a) zoonotic pathogens from wildlife, (b) zoonotic pathogens from non-wildlife, (c) drug-resistant pathogens and (d) vector-borne pathogens. Green to red indicates low to high risk (Source: Jones et. al., 2008). Cities strive to be green, sustainable and livable and they cannot be so if they are overwhelmed by infectious diseases, even if it is just one or two such diseases. Without good health of the public, a city would cease to be livable. Freudenberg et. al. (2006), in their edited book, analyzes the impact of city living on health, focusing primarily on conditions in the United States. With 16 chapters by 24 internationally recognized experts, the book introduces an ecological approach to the study of the health of urban populations. This book assesses the primary determinants of well-being in cities, including the social and physical environments, diet, and health care and social services. The book includes chapters on the history of public health in cities, the impact of urban sprawl and urban renewal on health, and the 207
challenges facing cities in the developing world. It also examines conditions such as infectious diseases, violence and disasters, and mental illness. The greatest risk of infectious disease emergence is in the rapidly urbanising developing nations, in particular India, eastern China and southern Africa. This is because the poor physical environment of these cities is appalling and conducive for the spread of infectious diseases. According to WHO, almost 137 million people in urban populations have no access to safe drinking water, and more than 600 million urban dwellers do not have adequate sanitation. The situation is particularly alarming in congested cities of sub-Saharan Africa (Alirol, 2011). In Nigeria for example, only 3% of residents from Ibadan have access to piped water, and in Greater Lagos, only 9% of its 10 million residents have access (Satterthwaite, 2010).Unsafe water sources and inadequate sanitation and hygiene are prime contributors to diarrhoeal infections and might lead to cholera endemicity. The overall prevalence of diarrhoea can be very high in cities as shown by data from Jakarta, Indonesia, where there seems to be a transition between the kinds of diseases that emerge as places are urbanised into cities. The first infectious agents appear to transition from the wildlife populations of the area into the human population as it the human population density increases in that area. As the environment becomes progressively more developed the infectious agents emerge as a result of the activities of humans within the city whether it be medical or agricultural antibiotic use or just domesticating animals and living with them in homes. More resources need to be allocated to the rapidly urbanising developing world to ensure that newly emerging diseases, particularly zoonotic diseases arising from wildlife, can be detected early and dealt with efficiently. Humans can probably never prevent infectious diseases from continuing to emerge, as cities cannot be stopped from encroaching into wildlife habitats. Hence, encroachment will continue to spread zoonotic diseases. However, humans can understand the nature of infectious diseases emergence, monitor them, have early warning system, and plan, predict and ultimately take steps to control the emergence of infectious diseases. In the future, these steps can help prevent the spread of the next strains of mutated HIV, SARS or multi-drug resistant tuberculosis. Although urbanisation increasingly affects the epidemiological characteristics of infectious diseases, steps can be taken to halt them. The pace, dynamics, and environment of urbanisation can either promote or hinder the spread of pathogens. Examples from developed countries that have managed to control infectious diseases show that better living conditions, improvement of domestic hygiene, and targeted public-health programmes/interventions can significantly reduce infectious diseases and save lives. With better living conditions and better health care, many cities in developing countries appear to be on the right track towards this epidemiological transition. However, uncontrolled urban growth has also resulted in poverty and large health inequities. This has led to increases in the transmission of infectious diseases. However, cities are at the forefront of technology and science. Not only are substantial resources present in cities, but also political power, money and knowledge. Cities offer many opportunities for infectious disease monitoring/surveillance, control, and prevention that are often absent in rural areas. For example, in Japan, well-planned strategies for vector control have enabled cities to eliminate malaria and dengue. In contrast, despite their huge advancement in development and modernization, Malaysia and Indonesia are not winning the battle against dengue fever, and even malaria is making a return (http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/dengue-deaths-soar-in-malaysia Accessed 22 Aug 2015). Nevertheless, cities have many advantages that allow them to address infectious diseases. Cities have high levels of social cohesion, the presence of community-based organizations, access to media and modern communications, the internet, the mass media, and better communications and information. All these enable urban residents to have increased visibility and a stronger political voice than their rural counterparts to lobby for infectious diseases control/action.
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Conclusion There is no doubt that the world is becoming more urban than rural. The UN predicts that the world‘s urban population will almost double from 3·3 billion in 2007 to 6·3 billion in 2050. Most of this increase will be in developing countries. Exponential urban growth is having a profound effect on global health. The world is also becoming smaller by virtue of higher accessibility on international travel and migration, making cities are the dangerous hubs for the transmission of infectious diseases, as shown by recent pandemics. Urban environments in both developing and developed countries are dynamic and ever changing, as is the changing nature and mutations in infectious diseases associated with cities. It is worthwhile and of paramount importance to include health as a major consideration in city/town planning to ensure the process of urbanisation does not become enabling to infectious diseases but rather a kind of barrier or defensive wall to infectious diseases in the future. If not, pandemics of infectious diseases will kill more people in cities than natural or man-made disasters. Questions for Discussion 1. What are the major infectious diseases affecting your city? 2. Discuss the reasons for outbreaks of the major infectious disease affecting your city and how it can be controlled. Acknowledgements: The author would like to acknowledge the Fundamental Research Grant (FRGS) from Ministry of Education titled ―Effects of Floods on Human Society and the Role of Social Capital in Recovery in Malaysia‖, Account Number 203/PHUMANITI/6711393. References ABC/Reuters (29 January 2008) "Black death 'discriminated' between victims (ABC News in Science)". Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Retrieved 22 Aug 2015). Alirol, E., Getaz, L., Stoll, B., Chappuis, F. and Loutan, L. (2011) Urbanisation and infectious diseases in a globalised world. www.thelancet.com/infection Vol 11 February 2011. Barquet, N. and Domingo, P. (1997) Smallpox: The triumph over the most terrible of the ministers of death. Annals of Internal Medicine.127(8), 635-642. Bryne, J. (2011) Emerging infectious diseases and cities. Scientific American Blog, August 17, 2011 (http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/disease-prone/emerging-infectious-diseases-and-cities/ Accessed 22 Aug 2015). Christopher, G.W., Cieslak, T.J., Pavlin, J.A. and Eitzen, E.M., Jr. (1997) Biological warfare. A historical per sp ect i ve. Journal of t he Ameri can Medi cal A ssoci at i on 278(5), 412 -417. Diamond, J. (2011) Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive. London: Penguin Books. Freudenberg, N., Galea, S. and Vlahov, D. (2006) Cities and the Health of the Public. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 2006.Project MUSE. Haensch, S., Bianucci, R., Signoli, M., Rajerison, M., Schultz, M., Kacki, S., Vermunt, M., Weston, D.A., Hurst, D., Achtman, M., Carniel, E. and Bramanti, B. (2010) Besansky, Nora J, ed."Distinct clones of Yersinia pestis caused the black death". PLoS Pathog 6(10): e1001134.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infection (Accessed 22 Aug 2015). http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/dengue-deaths-soar-in-malaysia (Accessed 22 Aug 2015) http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/publications/factsfigures04/en/ (Accessed 22 Aug 2015). Iggulden, C. (2011) Empire Of Silver. London: HarperCollins Publishers. Jones, K.E., Patel, N.G., Levy, M.A., Storeygard, A., Balk, D., Gittleman, G.L. and Daszak, P. (2008) Global trends in emerging infectious disease. Nature 451, 990-993 (21 February 2008) doi:10.1038/nature06536. Reidel, S. (2005). Edward Jenner and the history of smallpox and vaccination. Proceedings, Baylor University Medical Satterthwaite D. (2010) The transition to a predominantly urban world and its underpinnings. 2007. http://www.iied.org/pubs/pdfs/10550IIED. pdf (Accessed 18 Nov 2010).
Sherman, I.W. (2007) Twelve Diseases That Changed Our World. Washington: ASM Press. Shulman, M. (2008) 12 Diseases that Altered History. U.S. News & World Report Jan. 3, 2008 | 5:34 p.m. EST (http://health.usnews.com/health-news/articles/2008/01/03/12-diseases-that-altered-history (Accessed 22 Aug 2015). @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
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CHAPTER 33 REDUCING NON-COMMMUNICABLE DISEASES (NCD) RISKS IN URBAN AREAS IN THE PHILIPPINES Maria Socorro Endrina-Ignacio
Introduction The world is experiencing unprecedented transition from predominantly rural to urban living. In the 1950s, one-fourth of the Philippine population lived in cities. In 2014 the number has already reached 48.8% (http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/128038/1/9789241507509_eng.pdf Accessed on 5 August 2016). Urbanization has brought about socioeconomic development as well as changes in lifestyle practices. Such lifestyle practices are usually associated with changes in dietary practices that consequently influenced unhealthy food choices. It also contributes to, sedentary lifestyles resulting to increasing prevalence of obesity. Studies have documented that unhealthy lifestyle practices result to the increasing prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCD) mostly in urban areas, both in developed and developing countries. Countries with increasing prevalence of NCD have been found to experience economic and nutrition transition due rapid urbanization and globalization of the markets. More specifically, the rise in NCD is principally attributed to nutrition transition. The WHO Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of NCD 2013-2020 endorsed by the World Health Assembly in May 2013 sets priorities and provide strategic guidance on how countries can implement the roadmap of commitments. The Global Action Plan includes voluntary targets that focus on risk factors such as tobacco use, high blood pressure, high salt intake, obesity and physical inactivity as well as targets on access to essential NCD medicines and technologies, and drug therapy and counseling (World Health Organization, 2013). The key to the control of epidemics of NCD is health promotion and education aimed at modifying the behavior of at risk individuals. Health educators believe that the best time to conduct health education and promotion is during the period of adolescence. Studies have shown that behaviors established during adolescence have long term benefits and may prevent NCD during adult life. NCD deaths worldwide now exceed all communicable, maternal and perinatal nutrition-related deaths combined, and represent an emerging global health threat. Sadly, the majority of NCD deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries where the number of adolescents affected is growing and health systems are often not equipped to respond to their needs effectively (Villaverde et al. 2012 ) Most of NCD risk related behaviors usually begin or are reinforced during adolescence. These include preference for fast foods which are high in sodium and fats in addition to what was mentioned earlier. Global trends show that these NCD-related behaviors are on the rise among adolescents. It is well established that the adolescent group form patterns of behavior at this stage of their life and such behavior persist throughout their life and oftentimes difficult to change and even passed on to their family members. In 2011, The World Health Assembly endorsed a resolution calling upon member states to address the needs of youth in preventing NCD and its serious economic burden in the family and the state as a whole. WHA emphasizes that the period of adolescence is a crucial period in the development of adult NCDs (http://apps.who.int/gb/e/e_wha64.html Accessed on 15 May 2016).
The Risk Factors of NCDs Socio-economic factors have been recognized as playing a major role in the distribution of NCDs in both wealthy and poor countries. Further, evidence shows that NCDs and their risk factors initially occur in groups with high socio-economic status and those living in urban areas. 211
(http://reports.weforum.org/global-risks-2015/part-2-risks-in-focus/2-3-city-limits-the-risks-of-rapid-andunplanned-urbanization-in-developing-countries/ Accessed on 5 August 2016). NCD risk factors refer to any attribute of an individual which increases the person‘s risk of developing NCD. The likelihood of developing NCD depends upon the severity and numbers of risk factors that individual possess or to which they are exposed. Studies have documented that unhealthy lifestyle practices such a smoking, alcohol use, inadequate consumption of high fiber rich foods, high consumption of fatty, sugary and salty foods and physical inactivity are found to be associated with the onset of NCD among the young segment of the population. Such practices are usually acquired during adolescent period where media and peer
groups were pointed out as major behavior influencers or ―shapers‖. Falling under NCD are cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The manners by which these diseases can be acquired are classified as non-modifiable and modifiable. The non-modifiable factors include: age, gender, genetics, and exposure to air pollution while the modifiable factors include smoking, unhealthy diet and physical inactivity which can lead to hypertension and obesity, in turn leading to increased risk of many NCD. As it appears, most NCD are considered preventable because they are caused by modifiable risk factors which an individual can alter if they want to reduce the risks of developing NCDs. These risk factors include unhealthy practices that WHO had quantified as follows: cigarette smoking of 1-3 sticks per day, drinking alcohol once a month, too much consumption of fatty, salty and sugary foods on a daily basis lack of fruits and vegetables in the daily meal plate lack of daily physical exercise which ideally should last for at least 30 minutes Global Prevalence of NCD Risk among the Adolescents Alarmingly, NCD are now affecting more young people, aged 10-24 years old, particularly those living in urban areas. Strengthening protective factors and earlier investment in prevention of NCDs among young people is now widely recognized as essential. The world now has the largest cohort of young people in history—1.8 billion. And 1.5 billion of these youth live in developing countries ( George C. Patton et al., "Health of the World‘s Adolescents: A Synthesis of International Comparable Data," The Lancet 379, no. 9286 (2012): 1665-75). Adolescence is a time when the influence of peers and parents, exposure to television and mass media that uses targeted marketing of unhealthy products and lifestyles, is significant. Risk factors for NCD—especially the use of tobacco and alcohol—are often established during adolescence. For example, the harmful use of alcohol is a major risk factor for premature death and disability. There is a direct relationship between harmful levels of alcohol consumption and NCD. Adolescents who begin drinking earlier are more likely to become dependent on alcohol within 10 years than those who begin drinking at an older age, and they also increase their risk of road traffic accidents, unprotected sex, intentional and unintentional injuries, poor mental health, and gender-based violence. (Ralph W. Hingson, Timothy Heeren, and Michael Winter, "Age at Drinking Onset and Alcohol Dependence: Age at Onset, Duration, and Severity," Archives of Pediatric Adolescent Medicine 160, no. 7 (2006): 739-46). Adolescents residing in urban areas have been found to have insufficient physical activity and unhealthy diet. These factors can also lead to an array of negative physical changes in adolescence such as high blood pressure and overweight/obesity, which can trigger NCD in adulthood. Physical inactivity is on the rise, particularly among women. Obesity among women is especially high in some countries in Latin America and the Middle East. Rapid urbanization is also a driving force behind these risks, and signs of insufficient physical activity and unhealthy diet are quickly emerging in developing countries.
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Prevalence of NCD Risk Factors in the Philippines WHO reports that NCD are estimated to account for 67% of total deaths in the Philippines and the probability of dying between ages of 30 and 70 years for the four main NCDs (i.e. cancer, diabetes, CVD and chronic respiratory diseases) is 28% (http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/128038/1/9789241507509_eng.pdf. Accessed on 5 August 2016). The NCD risk factors are not only prevalent among adults. Alarmingly, younger children are already showing the propensity to becoming overweight and obese at an early age. Based on the 2013 FNRI- DOST findings, the prevalence of overweight and obese children aged 10-19 years old is now 8.5%, significantly higher compared to 2.4% in 1993 and 4.8% in 2005. Higher proportion of overweight and obese children are seen in urban areas, particularly those situated in the National Capital Region (NCR), Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) and Central Luzon and among urban dwellers belonging to middle, rich and richest wealth quintile (2013 FNRI-DOST). The Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) reported that 90% of Filipinos have one or more of the six prevalent risk factors for NCD which include smoking, physical inactivity, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, overweight and obesity. The prevalence of these risk factors has been found to be increasing from 1998 to 2008: hypertension, from 21% to 25.3%; overweight, from 20.2% to 26.6%; high blood cholesterol, from 4% to 10.2%; and diabetes, from 3.9% to 4.8%. (http://balita.ph/2013/08/01/doh-spreads-healthy-eating-advocacy-through-programs/ Accessed on 15 May 2016) A study among adolescent population in the Philippines revealed a hypertension prevalence of 4.5%. Among obese adolescents, 25% have early signs of diabetes by the time they reach the age of 15 years old and 70% have at least one risk factor for cardiovascular disease by the age of 20 %. (http://balita.ph/2013/08/01/doh-spreads-healthy-eating-advocacy-through-programs/ Accessed on 15 May 2016) In a baseline study among primary and secondary school children aged 10-17 years old in selected schools in Manila and Quezon City, the prevalence of NCD risk factors among a total of 1665 students is shown in Table 33.1 (Ignacio, 2015). Table 33.1: Prevalence of NCD risk factors among student respondents (n=1665), Manila and Quezon City, 2015 NCD Risk Behavior
%
Prevalence of consumption of fatty foods i.e. hotdog within the last 7 days Prevalence of consumption of sugary foods i.e. ice cream within the last 7 days Prevalence of risky behavior /leading risky behavior ( current smoker of < 3 sticks per day) Prevalence of consumption of salty foods i.e. cracker/cookies within the last 7 days
83 75 74 57
Prevalence of alcohol drinking once a month
55
Prevalence of overweight (both gender)
25
Prevalence of students engaged in physical activity for at least 1 hour per day
36
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It is evident from Table 33.1 that students in the study schools have high to moderate level of NCD risks based on their unhealthy dietary practices and lifestyle practices. The survey also explored the frequency of consumption of fatty /oily foods (Table 33.2), sugary foods (Table 33.3) and salty food items (Table 33.4) in a week‘s time. The results revealed that such food items which have been found in PAHO and WHO regions to have contributed to NCD are consumed by the school children in the study schools almost on a daily basis (Ignacio, 2015). Though considered low, this practice needs attention and should be addressed by health education in the school setting. Table 33.2. Fatty/oily food items consumed by the respondents at least 4 times a week, Manila & Quezon City, 2015 Food Items No. of % Food Items No. of % Responses Responses (n=1665) (n= 1665) Fried Rice 224 17.7 Longganisa o 112 10.5 Tocino Pasta, spaghetti, Hotdog 232 17.0 116 10.5 macaroni salad Quail eggs 152 15.6 Bacon 58 10.2 Margarine, mayonnaise, 137 15.4 Pork Fat 99 9.7 butter Peanut butter 129 15.1 Isaw 74 9.7 Processed Fish ball 148 14.8 Liver Spread 40 9.2 Linupak 79 13.6 Sitsaron 73 8.6 Potato Chips, Hamburger Sandwich 150 12.8 90 8.5 cheese flavor Pizza Pie 118 12.4 Tuna spread 56 8.1 Hot cake w/butter 120 12.2 Suman or kutsinta 59 6.7 Spanish sardines 90 11.1 Avocado 36 6.0 Table 33.3. Sugary food items consumed by the respondents at least 4 times per week, Manila & Quezon City, 2015 Food items No. of % Food items No. of % responses responses (n=1665) (n=1665) Chocolate 243 21.3 Kamote Cue 76 8.4 Candy Ice cream 185 14.9 Choco chips 64 8.1 Doughnuts 120 13.1 Pili nut candy 45 7.7 Turon saging 140 12.8 Banana Chips 51 6.7 (Banana roll) Banana chips Banana Cue 99 9.3 salted & 50 6.5 sweetened Cake 88 8.7 Peanut brittle 25 4.7
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Table 33.4. Salty food items consumed by student respondents at least Quezon City, 2015 Food items No. of % Food Items Responses (n=1665) Peanuts w/ skin 54 10.4 Cracker/cookies Green peas 52 10.2 Salted Egg ―Kornik‖ or Chips & Curls 76 10.1 cracker nuts Watermelon 39 9.5 Seeds
4 times per week, Manila & No. of Responses (n=1665)
%
81 48
8.6 8.0
51
7.5
School-Based NCD Risk Reduction Interventions Adolescents have been mostly neglected by the international and national health managers in each country. This is evidenced by the absence of national programs promoting adolescent health or if the programs do exist, the implementation is weak. It is high time that attention be given to this segment of the population through multi-sectoral involvement. An important sector that can reach this captive audience in one setting is the school system. Schools have an important role to play in NCD prevention as they have the capacity and mandate to influence the young minds to adopt healthy lifestyle practices early or curb current unhealthy practices exhibited by this group. The Philippine Red Cross and Danish Red Cross in cooperation with the Department of Education have initiated the school-based intervention to reduce NCD risk factors in selected schools in Manila and Quezon City of the National Capital Region (NCR) (Ignacio, 2015). With the help of trained Red Cross Youth Volunteers, the schools launched several interventions anchored on the WHO ―Best Buys‖ interventions and the Department of Health (DOH) programs on NCD prevention. Activities centered on the provision of information and life-skills to promote healthy lifestyle practices. The interactive approaches promote the creation of healthy culture and environment by increasing access to healthy foods in the school canteens, teaching healthy food choices by nudging and ensuring that school population engage on vigorous physical activity. The school-based interventions largely were anchored on the WHO Recommendations (1) to prevent NCD among adolescents and these are as follows: 1. Protect adolescents from harmful substances such as tobacco, alcohol and foods containing high levels of fat, trans-fat, sugar and salt 2. Create policies that target product design, advertising, marketing, sponsorship and promotion of harmful substances. 3. Increasing taxes of unsafe products such as tobacco to decrease demand, particularly among adolescents who are sensitive to price increases. 4. Create policies and legislation that can limit young people‘s access to, and use of such unsafe products by creating and enforcing a minimum age of purchase for alcohol and tobacco 5. Mandating schools, public places and other places where the youth congregates to be 100% smoke and alcohol-free. DOH spreads ‗healthy eating‘ advocacy through programs and launched in August 2013 the following initiatives in private and public schools. To inform the school population about the real definition of healthy eating, the DOH has launched programs, projects and guidelines to lead all Filipinos to discover a much healthier diet (http://balita.ph/2013/08/01/doh-spreads-healthy-eating-advocacy-through-programs/ Accessed on 15 May 2016) 215
Pilipinas Go 4 Health Campaign The first initiative, Pilipinas Go 4 Health Program straight forwardly addresses the NCD concern in various settings in the country. Primarily, this movement is an information campaign that raises people‘s awareness on lifestyle diseases. The movement covers four pillars of NCD prevention, namely; ―go smoke-free‖ (avoid smoking), ―go sustansya‖(go for healthy nutritious foods), ―go sigla‖ (get physically active), and ―go slow tagay‖ (moderate alcohol use). Basically, the campaign encourages the Filipinos to quit smoking, consume healthy diet, do regular exercise, and to consume moderate amount of alcohol. One of its four pillars is ―Go Sustansya,‖ that promotes healthy eating by providing information and advocating simple but meaningful changes in the home, schools, workplace and community. DOH is also exploring the possibility of mandatory food labeling and color-coded logos that will inform the public how healthy or unhealthy the food is. A red mark will mean unhealthy; a yellow mark will mean not so healthy; and a green mark will mean healthy. To promote physical activity, students are given guidelines to increase energy expenditure (Figure 33.1).
Figure 33.1: Keep Healthy by Keeping Active Chart.
Healthy Canteen Certification Program Another initiative to prevent NCDs in school setting is the Healthy Canteen Certification Program that encourages private and public schools to serve healthy and nutritious foods among the students. DOH with other sectors is discouraging school canteens from selling soft drinks, chips, and other unhealthy food to combat the increasing rate of obesity in children. DOH in 2013 launched the Healthy Canteen Certification Program that will help encourage public and private school canteens to serve healthy and nutritious food for children. The program developed the Healthy Plate or Pinggan ng Kalusugan. The primary purpose of this healthy plate tool is to provide an easier nutrition guide for parents, caregivers, and canteen servers in preparing healthier meals for all Filipino children. This program offers Filipino with the right food proportions to meet energy and nutrient needs of Filipino children on a per meal basis. This is used side by side with the Food Pyramid. The Pinggang Pinoy (Filipino Plate) illustrated below shows what a typical Filipino nutritious food plate looks like (Figure 33.2). This is promoted using mass media, brochures and flyer fans to popularize the concept of eating nutritious.
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Figure 33.2: The Pinggang Pinoy illustrates the typical Filipino nutritious food plate. Healthy Food Certification Program The Healthy Food Certification Program seeks to provide limits on calorie, fat, salt, and sugar content of food and food products. The National Nutrition Council, the authority that ensures the nutritional wellbeing of Filipinos, recommends that everyone follow the latest Nutritional Guidelines for Filipinos found in their website, www.nnc.gov.ph (Accessed 21 Aug 2016). The key messages are embodied in the 10 recommendations for healthy eating (Figure 33.3).
Figure 33.3: The 10 recommendations for healthy eating Healthy Choice Initiatives Some schools are doing their part in making sure that their students have the nutrition they need, one of which is the Diliman Preparatory School that works with the DOH to promote healthy lifestyle in schools and school communities so students will develop and practice and healthy habits at a young age. This includes promotion of healthy options in the canteen and to engage in physical activity
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Week of Healthy Living Some schools promote the ―Week of Healthy Living‖. This is a set of healthy practices that can be done in each day of the week. These are Meatless Mondays, Zumba Tuesdays, Walk on Wednesdays, Thankful Thursdays, Fruits and Veggies Fridays, Stay Fit Saturdays, and Funday Sundays. On ―Meatless Mondays‖, fish, fruits, and vegetables are the only food available in the cafeteria. ―Zumba Tuesdays‖ feature parents, faculty, and staff who dance Zumba for an hour. ―Walk on Wednesdays‖ encourages everyone to walk the longer routes to get to their destination within the campus. Doing good deeds, thinking positive thoughts, and appreciating the beauty of nature make ―Thankful Thursdays‖. Children are encouraged to bring larger portions of fruits and vegetables to school on ―Fruits and Veggies Fridays‖. While enjoying outdoor activities, doing household chores and doing feel-good activities with family and friends are promoted on ―Stay Fit Saturdays‖ and ―Funday Sundays‖ (http://balita.ph/2013/08/01/dohspreads-healthy-eating-advocacy-through-programs/ Accessed on 15 May 2016) Conclusion In the Philippines, the prevalence of NCD risk factors, i.e. hypertension, overweight, high blood cholesterol and diabetes has been found to be increasing from 1998 to 2008 particularly in urban areas and among population groups in higher wealth quintile. Adolescent population groups have been found to have one or more of the risk factors which predispose them to develop NCDs when they become adults. Similar findings were shown in a baseline study covering 1665 primary and secondary school children aged 10-17 years old in selected schools in Manila and Quezon City with the top 3 NCD risk factors as follows; 83% prevalence of consumption of fatty foods within the last 7 days; 75% prevalence of consumption of sugary foods within the last 7 days; 74% prevalence of current smokers of more than 3 sticks of cigarette per day. As a response, the school in cooperation with the local government units embarked on the following activities; promotion of healthy plate, healthy lifestyle campaign, banning of sale of salty, sugary and fatty snack items in the school canteen, and promotion of healthy living on a daily basis. These activities are directed to the school children, their parents and the community members towards producing healthy and sustainable communities, especially in cities. The bottom line is this – cities cannot be sustainable if their communities are not healthy or sustainable. Questions for Discussion 1. How can adolescents prevent NCDs in adult life? 2. Make a list of key people in the community that can influence behavior change among the adolescents? 3. What supportive environment should be established to reduce NCD risks among the adolescents? References Barry M. Popkin, Linda S. Adair, and Shu Wen Ng, "Global Nutrition Transition and the Pandemic of Obesity in Developing Countries," Nutrition Reviews 70, no.1 (2012): 3-21. David Bloom et al., The Global Economic Burden of Noncommunicable Diseases (Geneva: World Economic Forum, 2011). Fleischer NL, Diez Roux A, Alazraqui M, et al. (2011) Socioeconomic gradients in chronic disease risk factors in middle-income countries: Evidence of effect modification by urbanicity in Argentina. Am J
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Public Health 2011 Feb;101(2):294-301. Epub 2010 Dec 16 [cited 2012 Aug 18]. Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21164095(Accessed on 12 August 2016). George C. Patton et al., "Health of the World‘s Adolescents: A Synthesis of International Comparable Data," The Lancet 379, no. 9286 (2012): 1665-75. http://apps.who.int/gb/e/e_wha64.html (Accessed on 15 May 2016). http://balita.ph/2013/08/01/doh-spreads-healthy-eating-advocacy-through-programs/ (Accessed on 15 May 2016). http://reports.weforum.org/global-risks-2015/part-2-risks-in-focus/2-3-city-limits-the-risks-of-rapid-andunplanned-urbanization-in-developing-countries/. (Accessed 5 August 2016). http://www.wpro.who.int/publications/docs/WHOSESFINALforupload.pdf. (Accessed 5 August 2016). http://www.prb.org/Publications/Datasheets/2012/world-population-data-sheet/fact-sheet-ncds.aspx. (Accessed on 5 August 2016). http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/128038/1/9789241507509_eng.pdf. Accessed on 5 August 2016. Ignacio, ME. (2015) Baseline Assessment of NCD Risk Factors among school children (10-17 years old) in selected schools in Manila and Quezon City, Philippines Red Cross-Danish Red Cross Commissioned Study, 2015 (unpublished document). Pan American Health Organization (2011) Noncommunicable Diseases in the Americas: Basic Indicators 2011 [Internet]. Washington, DC: PAHO; 2011. (http://new.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1930&Item id=1708&lang=en. Accessed on 18 May 2016). Ralph W. Hingson, Timothy Heeren, and Michael Winter, "Age at Drinking Onset and Alcohol Dependence: Age at Onset, Duration, and Severity," Archives of Pediatric Adolescent Medicine 160, no. 7 (2006): 739-46. Villaverde MC, Vergeire MR, delos Santos,MS. Health Promotion and Non Communicable Diesease in the Philippines, Sept (2012) http://www.ateneo.edu/sites/default/files/ASoGHJ%20Health%20Promotion%20Study%202012_0.pdf (Accessed on 18 May 2016). World Bank, Growing Danger of Noncommunicable Diseases (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2011). World Health Organization (2013) Global action plan for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases 2013-2020. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2013 http://apps.who.int.iris/bitstream/10665/94384/1/9789241506236_eng.pdf?ua=1 (Accessed 19 May 2016). World Health Organization, Tobacco Free Initiative (Geneva: World Health Organization, 2012). www.nnc.gov.ph (Accessed 21 Aug 2016). @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ 219
CHAPTER 34
CLIMATE CHANGE AND PUBLIC HEALTH
Ngai Weng Chan Introduction Earth is the only planet with life as we know now. Life is possible on earth because of its climate which at an average temperature of 15 degrees Celcius. Is most conducive for life to flourish. Other planets in our solar system are either too hot (e.g. Mercury with an average temperature of 167 degrees Celcius) or too cold (Jupiter with an average temperature of -145 degrees Celcius). Most importantly, other planets do not have an atmosphere of gases (an element of climate) that supports life. For example, even if it has an atmosphere, the thick clouds of Venus are composed mostly of toxic carbon dioxide that would not sustain life. Hence, to say that climate affects life is an under-statement. If earth‘s climate changes drastically, it may have dire consequences for life on earth. Historically, climate has either enabled civilizations to flourish (due to favourable climate which enabled agriculture to flourish) or caused civilizations to collapse (due to unfavourable Climate or climate change) (Diamond, 2011). It is no exaggeration to say that weather and climate play a significant role in affecting human health. Variations in climate elements (e.g. temperature, humidity, wind, air quality, etc) affect the average weather conditions that people are accustomed to. For example, during heat waves, extremely high temperatures have not only caused people to fall ill but such extremes killed thousands. The notorious 2003 European heat wave led to the hottest summer on record in Europe since at least 1540 and its effects on public health was devastating (Source: World Meteorological Organization http://www.preventionweb.net/english/professional/news/v.php?id=14970 Accessed 23 Aug 2015). In Europe, France was the worst hit by the sudden weather change leading to heat wave. This heat wave led to health crises in several countries and combined with drought to create a crop shortfall in parts of Southern Europe. Peer-reviewed analysis places the European death toll at more than 70,000 (Robine et. al., 2008). Not only did weather kill thousands, it also caused illnesses associated with the prolonged heat wave and high temperatures. Furthermore, weather and climate change of such extreme magnitudes could increase the frequency, magnitude and severity of extreme weather events such as storms, high rainfalls, floods, high winds, and other direct effects on humans and property. Hot temperatures could increase the concentrations of unhealthy air quality, temperature inversions, and air pollution such as haze and photochemical smog, all of which adversely affect public health (Jacobson, 2012). Changes in temperature, precipitation patterns and extreme events could enhance the spread of many diseases (http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/impacts-adaptation/health.html Accessed 22 Aug 2015). In 2008, the U.S. Global Change Research Program produced a report that analyzed the impacts of global climate change on human health and welfare (http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/impactsadaptation/health.html Accessed 23 Aug 2015). The report found the following effects of climate and weather on public health: (i) Many of the expected health effects are likely to fall mostly on the poor, the very old, the very young, the disabled, and the uninsured; (ii) Climate change will likely result in regional differences in U.S. impacts, due not only to a regional pattern of changes in climate but also to regional variations in the distribution of sensitive populations and the ability of communities to adapt to climate changes; and (iii) Adaptation should begin now, starting with public health infrastructure. Individuals, communities, and government agencies can take steps to moderate the impacts of climate change on human health. The United States EPA found that the impacts of climate change on health will depend on many factors. These factors include the effectiveness of a community's public health and safety systems to address or prepare for the risk and the behavior, age, gender, and economic status of individuals affected. Impacts will likely vary by region, the sensitivity of populations, the extent and length of
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exposure to climate change impacts, and human society‘s ability to adapt to such changes and survive (http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/impacts-adaptation/health.html (Accessed 23 Aug 2015). Impacts of Climate and Weather Change on Public Health Generally, climate change effects are more serious in developing and poor countries compared to developed countries. Developing and poor countries neither have the know-how nor ability (funds and other resources) to adapt to and survive climate change. However, although the developed countries like the United States, United Kingdom and Japan have well-developed public health systems (compared with those of many developing countries), climate change is still expected to affect many of the developed countries that are ill-prepared. In addition, the impacts of climate change on public health in developing countries around the globe could have important consequences for the developed countries as globalization ties everyone together. For example, more frequent and intense storms may require more disaster relief and declines in agriculture may increase food shortages and cause global food insecurity. For example, if both China and India were to suffer simultaneously a year of agriculture collapse (due to bad weather), the global food stocks would be depleted by these two countries. Poor countries affected by bad weather who import food from developed countries will not be able to pay and will run up bad debts. This would have a chain effect on all trading partner countries. Poor countries also remain poor largely because of bad weather that causes climatic disasters. Cyclones have increased in recent decades, and represent a climate change disaster due to global warming. For example, Bangladesh, one of the most hazardous countries in terms of climatic disasters (e.g. cyclones and floods) spends heavily on disaster relief and recovery) almost every year. Without international disaster aid, Bangladesh would probably fare even worse. Yet, despite many international aid programmes, the effects of climate change on public health in Bangladesh is still very serious. For example, the 1991 Bangladesh cyclone was considered among the deadliest tropical cyclones in the history of the country. The cyclone which occurred on the night of 29 April 1991, struck the city of Chittagong with winds averaging around 250 km/h. The storm generated a 6 metre high storm surge inland over a wide area, killing at least 138,000 people and leaving as many as 10 million people homeless (http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories/images/global.pdf Accessed 23 Aug 2015). . Hurricane Mitch was recorded as one of the strongest late season hurricanes on record in the western Carribean in October 1998. Although the system eventually weakened before landfall, its slow passage westward over the mountainous regions of Central America unleashed heavy precipitation that caused devastating floods that decimated the entire infrastructure of Honduras and also severely impacted other countries in the area. The final estimated death toll was 11,000 with severe impact of illness and diseases as well to public health (http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories/images/global.pdf Accessed 23 Aug 2015). Floods are also directly caused by climate change. China has a long history of flood disasters. Flood disasters usually occur in the middle and lower reaches of the major rivers in China. These floods occur on a recurring basis along this and other river systems in China. The periodic severe flooding associated with these heavy rainfall events kill from several thousand to several hundred thousand people. During this century major flooding disasters occurred in 1900,1911, 1915,1931,1935,1950, 1954,1959, 1991 and 1998 mainly in the Yangtze River Valley. In the Yangtze River Flood of 1931, one of the most severe summer floods along the Yangtze, over 51 million people were affected (a quarter of China‘s population). During this flood, 3.7 million people were killed in this great disaster of the century, mostly due to disease, starvation or drowning, all of which are related to public health. To make it a ―Double-Jeopardy‖, the 1931 great flood was preceded by a prolonged drought in China during the 1928-1930 period, which also caused famines, malnutrition band deaths in public health (http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories/images/global.pdf Accessed 23 Aug 2015). 221
Infectious diseases (see Chapter 32), are also closely related to climate change that causes environmental disasters such as floods and drought. Floods, for example, kill thousands not because of drowning but mostly because of the infectious diseases that occur in the aftermath of the flood. Population, social, economic and environmental conditions that change following a cyclone can increase the likelihood of infectious diseases. These include the following: (i) Change from a clean to a dirty/polluted environment; (ii) Creation of breeding grounds for mosquitoes and other carriers of diseases; (iii) Disruption to public health services and the health-care infrastructures; (iv) Destruction of houses resulting in people/victims being forced to live in make-shift tents in unhealthy environments; (v) Damage to electricity, water, telecommunications and sanitation; (vi) Sudden mushrooming of dense populations (especially in crowded shelters); (vii) Population displacement and migration; (viii) increased environmental exposure as people are forced to live in poor make-shift shelters exposed to the weather elements; and (ix) Ecological changes in the ecosystems (e.g. rivers become polluted). For example, outbreaks of infectious diseases following tropical cyclones are very common in the developing world (Guill and Shandera, 2001). In developed nations, post-hurricane infectious disease surveillance has occasionally detected increases in self-limiting gastrointestinal disease and respiratory infections (Lee et. al., 1992). Many studies have found infectious disease outbreaks after cyclone disasters (Bissell, 1983; Toole, 1997)). Shultz et. al. (2005) reported that outbreaks of balantidiasis on the Pacific island of Truk after the 1971 typhoon, typhoid fever in Mauritius following the 1980 cyclone, and acute respiratory infections in Puerto Rico following the 1989 hurricane provide examples (Toole, 1997). In the aftermath of Hurricane Mitch (1998), an increase in cholera was documented in Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Belize, along with outbreaks of leptospirosis in Nicaragua and gastrointestinal disease in Honduras (Pan American Health Organization, 1998). In the aftermath of climatic disasters, many factors unique to developing nations that are more likely to favour the emergence of disease include high endemic rates of disease, low immunization rates, poor access to clean water (Mosley et. al., 2004), poor sanitation, prolonged crowding in shelters, and inadequate nutrition. Prolonged disruption of routine public health-care services is more likely to occur in developing countries and contributes to an increase in disease. During the 1970 cyclone in Bangladesh, damage to the health-care infrastructure and interruption of ambulatory treatment of patients with active tuberculosis may have led to an increase in the transmission rate of this disease (Bissell, 1983). According to Shultz et. al. (2005), the impacts from Heat Waves are devastating to human populations worldwide (see the European Heat Wave of 2003) (Source: World Meteorological Organization http://www.preventionweb.net/english/professional/news/v.php?id=14970 Accessed 23 Aug 2015). Heat waves can lead to heat stroke and dehydration, and are the most common cause of weather-related deaths. Excessive heat is more likely to impact populations in northern latitudes where people are less prepared to cope with excessive temperatures. Young children, older adults, people with medical conditions, and the poor are more vulnerable than others to heat-related illness. In the USA, the share of the adults over age 65 is currently 12%, but is projected to grow to 21% by 2050, leading to a larger vulnerable population that will be affected by heat related effects on public health (http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/impactsadaptation/health.html Accessed 23 Aug 2015).
The "urban heat island" (UHI) effect is another weather phenomenon that has widespread impacts on public health. City centres are hotter than their rural peripheries by several degrees Celcius because of concentrations of buildings, people, automobiles, industries etc. The larger the city, the bigger the difference (Figure 34.1). Gartland (2010) suggested many green solutions to mitigate against UHIs. This is because UHI results in greater consumption of energy (due to greater use of air-conditioners) which lead to greater use of fossil fuels, air pollution and warming of the atmosphere. When UHIs are already large, climate change will likely lead to more frequent, more severe, and 222
longer heat waves in the cities in the summer months. Climate change could lead to even warmer temperatures in cities. This would increase the demand for electricity in the summer to run air conditioning, which in turn would increase air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. The impacts of future heat waves could be especially severe in large metropolitan areas. For example, in Los Angeles, annual heat-related deaths are projected to increase two- to seven-fold by the end of the 21st century, depending on the future growth of greenhouse gas emissions. Heat waves are also often accompanied by periods of stagnant air, leading to increases in air pollution and the associated health effects (http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/impacts-adaptation/health.html Accessed 23 Aug 2015).
Figure 34.1: The "urban heat island" refers to the fact that the local temperature in urban areas is a few degrees higher than the surrounding area. Source: https://baltimorehazards.wordpress.com/disasterpreparedness/natural-hazards-in-baltimore/ Accessed 23 Aug 2015). Climate change is also going to severely affect agriculture and food production. Lack of food is going to seriously affect public health in terms of malnutrition and famines. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), climate is intricately linked to agriculture, and agriculture affects public health since inadequate food leads to malnutrition and no food leads to famine. The EPA says that ―Agriculture is an important sector of the U.S. economy. In addition to providing us with much of our food, the crops, livestock, and seafood that are grown, raised, and caught in the United States contribute at least US$200 billion to the economy each year (Karl, et. al., 2009). Agriculture and fisheries are highly dependent on specific climate conditions. Without favourable climate, both agriculture and fisheries will collapse leading to poor public health caused by insufficient food. Trying to understand the overall effect of climate change on our food supply can be difficult. Increases in temperature and carbon dioxide (CO2) can be beneficial for some crops in some places. But to realize these benefits, nutrient levels, soil moisture, water availability, and other conditions must also be met. Changes in the frequency and severity of droughts and floods could pose challenges for farmers and ranchers. Meanwhile, warmer water temperatures are likely to cause the habitat ranges of many fish and shellfish species to shift, which could disrupt ecosystems. Overall, climate change could make it more difficult to grow crops, raise animals, and catch fish in the same ways and same places as we have done in the past. The effects of climate change also need to be considered along with other evolving factors that affect agricultural production, such as changes in farming practices and technology (Source: http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/impacts-adaptation/agriculture.html#ref1 Accessed 23 Aug 2015). Famines in Africa are caused by climate change (Finn, 1990). Between 800–1000 AD, severe climate change that caused droughts killed millions of Maya people due to famine and thirst and initiated a cascade of internal collapses that destroyed their civilization (Iannone, 2014). In Malaysia, Cameron Highlands vegetables supply is affected by change in weather. When the weather is bad (e.g. too much rain or droughts), vegetable supply goes down and prices increase tremendously. For example, the local Malaysia news daily reported that the price of vegetables would increase by at least 30% due to low 223
supply caused by the erratic weather. Cameron Highlands Vegetable Growers Association secretary Chay Ee Mong was quoted by the daily as saying that the supply of beans, tomatoes and chillies would be affected. Some 80 % of the vegetables planted in Cameron Highlands are for local consumption while the rest are exported to Singapore (http://cameron-highland-destination.blogspot.com/2010/06/vegetableprices-increasing.html#ixzz3jbDT9NU2 Accessed 23 Aug 2015). Conclusion Global climate change and even local micro-climate change can have profound impacts on public health and public welfare. Climate change can have widespread global effects/impacts, or localized city or national effects, or both. Climate change is expected to mostly affect the poorer undeveloped nations who neither have the capacities to adapt nor the resources to fund monitoring and mitigation. In these poor nations, many of the expected public health effects are likely to fall mostly on the poor, the very old, the very young, the disabled, and the uninsured. Climate change will likely result in regional differences in global impacts, as climate change varies both spatially and temporarily. This is due not only to a regional pattern of changes in climate but also to regional variations in the distribution of sensitive populations and the ability of communities to adapt to climate changes. Nations should start adaptation programmes in preparation for climate change. More importantly, nations should build up their capacities and resilience against global climate change (see Chapter 9). More specifically, nations should begin their preparation by strengthening public health infrastructures. At the local levels, individuals, communities, and government agencies can take steps to moderate the impacts of climate change on human health. Questions for Discussion 1. How is public health affected by climate change in your city? 2. What are the major public health concerns in your city? 3. How are hospitals in your city preparing for climate change? Acknowledgements: The author would like to acknowledge the Fundamental Research Grant (FRGS) from Ministry of Education titled ―Effects of Floods on Human Society and the Role of Social Capital in Recovery in Malaysia‖, Account Number 203/PHUMANITI/6711393. References Bissell, R.A. (1983) Delayed-impact infectious disease after a natural disaster. J Emerg Med 1983;1:59– 66. Diamond, J. (2011) Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive. London: Penguin Books. Finn, J. (1990) Ethiopia: The Politics of Famine. New York, NY: Freedom House. Gartland, L. (2010) Heat Islands: Understanding and Mitigating Heat in Urban Areas. New York: Earthscan. Guill, C.K. and Shandera, W.X. (2001) The effects of Hurricane Mitch on a community in northern Honduras. Prehosp Disast Med 2001;16:124–9. https://baltimorehazards.wordpress.com/disaster-preparedness/natural-hazards-in-baltimore/ Accessed 23 Aug 2015). http://cameron-highland-destination.blogspot.com/2010/06/vegetable-pricesincreasing.html#ixzz3jbDT9NU2 Accessed 23 Aug 2015). 224
http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/impacts-adaptation/agriculture.html#ref1 (Accessed 23 Aug 2015). http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/impacts-adaptation/health.html (Accessed 23 Aug 2015). http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories/images/global.pdf (Accessed 23 Aug 2015). Iannone, G. (2014) The Great Maya Droughts in Cultural Contexts. Boulder: Universityu Press of Colorado. Jacobson, M.Z. (2012) Air Pollution and Global Warming: History, Science and Solutions (Second Edition). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Karl, T.R., Melillo, J.M. and Peterson, T.C. (eds.) (2009) Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States. United States Global Change Research Program. New York: Cambridge University Press. Lee, L.E., Fonseca, V., Brett, K.M. (1992) Active morbidity surveillance after Hurricane Andrew— Florida, 1992. JAMA 1993;270:591–4. Mosley, L.M., Sharp, D.S. and Singh, S. (2004) Effects of a tropical cyclone on the drinking-water quality of a remote Pacific island. Disasters 28:405–17. Pan American Health Organization (1998) Impact of Hurricane Mitch on Central America. Epidemiol Bull 19:1–14. Robine, J.M., Cheung, S.L.K., Le Roy, S., Van Oyen, H., Griffiths, C.M., Michel, J.P. and Herrmann, F.R. (2008) "Death toll exceeded 70,000 in Europe during the summer of 2003".Comptes Rendus Biologies 31 (2): 171–178.doi:10.1016/j.crvi.2007.12.001. ISSN1631-0691.PMID18241810 (Accessed 23 Aug 2015). Sanders, E.J., Rigau-Perez, J.G. and Smits, H.L. (1996) Increase of leptospirosis in dengue-negative patients after a hurricane in Puerto Rico in 1996. Am J Trop Med Hyg 61:399–404. Shultz, J.M., Russell, J. and Espinel, Z. (2005) Epidemiology of Tropical Cyclones: The Dynamics of Disaster, Disease, and Development. Epidemiologic Review 27 (1): 21-35. Toole, M.J. (1997) Communicable disease and disease control. In: Noji, E.K. (ed) The public health consequences of disasters. New York, NY: Oxford University Press,1997:79–100.
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CHAPTER 35
AIR POLLUTION
Ngai Weng Chan, Sulzakimin Hj Mohamed and Mou Leong Tan
Introduction Air pollution is defined as ―The introduction of any substance, whether in the form of gas, solid or liquid that causes the air to become unsatisfactory in terms of smell, freshness, health and other characteristics that reduce air quality and render the air unhealthy and hazardous to life and natural systems‖. Air pollution causes the air in the atmosphere to become unhealthy and can occur in the form of gas (e.g. CO2), liquid (water droplets) or solid (Particulates). Air pollution is not solely caused by humans or human activities but can be due also to natural causes. Therefore, it is occurring naturally and present in the earth's atmosphere. However, humans and their polluting activities (e.g. open burning, use of fossil fuels in automobiles and factories, toxic gas emissions from manufacturing plants, and other anthropogenic activities that have caused air pollution to reach thresholds that are considered dangerous to human health and ecosystems. Air pollution in the form of Gaseous pollutants include sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), ozone (O3), carbon monoxide (CO), volatile organic compounds (VOC), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), hydrogen fluoride (HF), and various gaseous forms of metals. Most of these sources are anthropogenic as they are emitted from large stationary sources such as fossil fuel fired power plants, smelters, industrial boilers, petroleum refineries, and manufacturing facilities as well as from area and mobile sources. These toxic air pollutants are corrosive and damages cultural resources, and can cause injury to ecosystems as well as humans. In terms of human health, air pollution can aggravate respiratory diseases, reduce visibility (leading to hazards in transportation and even accidents). Most alarmingly, air pollution is the worse in cities where large populations are crowded and living in poor environmental conditions, large numbers of automobiles, presence of industrial areas, burning in landfills, incinerators, and other polluting activities. In the USA, more than half of people in breathe air dirty enough to cause health problems, especially in cities (Source: American Lung Association (ALA) report (http://www.stateoftheair.org/2011/city-rankings/most-polluted-cities.html Accessed 25 Aug 2015). Sources of Air Pollution The sources of air pollution can be categorized into three groups: (i) Natural Sources; (ii) Human-induced Sources; and (iii) Human Sources. Figure 35.1 shows the Natural Sources of air pollution. Table 35.1: Natural Sources of Air Pollutants. ______________________________________________________________________________ Source Air Pollutants ______________________________________________________________________________ Volcanoes Forest Fire Plants Decaying plants Soil & Soil Outgassing Radioactive Decay in Earth‘s Crust Animals & Humans Geysers Lightning Rivers and Estuaries Seas & Oceans
Smoke, Ash, CO2, Sulfur Dioxide, Particulates (PM) Smoke, Ash, Dust, CO, CO2, NOx, Particulates (PM) Hydrocarbons, Pollens, Aerosols, Volatile Organic Compounds Methane, Hydrogen Sulfides Dust and Viruses, Nitrogen Oxides Radon Gas Methane Hydrogen Sulfide, Arsenic and other Heavy Metals Lightning converts atmospheric nitrogen to nitrogen oxides Methane Salt Spray, Sodium Chloride, PM, Aerosols*
______________________________________________________________________________ *Aerosols are minute solid & liquid particulates made up of sea salts, pollen dust, water droplets and mist (0.01–100 micron]) 226
Figure 35.2, however, shows the Human-Induced sources of air pollution. Notice that the original sources of air pollution are natural sources, but air pollution from these is enhanced by anthropogenic actions. For example, humans burn forests to clear them for plantations in comparison to spontaneous forest fires which is nature‘s way to regenerate old forests into new ones. Almost every year, forest burning in Indonesia has caused haze which is a form of transboundary air pollution that affects the whole of Southeast Asia. The fires and haze had devastating effects on the region's economies, with the Economy and Environment Programme for Southeast Asia (EEPSEA) estimating that total losses in the region of US$5-6 billion after accounting for loss of timber, biodiversity, and plantations, as well as for long-term health effects. The haze blocked out the sun in some regions, affecting the ripening of fruits and wreaking havoc on transportation; the effects included airport closings, boat accidents, and even a Garuda Airbus a300 plane crash that killed all 234 people on board. Coffee production declined 40 percent, while palm-oil harvests were down 30 percent after fires burned plantations and interfered with transport. Tourism, Malaysia's second largest foreign-currency owner in 1996 at US$4.5 billion, was clobbered by the haze, and the government issued a ban on all media coverage of the fires (http://rainforests.mongabay.com/08indo_fires.htm Accessed 25 Aug 2015). Most cities in the region which are already badly polluted by their own sources of air pollution (e.g. fossil fuel burning), such as Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Bangkok and Manila were blanketed in haze for a few months. Table 35.2: Sources of Human-Induced Air Pollutants ______________________________________________________________________________ Source Air Pollutants ______________________________________________________________________________ Factories NOx, Sulfur oxides, particulates (PM) Fire/Open Burning CO, CO2, NOx, particulates (PM) Crops Hydrocarbons, Pollens, Aerosols Decaying Crops Methane, Hydrogen Sulfides Exposed Soils Dust and Viruses Waste Disposal Landfills Methane, Carbon Dioxide, Ammonia, Mercaptans, Sulfides Man-made Seas Salt Spray, Sodium Chloride, PM, Aerosols ______________________________________________________________________________ Table 35.3 outlines the Human/Anthropogenic Sources of Air Pollutants. These are air pollutants that were never in the atmosphere before humans arrive on earth. The pollutants were created by humans, and they have become very hazardous to human health. For example, increased concentrations of ozone and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) since preindustrial times reflect increased emissions, but also contributions of past climate change. Silva et. al. (2013) modeled concentrations from an ensemble of chemistryclimate models to estimate the global burden of anthropogenic outdoor air pollution on present-day premature human mortality, and the component of that burden attributable to past climate change. Using simulated concentrations for 2000 and 1850 and concentration-response functions (CRFs), it was found that currently, about 470,000 (95% confidence interval, 140,000 to 900,000) premature respiratory deaths are associated globally and annually with anthropogenic ozone, and 2.1 (1.3 to 3.0) million deaths with anthropogenic PM2.5-related cardiopulmonary diseases (93%) and lung cancer (7%). Mortality attributed to the effects of past climate change on air quality is considerably smaller than the global burden: 1500 (20,000 to 27,000) deaths per year due to ozone and 2200 (350,000 to 140,000) due to PM 2.5. When Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring in 1962, she raised public awareness about the effects of pesticide use on our health and our environment (Carson, 1962). However, almost forty years after Carson drew attention to the health and environmental impacts of DDT, use of equally hazardous pesticides has only increased. And all the time there is more evidence surfacing that human exposure to pesticides is linked to health problems. In cities, pesticides are used in golf courses, schools, parks, and public lands. Pesticides are sprayed on agricultural fields and wood lots. Pesticides can be found in our air, our food, our soil, our water and even in our breast milk. 227
Table 35.3: Human/Anthropogenic Sources of Air Pollutants _______________________________________________________________________________ Source Air Pollutants ______________________________________________________________________________ Industrial Applications Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) Industries & Agriculture Pesticides, Weedicides (DDT) Nuclear Plants Radioactive Pollutants Military resources Nuclear Radiation, Poison/Toxic Gases, Germs Industrial Sources Benzene Dry Cleaning Facilities Perchloroethylene Solvent in Industries Methylene chloride Industries Dioxin, asbestos, toluene, and metals such as cadmium, mercury, chromium, and lead compounds. ______________________________________________________________________________ Effects of Air Pollution Effects on Humans by air pollution can be very severe. Air pollution is considered a significant risk factor for a number of health conditions, especially respiratory infections, heart disease, stroke, Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung cancer (Reilly et. al., 2011). People suffering from illnesses such as difficulty in breathing, wheezing, coughing, asthma and other respiratory and cardiac conditions are most severely affected by air pollution. Air pollution can result in increased medication use, increased doctor or emergency room visits, more hospital admissions and premature death. The human health effects of poor air quality are far reaching, but principally affect the body's respiratory system and the cardiovascular system. The most common sources of air pollution include particulates, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and sulfur dioxide. Children aged less than five years and the aged living in developing countries are the most vulnerable population in terms of total deaths due to indoor and outdoor air pollution. The National Geographic (http://education.nationalgeographic.com/encyclopedia/airpollution/ Accessed 25 Aug 2015) found that “....people experience a wide range of health effects from being exposed to air pollution. Effects can be broken down into short-term effects and long-term effects. Short-term effects, which are temporary, include illnesses such as pneumonia or bronchitis. They also include discomfort such as irritation to the nose, throat, eyes, or skin. Air pollution can also cause headaches, dizziness, and nausea. Bad smells made by factories, garbage, or sewer systems are considered air pollution, too. These odors are less serious but still unpleasant. Long-term effects of air pollution can last for years or for an entire lifetime. They can even lead to a person's death. Long-term health effects from air pollution includeheart disease, lung cancer, and respiratory diseases such as emphysema. Air pollution can also cause long-term damage to people's nerves, brain, kidneys, liver, and other organs. Some scientists suspect air pollutants cause birth defects. Nearly 2.5 million people die worldwide each year from the effects of outdoor or indoor air pollution. People react differently to different types of air pollution. Young children and older adults, whose immune systems tend to be weaker, are often more sensitive to pollution. Conditions such as asthma, heart disease, and lung disease can be made worse by exposure to air pollution. The length of exposure and amount and type of pollutants are also factors”. Effects on The Environment can be equally severe if not more. The National Geographic (http://education.nationalgeographic.com/encyclopedia/air-pollution/ Accessed 25 Aug 2015) also found that “Like people, animals, and plants, entire ecosystems can suffer effects from air pollution. Haze, like smog, is a visible type of air pollution that obscures shapes and colors. Hazy air pollution can even muffle sounds. Air pollution particles eventually fall back to Earth. Air pollution can directly contaminate the surface of bodies of water and soil. This can kill crops or reduce their yield. It can kill young trees and other plants. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide particles in the air, can create acid rain when they 228
mix with water and oxygen in the atmosphere. These air pollutants come mostly fromcoal-fired power plants and motor vehicles. When acid rain falls to Earth, it damages plants by changing soil composition; degrades water quality in rivers, lakes and streams; damages crops; and can cause buildings and monuments to decay. Like humans, animals can suffer health effects from exposure to air pollution. Birth defects, diseases, and lower reproductive rates have all been attributed to air pollution. Effects on Climate can change weather elements causing climate change and global warming. The National Geographic (http://education.nationalgeographic.com/encyclopedia/air-pollution/ Accessed 25 Aug 2015) found that “Global warming is an environmental phenomenoncaused by natural and anthropogenic air pollution. It refers to rising air and ocean temperatures around the world. This temperature rise is at least partially caused by an increase in the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases trap heat energy in the Earths atmosphere. (Usually, more of Earths heat escapes into space). Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that has had the biggest effect on global warming. Carbon dioxide isemitted into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels (coal,gasoline, and natural gas). Humans have come to rely on fossil fuels to power cars and planes, heat homes, and run factories. Doing these things pollutes the air with carbon dioxide. Other greenhouse gases emitted by natural and artificial sources also include methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases. Methane is a major emission from coal plants and agricultural processes. Nitrous oxide is a common emission from industrial factories, agriculture, and the burning of fossil fuels in cars. Fluorinated gases, such as hydrofluorocarbons, are emitted by industry. Fluorinated gases are often used instead of gases such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). CFCs have been outlawed in many places because they deplete theozone layer.Worldwide, many countries have taken steps to reduceor limit greenhouse gas emissions to combat global warming. The Kyoto Protocol, first adopted in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997, is an agreement between 183 countries that they will work to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions. The United States has not signed that treaty”. Cities and Air Pollution All over the world, cities by virtue of their inherent characteristics of huge populations, large numbers of automobiles, dense built-up areas, huge numbers of buildings, highly absorbent materials, dense industrial zones, businesses, lack of trees, and other anthropogenic generation of air pollution, are potentially dangerous air pollutaion hot sots. Ramsey (2016) stated that between 2008 and 2013, global urban air pollution levels rose by 8%, mostly in cities (http://www.businessinsider.my/the-cities-with-the-worldsworst-air-pollution-who-2016-5/#I3i8Lc4E2OlRyo1a.99 Accessed 12 Aug 2016). A World Health Organization (2016) report releast on 12 May 2016 stated that some 80% of all urban areas have air pollution levels above what‘s considered healthy (http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2016/air-pollution-rising/en/ Accessed 12 Aug 2016). The report further states that the rate of air pollution is even more dismal for cities with more than 100,000 people in low- and middle-income countries, whereby 98% of these cities had unhealthy air. Air pollution in cities not only affects the micro-climate and weather of cities and obstructs traffic and visibility, but more importantly it also severely affects people‘s health. The most harmful air pollutant to impact upon human health is PM 2.5, i.e. air pollutant particle matter with size smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter that are mostly found in haze (an annual air pollution phenomenon affecting South-east Asian countries, see Heil and Goldammer (2001)), soot, smoke, and dust. PM 2.5 is especially dangerous because it is fine enough to get through normal breathing masks and can get lodged in the lungs and cause long-term health problems like asthma and chronic lung disease. According to the United States‘ Environmental Protection Agency, PM 2.5 starts to become a major health problem when there is more than 35.5 micrograms (µg) of PM 2.5 per cubic meter of air (Ramsey, 2006). However, the World Health Organizations‘ recommendation is to keep the yearly average PM 2.5 levels three times lower than this 229
figure. Obviously, PM2.5 is not the only air pollutant that can affect the health of city folks (refer to discussion above). Apparently, half of the world‘s 20 most polluted cities are in India (Photograph 35.1), reported by the World Health Organization in a report which measured air quality in 1,600 cities (Joshi, 2016). This report, according to Joshi (2016) indicates that industrial and vehicular exhaust were choking large parts of India with little oversight or monitoring mechanism. What is more terrifying is that New Delhi, the capital city, is no longer the world‘s most polluted city, dropping to 11th position with smaller towns Gwallor and Allahabad moving past Delhi to become the 2nd and 3rd most polluted cities in the world behind the Iranian city of Zabol (Photograph 35.2) in 1st place. The most polluted city in the world is the Iranian city of Zabol which is located in the middle of a dust bowl.
Photograph 35.1: The top 20 cities with the worst air pollution (Original Source: WHO). (http://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi/four-out-of-top-five-polluted-cities-are-in-india-delhi-not-amongthem/story-Gn2htcLbESB3BpeYJ4mY8K.html Accessed 12 Aug 2016).
Photograph 35.2: Zabol in Iran is the world‘s most polluted (https://www.mojahedin.org/newsen/47056/Iran%E2%80%99s-Zabol-world%E2%80%99s-mostpolluted-city Accessed 12 Aug 2016). 230
city
Control and Regulation of Air Pollution At the global stage, air pollution control has been successful in siome instances. The Montreal Protocol 1987 was successful in banning substances (CFCs) that deplete the Ozone Layer. As a result of the international agreement, the ozone hole in Antarctica is slowly recovering. Climate projections indicate that the ozone layer will return to 1980 levels between 2050 and 2070. Due to its widespread adoption and implementation it has been hailed as an example of exceptional international co-operation, with Kofi Annan (ex-UN Secretary General) quoted as saying that "perhaps the single most successful international agreement to date has been the Montreal Protocol". Controlling air pollution and global warming, however, was through the Kyoto Protocol, which is an international tratey that extends the 1992 United Nations Framework on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits State Parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the premise that (a) globalwarming exists and (b) man-made CO2 emissions have caused it. The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December 1997 and entered into force on 16 February 2005. There are currently 192 Parties (Canada withdrew effective December 2012) to the Protocol. The Protocol is based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities: it puts the obligation to reduce current emissions on developed countries on the basis that they are historically responsible for the current levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. At the national front, national policies and laws are needed to be put in place specifically designed to reduce air pollution and protect human health, ecosytems and the environment. In this respect, most developed nations have adopted laws to regulate emissions and reduce air pollution. Many countries have adopted the ―Polluters pay‖ principle, but often, it is difficult to identify and catch the culprits. For example, in the United States, debate is under way about a system called cap and trade to limit emissions. This system would cap, or place a limit, on the amount of pollution a company is allowed. Companies that exceeded their cap would have to pay. Companies that polluted less than their cap could trade or sell their remaining pollution allowance to other companies. Cap and trade would essentially pay companies to limit pollution. In 2006 the World Health Organization issued new Air Quality Guidelines. The WHOs guidelines are tougher than most individual countries existing guidelines. The WHO guidelines aim to reduce air pollution-related deaths by 15 % a year. In Europe, policies and laws on controlling air pollution are found at all levels of government, from global conventions, European legislation on emissions and air pollution, UK laws and policy initiatives at the local, regional and national level. These national laws and policies should be followed at the city and municipal level. There needs to be a focus on legislation to reduce emissions or air pollution levels. Other laws and policies can be indirect where air quality is not its primary focus. For example, energy efficiency policies (which can reap significant air quality benefits) and energy generation (which have the potential to reduce or increase air pollution) are indirectly controlling air pollution. In the USA, the year 1955 was an important milestone because the Air Pollution Control Act was enacted. This legislation was groundbreaking because it was the first legislation in the country enacted to control air pollution. Then in 1963, the Clean Air Act was passed. The 1963 act built on the Air Pollution Control Act 1955 and goes further by addressing the control of air pollution. This legislation now provided funding for both monitoring and controlling pollution as well. Then in 1970, the Clean Air Act was amended thoroughly to become the Clean Air Act of 1970. This law set stricter standards for air quality and limited emissions from both stationary and mobile sources (industrial and vehicle emissions). The amendment also included another revolutionary provision: The ability for citizens to sue those who violate the emissions standards set forth by the law. This was the first federal environmental law to allow this. The amendments of 1970 also led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (or EPA), which is charged with implementing and enforcing the standards and requirements of the legislation. Finally in 1990, when the Clean Air Act is significantly further strengthened with regulations for air quality standards, vehicle emissions, acid deposition, ozone depletion and toxic air pollution. It also increased the responsibility and authority of the federal government regarding these new standards. 231
In China, various measures to control air pollution were implemented. For example, China's efforts and achievements with regard to air pollution control and emissions reduction have been laudable. The 5-year national development plan, first introduced in 2006, called for: (i) reducing the energy-intensity of production by 20 %; (ii) reduction of SO2 emissions by 10 %; (iii) reduction of CO2 discharge by 10 %; (iv) achieving a sewage treatment rate of no less than 70 %; and (v) reaching a waste utilization rate of over 60 %. In addition, China adopted a National Climate Change Plan in 2007 that set quantitative targets, including: (i) sourcing 10 % of its energy from renewable resources; (ii) controlling methane emissions from paddy rice and animals; (iii) stabilizing levels of N2O; and (iv) increasing carbon sequestration to 50 million tons by 2010. China‘s control of air pollution programme is aimed at promoting research and development, public awareness and cross-border technological cooperation. In the area of trade, China introduced a 5-25 % export tariff on high energy and pollution intensive products in 2007. China also wants to categorize environmental goods based on their contribution to improving the indoor, local and regional, and the global environments. In Malaysia, for example, the Malaysian Department of Environment (DOE) is responsible for passing the Environment Quality Act 1974 in developing and implementing a modern air pollution control policy (http://www.doe.gov.my/portalv1/en/tentang-jas/pengenalan/perkhidmatan-teras Accessed 25 Aug 2015). The main function of the DOE is to prevent, eliminate, control pollution and improve the environment, consistent with the purposes of the Environmental Quality Act 1974 and the regulations there under DOE is also responsible for the implementation of the resolutions decided by the conventions of the international environment such as Vienna Convention for the protection of the Ozone Layer 1985, Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer, 1987, the Basel Convention on the Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Waste and Their Disposal Act 1989 and other areas while the success of programs of bilateral cooperation and multilateral cooperation between Indonesia, Singapore and other ASEAN countries on environmental management. In terms of exhaust emission ceilings for vehicles and industry, DOE enforces such limits via the EQA 1974. Monitoring compliance with these limits are conducted together with the Road Transport Department. For cities in Malaysia which have a large number of autombilies, improving fuel quality is especially important, since this is the only way to meet modern exhaust emission standards for new vehicles and reduce emissions from old vehicles. Improving the quality of data on the causes and consequences of air pollution (air monitoring network, emission register, health studies) gives the authorities an effective basis for environmental policy decisions, while at the same time creating transparency for the public. At the municipal level, local public transport and non-motorised transport are promoted. The Light Rail Tarnsit (LRT) system appears well developed in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur and is expanding. However, it has not taken off in other cities. The development of environmentally sensitive urban transport is explained in workshops for industry, media and universities. In addition, environmental communication and intensive information campaigns for project activities raise the awareness of broad segments of the population about the importance of the environment. Activities at the international level include promotion of the Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities and private sector technology transfer between Malaysia and Europe. At the local level, anybody can take steps to reduce air pollution. Millions of people every day make simple changes in their lives to do this. Taking public transportation instead of driving a car, or riding a bike instead of traveling in carbon dioxide-emitting vehicles are a couple of ways to reduce air pollution. Avoiding aerosol cans, recycling yard trimmings instead of burning them, and not smoking cigarettes are others. A national recycling campaign can also raise awareness and commitment towards controlling air pollution. People can also buy green products that do not contribute to air pollution. Increasing awareness and education on air pollution and its deadly effects are probably the two most important tool to curb air pollution. Most people in developing countries are either not aware or are too pre-occupied with earning a living and putting food on the table rather than worry about air pollution. For example, a local study in George Town, Penang shows that the vast majority of Penangites are not aware of air pollution and climate change, and have little commitment to do anything ion these matters (Chan, 2006). 232
The cleanest cities in the world are those that have adopted sustainable development policies and are now committed towards achieving all the 17 SDGs. For example, Calgary (Canada) is considered to be the world‘s cleanest city (http://www.scgh.com/featured/green-news/the-cleanest-and-the-most-pollutedcities/ Accessed 12 Aug 2016). This is all too remarkable given the fact that there is a large oil and gas industry in Calgary. The city has a well-planned out, grid-like structure that reduces traffic congestion which generates a lot of pollutants. The city also maximizes light rail transportation, and transfer stations that sort through garbage and take out biodegradable and recyclable materials. Another clean city is Honolulu (USA) which also has a light manufacturing industry, but its transit system is efficient and it has dedicated bus lanes. The city promotes bus travel and discourages the use of private-owned cars (like Singapore). All these have helped to reduce traffic and exhausts fumes. The city of Helsinki (Finland) is a fairly large city with more than 500,000 inhabitants, but it has the feel of a much smaller city because of its light rail commuter system. City residents also take pride in their city and are committed to make sure their city stays clean. Helsinki streets are wide, less prone to traffic congestion and this helps to reduces air pollution from automobiles. Another clean air city is Oslo (Norway), often considered one of the cleanest cities in the world. This is because city managers are innovative and committed towards finding ways to be green. Starting in 2010, city officials have introduced buses that are run on fuels taken from human waste, and the city plans to ultimately provide enough such energy for all of the city‘s 400 buses. The city of Stockholm (Sweden) also has a renowned transportation system that reduces traffic and air pollution related to exhaust fumes from vehicles. City folks take pride in their city as having much of its economic growth based on businesses that do not harm the environment. The city also has the largest percentage of clean vehicles in Europe whereby about 5 % of all vehicles in the city are hybrids. Conclusion In conclusion, air pollution is everywhere, and more so in crowded cities. Anthropogenic activities also generate air pollution either directly or indirectly. However, air pollution needs to be controlled if our cities are to be livable. Air pollution costs lives as well as costs on healthcare and business losses. Air pollution management is vital in cities as it aims to reduce significantly all forms of airborne pollutants. Air pollution should also aim to control physical and to a certain extent, biological agents whose presence in the atmosphere can cause adverse effects on human health (e.g. irritation, increase of incidence or prevalence of respiratory diseases, morbidity, cancer, excess mortality). Air pollution can also cause sensory effects and the reduction of visibility, as well as damage to materials of economic value (e.g. heritage buildings and statues) and cause damage to the environment (e.g. climate change). Air pollution can cause serious hazards associated with radioactive pollutants. Hence, special procedures are required for their control and disposal. The importance of efficient management of outdoor and indoor air pollution cannot be overemphasized. Unless there is adequate control, the multiplication of pollution sources in cities may lead to irreparable damage to the urban environment and society. There are many success stories of cities that have addressed the problem of air pollution vis-a-vis energy efficieny and public transportation that others can follow. However, it should be noted that indoor air pollution (in particular, in developing countries) might play an even larger role than outdoor air pollution due to the observation that indoor air pollutant concentrations are often substantially higher than outdoor concentrations. Air pollution management should include the consideration of other factors (such as climate, topography and meteorology, resources available, and community and government participation) to be integrated into a comprehensive management programme. Air pollution management must be holistically implemented as it requires a multidisciplinary approach as well as a joint effort by private and governmental entities. Acknowledgements: The authors would like to acknowledge the funding from research grants by Universiti Tun Hussein Onn and Universiti Sains Malaysia under the research project titled Enhancing Performance in Malaysia Local Governments Towards Sustainable Development Focusing on Knowledge Transfer Practices Framework. Research Acculturation Collaborative Effort (RACE) Phase 3/2015. Account Number 1001/PHUMANITI/AUPRM00531. 233
Questions for Discussion 1. What are the major sources of air pollution in your city? How can your city take steps to control air pollution? 2. How can your city find finances to fund air pollution control other than government funds? 3. How can city folks do their part in helping to reduce air pollution in their cities? References Carson, R. (1962) Silent Spring. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company. Chan, N.W. (2006) USM-CETDEM Climate Change Survey. Healthy Campus Series. Penang: Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia. Heil, A. and Goldammer, J.G. (2001) Smoke-haze pollution: a review of the 1997 episode in Southeast Asia. Reg Environ Change (2001) 2(24-37) http://education.nationalgeographic.com/encyclopedia/air-pollution/ (Accessed 25 Aug 2015) http://rainforests.mongabay.com/08indo_fires.htm (Accessed 25 Aug 2015). http://www.scgh.com/featured/green-news/the-cleanest-and-the-most-polluted-cities/ (Accessed 12 Aug 2016). http://www.doe.gov.my/portalv1/en/tentang-jas/pengenalan/perkhidmatan-teras (Accessed 25 Aug 2015). https://www.mojahedin.org/newsen/47056/Iran%E2%80%99s-Zabol-world%E2%80%99s-most-pollutedcity (Accessed 12 Aug 2016). http://www.stateoftheair.org/2011/city-rankings/most-polluted-cities.html (Accessed 25 Aug 2015). Joshi, M. (2016) Half of world‘s 20 most polluted cities in India, Delhi in 11 th position, Hindustani Times, New Delhi, June 4, 2016 (http://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi/four-out-of-top-five-pollutedcities-are-in-india-delhi-not-among-them/story-Gn2htcLbESB3BpeYJ4mY8K.html Accessed 12 Aug 2016). Reilly, J.J., Silverman, E.K. and Shapiro, S.D. (2011). "Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease". In Longo, Dan; Fauci, Anthony; Kasper, Dennis; Hauser, Stephen; Jameson, J.; Loscalzo, Joseph. Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine (18th ed.). McGraw Hill, 2151–9. Ramsey, L. (2016) About 80% of all cities have worse air quality than what‘s considered healthy — here are the 15 with the worst air pollution. Science, May 13, 2016, 5:33 AM (http://www.businessinsider.my/the-cities-with-the-worlds-worst-air-pollution-who-20165/#I3i8Lc4E2OlRyo1a.99 Accessed 12 Aug 2016). Silva, R.A., West, J.J., Zhang, Y.., Anenberg, S.C., Lamarque, J.F., Shindell, D.T., Collins,W.J., Dalsoren, S., Faluvegi, G. and Folberth, G. (2013) Global premature mortality due to anthropogenic outdoor air pollution and the contribution of past climate change. Environmental Research Letters, Vol 8 (3) (http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/8/3/034005/article Accessed 25 Aug 2015). @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ 234
CHAPTER 36
BIODIVERSITY
Anisah Lee Abdullah There is no grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved. DARWIN, On the Origin of Species (first edition, 1859) Introduction Our generations are born into a world of evolving or rather advancing technology. In general we simply can‘t fathom living without it. Technology is a big help but by itself is never a problem but the human mind. Imagine….no television, no radio, no internet, no gadget. However, set before us is something enormously greater: nature unexplored with all its grandeur, a vast realm of biological diversity. The diversity of organisms, ―biodiversity‖, is a term coined and popularized by Edward Osbourne Wilson in 1988 (Wilson & Peter, 1988). Generally biodiversity is understood as the degree of variation of life forms within a given species, ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. It‘s a measure of the health of ecosystems and is in part a function of climate. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN, 1982) defines biodiversity as: the variability among living organisms from all sources including terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems, and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species, and of ecosystems. Tor-Björn (2001) stated that biologists most often define biodiversity as the totality of genes, species, and ecosystems of a region. An advantage of these two definitions are that it seems to describe most circumstances and presents a unified view of the traditional three levels at which biological variety has been identified, which are: i.
ii.
iii.
Species diversity, which refers to the effective number of different species that are represented in a collection of individuals. This level of diversity consists of two components, species richness (a simple count of species) and species evenness (quantifies how equal the abundances of the species are) that sustains ecosystem equilibriums; Genetic diversity that refers to the total number of genetic characteristics in the genetic makeup or ‗genetic pool‘ of the population of a species. This level of diversity serves as a way for populations to adapt to changing environments through the possessions of variations in alleles that are suited for the environment; and Ecosystem diversity which refers to the diversity of a place at the level of ecosystems. It can also refer to the variety of ecosystems present in a biosphere, the variety of species and ecological processes that occur in different physical settings. Its robust performances are crucial for the mix of life‘s essentials.
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Recently, the United Nations designated 2011-2020 as the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity (Resolution 65/161) which serves to support and promote implementation of the objectives of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity and the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, with the goal of significantly reducing biodiversity loss. Throughout the UN Decade on Biodiversity, governments are encouraged to develop, implement and communicate the results of national strategies for implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity. It also seeks to promote the involvement of a variety of national and intergovernmental actors and other stakeholders in the goal of mainstreaming biodiversity into broader development planning and economic activities. The aim will be to place special focus on supporting actions that address the underlying causes of biodiversity loss, including production and consumption patterns (CBD, 2010; 2011) Diversity of living organisms, i.e. biota, depends highly amongst other factors on temperature, humidity, precipitation, soil nutrients, altitude, geography and latitude; meaning biodiversity is not distributed evenly around the globe. The spatial distribution of organisms (biogeography) differs for terrestrial, coastal and marine regions. An example of coral diversity spatial distribution is shown in Figure 36.1.
Figure 36.1: Biodiversity of reef building corals, showing the location of the Coral Triangle (> 500 species in each ecoregion: Veron et al. unpubl. data). Colours indicate total species richness per ecoregion (Source: Veron, 1993; Veron & Smith, 2000; TNC, 2008)
What are the threats? According to IUCN (2011), there are five main threats to our global biodiversity: (1) Habitat loss and degradation, (2) Introductions of Invasive Alien Species, (3) Over-exploitation of natural resources, (4) Pollution and diseases, and (5) Human-induced climate change. E. O. Wilson (1988) categorizes the main threats or causes of species extinction in order of magnitude of impact on biodiversity in the acronym HIPPO: Habitat destruction, Invasive species, Pollution, human over-Population, Overharvesting by hunting and fishing. These threats, if not mitigated, will result in shrinking our biodiversity, which in turn will cause significant human problems: economic cost of lost biodiversity, reduced food security, increased contact with disease, more unpredictable weather, loss of livelihoods and losing sight of nature (Figure 36.2). Other than natural causes and processes, most human activities by and large will ultimately impact on the human themselves. If we examine in detail all the threats to biodiversity listed in various reliable sources, we will find that the humans are themselves the source of it all. The question now lies in how we can intensify our efforts to make people aware of the crucial importance of biodiversity and take necessary actions as we are approaching the ‗tipping point‘.
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Figure 36.2: Cause and effect of shrinking biodiversity (Source: Abdullah, 2011, unpubl. data) Figure 36.3 shows part of a 2005 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment reports on ‗Biodiversity and Human Well-being‘ illustrating the relationship between biodiversity, ecosystem services, human well-being, and poverty. The illustration shows areas where conservation strategies, planning, and intervention can alter the drivers of change from local, regional, to global scales. From 1950 to 2011, world population increased from 2.5 billion to 7 billion and is forecast to reach a plateau of more than 9 billion during the 21st century. Based on information from World Population Data Sheet 2012, world population grew to 7.06 billion in mid-2012 after having passed the 7 billion mark in 2011 and developing countries accounted for 97% of this growth. This coupled with the fact that most developing countries are in Asia which is also mostly tropical and subtropical regions where biodiversity is the highest, the massive growth in the world‘s human population through the 20th century will have more impact on its biodiversity than any other single factor. The magnitude of environmental threats, increasing human population on an exponential trend and environmental crisis levels induced from shrinking biodiversity is shown in Figure 36.4. Importance of biodiversity and what is its worth To list on the importance of biodiversity is endless. However, its indispensable fundamentality lies with the knowledge that it induces the rich state of equilibrium in nature, regulates natural physical processes within the earth‘s system and it provides ecosystem services like clean air, clean filtered water, absorbs CO2 and releases by product of O2. Biodiversity preserves large natural genetic pools essential for significant variations of genetic blueprints in individuals of a population for greater chance of surviving and flourishing. At the same time it reduces incidence of unfavourable inherited traits and genetic flaws leading to inbreeding. Biodiversity naturally provides shelter and diversity of food sources and medicinal products. It exudes cultural and aesthetic values, economic resources such as ecotourism, and it‘s an invaluable treasure chest of scientific knowledge and discovery.
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One of the biggest challenges in inculcating awareness is the method of dissemination the importance of biodiversity to the present society and to instill the essentiality of its existence to the minds of younger, fresher generations. Another way of inculcating awareness on biodiversity is to assign monetary values to parts of nature or on target groups of biodiversity. This puts forward the question of what it is worth.
Figure 36.3: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment reports on Biodiversity and human well-being illustrating the relationship between biodiversity, ecosystem services, human well-being, and poverty. It shows areas where conservation strategies, planning, and intervention can alter the drivers of change from local, regional, to global scales. (Source: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005)
Figure 36.4: Magnitude of environmental threats, increasing human population and environmental crisis levels induced from shrinking biodiversity (Source: Abdullah, 2011, unpubl. data) 238
It may sound a far-fetched concept but placing monetary value on biodiversity or the environment is not new. In this environmental auditing process, calculations on the economic value will entail mainly cost and effect of having and not having the target biodiversity. More often than not, human minds are capable of perceiving monetary values rather than intrinsic ones. The Department of Environment for the Australian Government in its report in 2001 stated: The economic value of biodiversity conservation is calculated based on a comprehensive identification of the environmental and social value of ecosystem services as well as the commercial value of activities such as sustainable harvesting. An example of factors involved in the calculation of an economic value of biodiversity is given in Box 36.1. Box 36.1 Calculation of economic value of biodiversity The economic value of biodiversity can be calculated by taking into account factors such as: the full cost of restoring native ecosystems and managed production systems and of implementing threat abatement plans and threatened species recovery plans; the market value of purchasing insurance against a planned activity causing unforeseen damage to biodiversity and requiring conservation actions such as habitat restoration and the recovery of species and ecological communities; the contingent value of biodiversity based on the loss to society from species extinction and irreparable loss of native ecosystem health and complexity; the farm gate or harvest site value of products such as fish, timber, kangaroos, cut flowers and fire wood obtained from native ecosystems; that portion of the market value of products – including cattle, sheep, timber and agricultural produce – obtained from managed production systems that can be attributed to biodiversity services such as pollination and the maintenance of soil fertility and water quality; that portion of entry fees to managed conservation areas, the wages of tour guides, the cost of accommodation and other expenses that people engaged in tourist activities and recreation are prepared to pay that can be attributed to the desire to visit places with biodiversity appeal such as unique wildlife, rich native ecosystems and beautiful landscapes; that portion of the commercialisation value of products-obtained from conventional breeding and biotechnology applications that can be attributed to the genetic material obtained from native biodiversity and from cultivars produced by farmers and traditional societies; the cost of alternative delivery mechanisms for ecosystem services, for example: water-carrying and water-purifying plants; mechanical removal of excessive sediment deposited in waterways; human interventions to reduce soil erosion; engineering works to reduce floods and ameliorate river salinity; pollination by introduced bees in managed hives; application of fertilisers in place of impeded nutrient cycling; application of pesticides in place of control by native predators; and production of timber in plantations and fish by mariculture; financial loss from: avoidable flood damage; the corrosive effect of increasing land and water salinity on roads, pipes, building foundations and domestic hot water systems; and declining productivity following ecosystem degradation as a result of, for example, invasion by weeds and ferals, soil erosion, dryland salinity, soil acidification, toxic algal blooms and pollution.
Source: Department of Environment, Australian Government, 2001.
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Examples of successful practices and good efforts at local, regional and global scale One way which had been proven effective and successful since 2 decades ago on instilling the value of natural products within Malaysia was the planting of teak, Tectona grandis, a tropical hardwood tree species, along the highways. Teak plantations are also found in Sabah, Malaysia. (Zakaria & Lokmal, 1995). Teak timber is valued for its durability and water resistance, and is used for boat building, exterior construction, veneer, furniture, carving, turnings, and other small wood projects. This replanting method had greatly reduced the felling of teaks in its natural environment whilst preserving the habitats of other dependent species. An example of regional-global effort in conservation of biodiversity is the setting up of Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security (CTI-CFF) in 2007 by six Coral Triangle governments (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and TimorLeste) also known as CT6. CTI-CFF acknowledges and recognizes the importance of the world‘s marine life hotspot along with the increasing threats and possible environmental, ecological, social and economic consequences. The CT6 has agreed to support people-centered biodiversity conservation, sustainable development, poverty reduction and equitable benefit sharing. The CTI-CFF seeks to address both poverty reduction through economic development, food security, sustainable livelihoods for coastal communities and biodiversity conservation through the protection of species, habitats and ecosystems (CTI-CFF, 2009). Within the Southeast Asia region, there are nearly 600 Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) covering 17 percent of the region‘s reefs. However, only 3% of the region‘s marine protected reefs are rated based on an effectiveness level using 3-point score as effectively managed. Malaysian MPAs, the larger and known ones are unfortunately not effectively managed, whilst the smaller ones are unrated. Malaysia has 17 MPAs and since the establishment of CTI-CFF in 2007 and being one of the members of the CT6, with the support of WWF-Malaysia and Coral Triangle Support Partnership (CTSP), the government is establishing the Tun Mustapha Park, which will be one of the largest Marine Protected Areas in Southeast Asia under CTI. This MPA spans one million hectares. By supporting work that delivers the CTI-CFF Malaysian National Plan of Action, CTSP helps the government address the greatest threats and challenges to Malaysia‘s coastal resources. WWF-Malaysia works with the government to introduce more sustainable fishing methods on local and national levels. An essential part of this process involves fishers and local merchants, as their ideas will help develop policies that address a realistic and unified vision for Malaysia‘s marine biodiversity resources (CTI, 2009). Malaysia‘s involvement in the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (UN-CBD) which also recognizes the CTI-CFF efforts had sparked off several intensive researches and monitoring projects to identify and increase acreage of coral reefs within its waters (Abdullah et al., 2011). Increasing degree of public awareness on the values of coral reefs had made several projects possible including the water quality status of our coastal-marine environment (Abdullah et al., 2014, Nurbaidura et al., 2015). However, more efforts are inevitable to project a more solid standing of public understanding where preservation and conservation of biodiversity is concerned. It is of absolute essentiality that we relate biodiversity, having understood its importance, to ecosystem health, services and food chains, urban planning and public health, economic growth, welfare, infrastructure and education. As schematically laid out in Figs. 2-4, the consequence of not protecting biodiversity will eventually affect us, the humans. Conclusion Many developed countries have a mindset of what they believed to be a high standard of living but usually at an enormous cost to our nature, the biodiversity. Amidst the awareness of the importance of biodiversity in our lives, there are societies turning a blind eye over the cost of destruction for the sake of 240
lifestyles, thus, injecting bigger footprints or merely shifting amongst footprints on our finite earth resources which in turn have enormous effect on biodiversity itself. We need to understand that if we have to disappear from the surface of this earth, nature with all what‘s left of its biodiversity will regenerate and evolve at its own pace to reach a state of equilibrium, with its richness much like it used to be tens of thousands of years ago. However, if an important species were to vanish, our world will collapse into chaos within months. We need to preserve every single bit, every single scrap of biodiversity as precious irreplaceable items in order to learn and understand what each of them means, their roles and how they benefit humankind, simply because our life depends on them. Questions for Discussion 1. ―How important is Biodiversity conservation in your city? How can your city take steps to conserve its Biodiversity?‖ 2. How can your city find finances to fund Biodiversity conservation other than government funds? References Abdullah, A.L. 2011. Biogeography. (Unpublished notes). Abdullah, A.L., M. Juliana & Z. Yasin, 2011. Incorporating Hydroacoustic Signal Classification Technique for Effective Application to Limits of Acceptable Change Framework for Natural Heritage Conservation at Pulau Payar Marine Park. Malaysian Journal of Environmental Management (MJEM), 2011, Vol. 12(1): 23-37. (Special Issue) Abdullah, A.L., H.S. Lim, Z. Yasin & N. M. Razalli, 2014. Classification of chlorophyll-a concentrations in surface waters of Songsong Group of Islands using an optically-derived remote sensing model. ASM Sc.J., Vol. 8(1), 2014: 44-53. Akademi Sains Malaysia Science Journal (ASM Science Journal)/Academy of Sciences Malaysia CBD, Convention on Biological Diversity, 2010. The Strategic Plan for the CBD (press brief). CBD, Convention on Biological Diversity, 2011. UN Decade on Biodiversity http://www.cbd.int/2011-2020/
website
CTI-CFF, 2009. Malaysia: Draft National Plan of Action. October 2009. Publ. Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation. 73 pp. Department of Environment, Australian Government, 2001. Biodiversity conservation research: Australia's priorities. Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council and Biological Diversity Advisory Committee. Commonwealth of Australia, 2001. ISBN 0 6425 4742 4. Retrieved 2015-08-11 http://www.environment.gov.au/node/14374 IUCN, International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, 1982. International Year of Biodiversity. Website: http://www.iucn.org IUCN, International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, 2011. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ – Regional Assessment. Publ. IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation. 61pp.
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MEA, Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005. Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Biodiversity Synthesis. World Resources Institute, Washington, DC. Nurbaidura S., M. Badaruddin & A.L. Abdullah, 2015. An Evaluation of Snorkeling Satisfaction At Pulau Payar Marine Park, Kedah, Malaysia. Advances in Environmental Biology, 9(3) February 2015, Pages: 35-38. Advances in Environmental Biology/ISSN-1995-0756 EISSN-1998-1066/AENSI Journals. TNC, The Nature Conservancy, 2008. Coral Triangle Facts, Figures, and Calculations: Part II: Patterns Of Biodiversity And Endemism. Dec 16, 2008. 6 P. Tor-Björn Larsson, 2001. Biodiversity evaluation tools for European forests. Wiley-Blackwell. p.178. ISBN 978-87-16-16434-6 . Retrieved 2015-08-10 Veron, J.E.N. and M. Smith , 2000. Corals of the world, Volume 2. Publ. Australian Institute of Marine Science, 2000. 489 pp. Veron, J.E.N., 1993. Corals of Australia and the Indo-Pacific. University of Hawaii Press; 2nd edition (March 1, 1993). ISBN-13: 978-0824815042. 656 pp. Wilson, E.O. & F.M. Peter (eds), 1988. Biodiversity, National Academy. ISBN 0-309-03783-2; ISBN 0309-03739-5 online edition Zakaria, I & N. Lokmal, 1995. Teak in Malaysia. Teak for the Future - Proceedings of the Second Regional Seminar on Teak. RAP PUBLICATION: 1998/5. TEAKNET Publication: No. 1, 29 May - 3 June 1995, Yangon, Myanmar In: FAO Corporate DOCUMENT Repository. http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/ac773e/ac773e0f.htm (Accessed 12 Aug 2016). @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
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CHAPTER 37
EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Asyirah Abdul Rahim Introduction Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) refers to the provision of education and learning opportunities to enhance learners‘ abilities to effectively understand and participate in the pursuit of sustainable development, without which the transition towards sustainability will be difficult to achieve. Recognition of the importance of ESD was brought to the global stage by the 2002 declaration of the United Nations General Assembly calling for 2005 to 2014 to be marked as the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) (http://www.desd.org/ Accessed 17 Aug 2016). UNESCO defines ESD as: - Education that enables people to foresee, face up and solve the problems that threaten life on our planet - It also means education that disseminates the values and principles that are the basis of sustainable development (intergenerational equity, gender parity, social tolerance, poverty reduction, environmental protection and restoration, natural resource conservation, and just and peaceful societies). - Lastly, it means education that highlights the complexity and interdependence of three spheres, the environment, society – broadly defined to include culture – and the economy (http://portal.unesco.org/geography/en/ev.phpURL_ID=14132&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html Accessed 15 Aug 2016). ESD promotes sustainable development through its four thrusts, namely (IGES, 2012): 1) Promote and improving the quality of education: the aim will be to refocus lifelong education on the acquisition of knowledge, skills and values needed by citizens to improve their quality of life. 2) Reorienting the Curricula: from pre-school to university, education must be rethought and reformed to be a vehicle of knowledge, thought patterns and values needed to build a sustainable world. 3) Raise public awareness of the Concept of Sustainable Development: raising awareness will make it possible to develop enlightened, active and responsible citizenship locally, nationally and internationally. 4) Educate the Employed: Continuing technical and vocational education of directors and workers, particularly those in trade and industry, will be enriched to enable them to adopt sustainable modes of production and consumption. According to IGES (2013) (http://www.irf2015.org/sites/default/files/publications/IGES%20%20education%20and%20SDGsIssueBrief_no2_web.pdf Accessed 15 Aug 2016) with regard to scale, ESD is relevant for implementation across scale at the local, national, regional, international and at the interplay between these different levels. Local ESD is practiced because increasing numbers of communities are faced by several challenges including natural resources deterioration, climate change, population growth or shrinkage in urban and rural areas respectively, cultural transitions and many other issues facing mankind. ESD in Schools Schools and other learning institutions such as colleges and higher education institutions provide good platform for ESD. Formal intervention requires changes in the school curricula and might take a long 243
time but is the best way to ensure sustainable development agenda is incorporated and taught to the younger generations. Informal and non-formal educations are other activities and programs that we conduct outside the curriculum. These approaches are faster but usually conducted as project based and not continuous (Figure 37.1). Enhancing Sustainable Lifestyle in Universiti Sains Malaysia and Its Neighbouring Communities was a project conducted by the Centre for Global Sustainability Studies. The project aims to promote sustainable lifestyle through the concept of inside out, bringing the practices and expertise from the university to the neighbouring communities. Among the practices promoted were recycling and garden composting. Students and lecturers from university partner with schools and community to teach and practice recycling and composting. The project focus on consumption issues (for recycling) and ecosystem functions and processes (garden composting). Group discussion, presentation, word puzzles, games and demonstration were used (Figure 37.2).
Figure 37.1: Students work in groups to discuss and propose solutions to create awareness about recycling in their community and later presented and share their thoughts with other students and teachers (source: CGSS, 2012)
Figure 37.2: Group of students took part in demonstration and hands on activities on garden composting. Explaination on the materials, processes involved and the end product of garden compost were explained by the ESD facilitators (source: CGSS, 2012) 244
ESD at the local level requires participation and cooperation from various groups (stakeholders) to be successful. Relevant issues and needs of the communities must be understood and integrated in the pedagogy of the ESD programs to ensure outcome of ESD are achieved. In the recycling program described above, different activities were conducted at the primary (games, puzzles, songs) and secondary schools (group discussion and presentation). Education for the Public Educating the public on sustainability issues can be in many forms such as awareness campaigns, educational centres, information boards, flyers, webpages and other media. Educational centres managed by government agencies and non-governmental organizations are among the main providers of ESD for the public. These educational centres are usually focused on certain themes depending on the scope of the agencies/ institutions. Larut Matang Mangrove Forest Eco Education Centre is managed by the Perak State Department of Forestry. This centre is situated in the Larut Matang Mangrove Forest Reserve (Figure 37.3). This forest reserve covers more than 40,000 hectares and has been designated as Permanent Forest Reserve since 1906 (Figure 37.4). This area is among the most productive ecosystems in the world and provides benefits to local residents such as returns from fish and shrimp catching, cockle rearing, timber harvesting and other non-timber products. The mangrove also contributes to the landing of prawns at nearby, adjacent states (Figure 37.5).
Figure 37.3: Staff from the Department of Forestry explaining about the wetland ecosystem and the importance of wetlands ecosystem services to visitors at The Kuala Sepetang Mangrove Forest Education Centre.
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Figure 37.4: Public visitors of the mangrove forest education centre are given briefing and tour of the wetland. This picture shows the staff from the Department of Forestery explaining about biological diversity and special characteristics of wetland plants.
Figure 37.5: The picture above shows visitors planting seedlings as part of the education on wetlands. Learning by doing or hands on increases learning experience about biodiversity and ecosystem proceses. In addition, the activities are fun to do with family and friends. Urban parks, dam and natural ecosystems such as rivers and forests in the city and urban areas can also be used for ESD. Non-governmental organizations such as Water Watch Penang conducted many of their activities on river and water awareness programs in Sg Pinang tributary and the Teluk Bahang dam. Taman Perbandaran Pulau Pinang or the Penang Municipal Park (also known as Youth Park) has much potential for ESD especially related to local herbal plants, ornamental plants and biodiversity. Conclusion Education is the key towards sustainability in all areas. To improved understanding and practice of sustainable urban planning, development and management, it is necessary for practitioners and students to study and research on the existing and potential knowledge in the field of education for sustainable urban development, sustainable urban planning, sustainable urban management, sustainable urban governance and other related urban fields. Education provides the fundamental knowledge and basics of sustainable urban development and management. Education for the sake of education would be meaningless if not translated into something useful or beneficial to humankind. In terms of urban environmental 246
management, education and knowledge gained should be used for the sustainable urban development with a goal towards achieving sustainability. Education for Sustainable Development allows every human being to acquire the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values necessary to shape a sustainable future. Education for Sustainable Development means including key sustainable development issues into teaching and learning; for example, climate change, disaster risk reduction, biodiversity, poverty reduction, and sustainable consumption. It also requires participatory teaching and learning methods that motivate and empower learners to change their behaviour and take action for sustainable development. Education for Sustainable Development consequently promotes competencies like critical thinking, imagining future scenarios and making decisions in a collaborative way (http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-international-agenda/education-forsustainable-development/ Accessed 25 Aug 2015). Questions for Discussion 1. What knowledge or skills related to sustainability issue do you have and want to share with your colleagues/ communities? 2. Can you describe a practical way that you or your group can do to share this knowledge/ skill? Do you need help or cooperation from others to do this (who and why)? References CGSS, 2012 (http://cgss.usm.my Accessed 25 Aug 2015). http://portal.unesco.org/geography/en/ev.phpURL_ID=14132&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html (Accessed 15 Aug 2016). http://www.desd.org/ (Accessed 17 Aug 2016). http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-international-agenda/education-forsustainable-development/ (Accessed 25 Aug 2015). IGES (2013) (http://www.irf2015.org/sites/default/files/publications/IGES%20%20education%20and%20SDGsIssueBrief_no2_web.pdf Accessed 15 Aug 2016) @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
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CHAPTER 38
RIVERS AND CITIES
Ngai Weng Chan, Masazumi Ao, Nor Azazi Zakaria, Aminuddin Ab Ghani and Zullyadini A Rahaman Introduction Rivers are the ―cradles of civilisation‖ and are the ―Live Veins‖ of a country providing water resources, power generation, fisheries and other food, navigation, tourism and many other benefits to humankind (Chan, 2002). Most capital cities of countries in the world are located on rivers. These include Beijing (Yellow River), Kuala Lumpur (Kelang River), London (River Thames), Canberra (River Molonglo), Kabul (River Kabul), Buenos Aries (River Plate), Paris (River Seine), Budapest (River Danube), Rome (River Tiber), Baghdad (River Tigris), New Delhi (River Yamuna), Jakarta (River Ciliwung), Tokyo (River Sumida), Nairobi (River Nairobi), Vientianne (River Mekong), Mandalay (River Irrawaddy), Amsterdam (River Amstel), Manila (River Pasig), Singapore (The Singapore River), Seoul (The Han River), Khartoum (River Nile), Bangkok (River Chao Phraya), Washington DC (River Potomac), Hanoi (The Red River), and so on (Table 38.1). This is not surprising as rivers are historically the cradles of civilisation as major civilisations have first started on river banks, estuaries and flood plains. Chan (2005), found that rivers have a prominent place in human society as it is at the banks, confluence, estuaries and floodplains of major rivers that many great civilisations have emerged. Through the lens of time, the world‘s major rivers have survived and continue to prosper, witnessing the rise and fall of great civilisations on their banks. The most famous is perhaps is the ancient city of Babylon which is located about 100 kilometers south of Baghdad in modern-day Iraq. This city served for nearly two millennia as a center of Mesopotamian civilization. Amongst other reasons, one of the main reasons for its rise was its location near two great rivers on the fertile plain between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The city was built upon the Euphrates and divided in equal parts along its left and right banks, with steep embankments to contain the river's seasonal floods. Babylon was originally a small city dating from the period of the Akkadian Empire c. 2300 BC. It has been estimated that Babylon was the largest city in the world from c. 1770 to 1670 BC, and again between c. 612 and 320 BC. It was perhaps the first city to reach a population above 200,000 (Chandler, 1987). In ancient Mesopotamia, the Babylonians worshipped the Euphrates and the Tigris as gods, both with practical value (irrigation and water resources) as well as their spiritual role (Ponting, 1991). Today, however, Babylon is a site in peril located within a war-torn region impacted by modern-day wars and in need of extensive conservation and archaeological work. Elsewhere in Egypt, historical records indicate that not only do Egyptians worship the Nile but they also worship Hapi, the presiding spirit of the Nile (Butzer, 1976). In India, the Ganga River is sacred so much so that pilgrims make pilgrimages there to cleanse themselves (Das, 2001). In China, the Hwang Ho and Yangtze Rivers are not just the foci of civilisations but also the ―sorrows‖ that bring massive destruction (Zhang et al., 2000). Chan (2002) notes that Malaysia is no different. During historical times, rivers were the hub of life with not only the major settlements lining the banks but rivers also play an important role in the economic and social life of the people (Nik Hassan Suhaimi Nik Abdul Rahman, 1998a and 1998b). Despite their vital importance, humans have largely neglected, abused and mismanaged rivers all over the world. According to Ismail Serageldin, Chairman of the World Commission on Water for the 21st Century, more than one-half of the world's major rivers are being seriously depleted and polluted, degrading and poisoning the surrounding ecosystems, thus threatening the health and livelihood of people who depend upon them for irrigation, drinking, washing, recreation and industrial water (http://www.serageldin.com/CommissionReport.pdf Accessed 13 Aug 2016). All over the world, overuse and misuse of land and water resources in river basins (both in advanced industrial countries and developing countries) is the main reason for the degradation of rivers, contributing to about millions of environmental refugees in 2001. 248
Table 38.1: Major cities located on major rivers in the world. City
Country
River
Baghdad
Iraq
Tigris
Bangkok
Thailand
Chao Phraya
Belgrade
Yugoslavia
Danube, Sava
Berlin
Germany
Spree, Havel
Bogotá
Colombia
Bogotá
Brussels
Belgium
Senne
Budapest
Hungary
Danube
Buenos Aires
Argentina
Río de la Plata
Cairo
Egypt
Nile
Damascus
Syria
Barada
Delhi
India
Yamuna
Ho Chi Minh City
Vietnam
Saigon
Jakarta
Indonesia
Liwung
Kiev
Ukraine
Dnieper
Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia
Kelang
Lisbon
Portugal
Tagus
Lima
Peru
Rímac
London
England
Thames
Madrid
Spain
Manzanares
Melbourne
Australia
Yarra
Montreal
Canada
St. Lawrence
Moscow
Russia
Moskva
Paris
France
Seine
Prague
Czech Republic
Moldau
Rome
Italy
Tiber
Saint Petersburg
Russia
Neva
Santiago
Chile
Mapocho
São Paulo
Brazil
Tietê
Seoul
South Korea
Han
Shanghai
China
Huangpu
Tokyo
Japan
Sumida
Vienna
Austria
Danube
Functions of Rivers For many reasons, rivers are sources of life, providing water supply for the people, irrigation for agriculture, cheap and efficient transportation, rich sources of food, hydro-electric power, and water use for industries. Rivers are also the natural habitats for riverine and aquatic flora and fauna and the river environment supports a rich biodiversity of life forms (Keizrul bin Abdullah and Mohd Fadhillah bin Hj. 249
Mahmood, 1998). In many countries, settlements have historically sprung up along river banks and river estuaries as major agricultural zones are established near rivers. The functions of rivers can be divided into natural and human functions. In terms of its natural functions, its role as a crucial ecosystem linking the land and ocean systems is very important. The river ecosystem and the river‘s ecology perform vital functions of energy transformation and distribution, nutrient transport and turnover, and storage and processing of organic matter. Rivers are basically heterotrophic as a substantial proportion of the biotic energy that drives stream communities is organic matter derived from allochthonous sources. Many aquatic plants, invertebrates, and fishes have adapted to fill a specific niche. Within most rivers, the pattern of flow variation, and its ramifications in terms of substrate stability and water quality, is the dominant factor controlling species distributions (file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/9789401791434-c2.pdf Accessed 14 Aug 2016). Rivers serve as a prominent geological agent as its running water is one of the most pervasive agents of erosion. Combined with the force of gravity, rivers is a natural sculpture of the Earth‘s surface features as myriads of geological and geomorphological landforms are sculptured. Some of the most striking examples of rivers‘ sculptures are the Niagara Falls (Canada and United States) (Photograph 38.1), the Grand Canyon (United States) (Photograph 38.2) and the Three Gorges (China) (Photograph 38.3). These landforms have been carved down by running water through a process that took millions of years. Rivers also play a major role in the transfer of materials from terrestrial (land) environments to the oceans (file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/9789401791434-c2.pdf Accessed 14 Aug 2016). Ponce (Undated) documents that rivers are the most obvious and significant feature of the landscape as they transport water by gravity, from headwaters to ocean. The river‘s natural function in this transportation process is relentless, closing the hydrologic cycle by returning river runoff to the sea. For surface water, the cycle lasts an average of eleven days; that is, globally, the entire amount of surface water is replaced every eleven days. Ponce (Undated) states that rivers provide a source of fresh water that is completely replenishable within a short timeframe. Hence, historically, rivers have been used as sources of fresh water, satisfying the ever increasing thirst of societies, both ancient and contemporary. When there is river and water, civilisations have flourished, but when there is no river and water, there is no civilisation. Or when there is a long period of drought, and rivers run dry, civilisations have collapsed (Ponting, 1991). In dry regions such as semiarid and arid locations, the availability of fresh river water is scarce and water becomes a high value economic good. Another natural function of rivers is that they carry not only liquid water, but also some solids, specifically, suspended solids (sediments) and dissolved solids (mostly salts), as well as nutrients. The natural function of rivers is to carry these solids and nutrients to the ocean (Pillsbury, 1981). Without this transport of nutrients and solids to the oceans, the oceans would be deficient in solids and nutrients, thereby affecting aquatic life. In terms of its human, there are an uncountable number of functions that a river performs. Although the first human function of the river is to provide water resources needed for human survival (e.g. the Muda River in Kedah State, Malaysia provides drinking water for the three states of Kedah, Perlis and Penang), the river‘s water is also needed for agriculture (e.g. the Chao Phraya River in Thailand is vital for irrigation of its paddy farms) and fisheries (e.g the Mekong River provides a rich source of protein in fisheries for many countries in the Mekong River Basin), which provide food for human society. The river‘s other important human functions include locations for settlements and cities (e.g. London is located on the Thames River), as ports for import and export of goods (Montreal is a port located on the St Lawrence river), as a water highway for transportation (e.g. St Lawrence River in Canada), as attractive tourist destinations (e.g. the Cheongyecheon River in Seoul), to provide hydro-electric power (e.g. the Yangtze River in China that straddles the three Gorges Dam), for recreation, for sports, for poetry and literature, and many other functions. In a city, the functions of a river is very important as the river runs through the centre of the city. Often, the river is the centre of attraction in many cities such as London, Paris, Seoul, Bangkok, Vientiane and many others.
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Photograph 38.1: Niagara Falls, carved by the Niagara River, and located in the Canadian city of Toronto is one of the wonders of the world (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niagara_Falls Accessed 14 Aug 2016).
Photograph 38.2: The author at the magnificent Grand Canyon, carved by the Colorado River in the United States
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Photograph 38.3: The Three Gorges on the Yangtze (http://www.yangtzecruisetours.com/yangtze_river/three_gorges.html Accessed 14Aug 2016).
River
Rivers can provide much more than their mere physical functions. For example a group of ambitious and committed people have formed the River//Cities Platform, a partnership between cultural, environmental and political initiatives which work in their cities to interact with and develop their rivers or waterfronts as cultural spaces. This group of people firmly believes that rivers have a very close connection to their cities and they also believe that rivers make people more creative, and that people can also bring their creativity back to the rivers (http://www.river-cities.net/pages/news/RiverCities Accessed 1 Aug 2016). They want their rivers to be exciting, inspiring and unique places, and they firmly believe that people can change their river and vice versa. To the, “Rivers are often regarded as means of transport, or – at best – a space for water sports. But they are also powerful and symbolic icons for connecting people and ideas across regions and national borders. They are the land’s blood system that can both join and sometimes divide people. They are the place that may connect many important fields in the city: environment, architecture, city planning, transport, but also arts, culture, cultural tourism, and education.” River Issues and Challenges Rivers may offer human civilisation an uncountable number of natural and human functions. Unfortunately, however, rivers are in return, mis-managed and abused by humans (Chan, 2012). Often, rivers are treated badly as raw sewers by the general public, industries and businesses who dump all sorts of garbage into them. Rivers are a convenient means of drainage, and are conveniently used for the discharge of domestic, commercial, industrial and agricultural effluents resulting in severe pollution (Keizrul bin Abdullah, 2002). Many developing countries are developing very rapidly over the last three decades or so, and combined with rapid urbanisation, agriculture expansion and industrial intensification, have rapidly transformed the land use from one of mainly forest and food crops to one of estates (cash crops), urban, commercial and industrial estates. Opening of new land, be it for agriculture, logging, housing, industry or other human land uses, has given rise to excessive levels of soil erosion and river sedimentation (Douglas, 2002). These have increased landslides and water pollution hazards manifolds, endangering lives and property (Chan, 2016). All these developments have encroached upon rivers and overstressed river systems. Yet, all over the world, more than half the rivers are badly polluted, degraded, abused and mismanaged to the extent that many are termed ―Dead Rivers‖, making management of rivers is a central issue in this 21st Century. While government has always been traditionally entrusted with the responsibility of managing rivers, increasingly, the public, NGOs, industrialists, farmers, and other stakeholders are playing a greater 252
role. Sustainable management of rivers involves cooperation between government and all stakeholders. Japan has a good history of effective river management. In the Tsurumi River basin, there is good cooperation between government, private sector and civil society in the management of the river basin (http://www.japanriver.or.jp/EnglishDocument/DB/file/004%20Kanto%2023/04.htm Accessed 14 Aug 2016). The world‘s cities should learn from the Japanese experience (Tsurumi River in Tokyo) in river management. For example, in Malaysia, the Pinang River basin in Malaysia is an example of ineffective management due to many reasons. The Pinang River is currently one of the most polluted rivers in Malaysia. Although civil society and NGOs are actively pushing for the conservation and restoration of this river, there is poor cooperation between Federal and State governments, little support from the private sector, lack of funds, public apathy, and most of all lack of stakeholders‘ involvement. The Tsurumi River basin management is a good example of excellent river management that the Pinang River management authorities should learn from in order to ensure sustainable management of this river. This should be the motivation for Penang people to see and enjoy a ―Living Pinang River‖ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKidD5Z4Rug&feature=youtu.be Accessed 14 Aug 2016). Examples of Successful River Management A good example of a successful and effective management of city river is that of the Tsurumi River in Tokyo. This river is a Class One river that flows from its source in Machida City, Tokyo through the Tama Hills, and down into Tokyo Bay at the river mouth in Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama. Rapid urbanization, along with the development of an arterial transportation network, has resulted in the elimination of rice fields and forests that naturally serve to hold rainwater and absorb it into the ground. There has thus been an increase in the amount of surface runoff flowing into the Tsurumi River, increasing the chances of flooding. However, a good cooperation between government, private sector and NGOs has resulted in effective management. The river master plan was effectively studied and drawn up through consultation with stakeholders. In the river master plan, not only is flood management taken care of, but also land use zoning, recreation, education and other aspects. For example, the Tsurumi River Basin Information Center provides information on the entire river basin region (http://www.japanriver.or.jp/EnglishDocument/DB/file/004%20Kanto%2023/04.htm (Accessed 14 Aug 2016) (Photograph 38.4 and Photograph 38.5).
Photograph 38.4: The Tsurumi River in Tokyo (https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/tsurumi-river%E6%A8%AA%E6%B5%9C%E5%B8%82?select=WIfoRZhW2h3bFeK1jYfoVg Accessed 14 Aug 2016).
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Photograph 38.5: The Tsurumi River Basin Information Centre houses many exhibits related to river ecosystem and has many educational tools such as books, video watching, hands-on computer games, live aquatic insects and crustaceans for visitors to enjoy and learn about the river. The Tsurumi River Master Plan is a product of the national government, local governments, and civic groups who have formed a partnership to produce the plan. In this plan, a jointly-managed river basin information center was created, funded by private sector and run by NGO. This centre houses an exhibition area, aquarium, video watching room, classrooms, exchange lounge, and library, and can be used as a venue for exchanging information about the river basin and for local community exchanges, as well as for general study, environmental education, or disaster preparedness education activities. There are many lessons to be learned from the Tsurumi River story. Most importantly, consultation and cooperation between all stakeholders was the key success factor. The agreement on the water master plan was reached through cooperation and discussion among various administrative sectors (river, sewage, water-supply, roads, parks, cities, environment, agriculture, construction, disaster prevention and education), citizens, enterprises and NGOs. Particularly, the Tsurumi River Basin Commission invited public participation and up to present over hundred individuals from the residents of the basin are registered. To implement the Tsurumi River Basin Water Master Plan, which involved the large number of concerned parties as participants, many years (6 years) were needed. To implement action plans steadily, it was important to set short-term targets and to conduct continued reviews of its progress. Monitoring by measurable indicators and the reporting of its results were essential tools for concerned parties to share the effects of the implemented measures (http://www.gwp.org/en/ToolBox/CASE-STUDIES/Asia/151Japan-Tsurumi-River-Basin-WaterMaster-Plan-302/ Accessed 14 Aug 2016). This project is significant in improving river management in the Pinang River basin in order to conserve, revive and restore the river from a ―Dead River‖ to a ―Living River‖. The Tsurumi River basin is an excellent example of a well-managed basin in stakeholders‘ participation, flood control, tourism and recreation, education and biodiversity conservation. The Pinang River would definitely be better managed when some, if not all of the Tsurumi River‘s strategies in river management are followed. This project is significant as the results of the study will be disseminated to the Malaysian government, especially on effective strategies of river management. A good river management model such as the Tsurumi River Model will save lives, protect the river and its environment, generate jobs and income through tourism and economic activities, leading to sustainable development. The Pinang River can follow the Tsurumi
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River model and transform from being a ―Dead‖ river back to a ―Living‖ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKidD5Z4Rug&feature=youtu.be (Accessed 14 Aug 2016).
river
Wang (2014) points out that at the heart of the city of Seoul lies one of the world's greatest urban design projects: the Cheonggyecheon River linear park. This park is described as a green oasis in a concrete jungle, that can reduce the Urban Heat Island effect (see Chapter 34). According to Wang (2014), this inspiring urban renewal success underwent a dramatic transformation from a traffic-choked elevated freeway and concrete paved waterway into a lush, 3.6-mile-long ―day-lit‖ stream corridor that attracts over 60,000 visitors daily. The restoration process has also provided huge boosts to local biodiversity (see Chapter 36) and catalyzed economic development. This park is the city of Seoul's ambitious stream recovery project into a world famous urban park. This river restoration project is completely against logic as three layers of highways had to be broken down to ―free‖ a ―dead‖ river which has long been covered and paved over. In the 1940s, the Cheonggyecheon river had in fact deteriorated into an open sewer and was thus paved over with concrete for sanitation reasons and highways built over it. As it turned out, however, in the early years of the new millennium, a bold mayor by the name of Lee Myung-Bak (who went on to become Korea‘s President later) successfully campaigned on a promise to dismantle the highway and restore the Cheonggyecheon (Photograph 38.6). From 2002 to 2005, the government ripped out the road and replaced it with a restored and planted stream with parallel roadways. The mayor also won support for the project by framing the project as a major flood relief channel and marketing the restoration as a highly visible, sustainable development that would boost Korea‘s image around the world. To alleviate fears of traffic congestion, the government also invested heavily in public transportation, such as a dedicated bus lane. Hence, the Cheonggyecheon River project is not only about river restoration but a multi-purpose project combing transportation, economics, public participation, tourism, flood management, public space and recreation, urban heat island alleviation, and much more (Photograph 38.7). The restoration of flow to the Cheonggyecheon has also created environmental conditions more conducive to wildlife with surveys now recording many more wildlife species in the river right smack in the middle of a bustling city (http://www.globalrestorationnetwork.org/database/case-study/?id=123 Accessed 15 Aug 2016) .The river is now a favourite location for many festivals and performances due to the fact that it is in the centre of a shopping area, and also visited by many tourists.
Photograph 38.6: Left – The Cheongyecheon River was paved over and three layers of freeways were built on top of the river, effectively ―killing‖ it and making it into a sewer and detaching it from the public. Right – After the restoration, the Cheongyecheon River quickly became an international icon in restoration and a favourite tourist destination and a well-used urban recreation spot (http://www.globalrestorationnetwork.org/uploads/files/CaseStudyAttachments/123_seoul-1.jpg Accessed 15 Aug 2016).
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Photograph 38.7: The author visits the Cheongyecheon River every time he is in Seoul (see http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/ATR/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=897540 Accessed 15 Aug 2016). Conclusion This chapter focuses on cities and rivers, emphasizing the importance of rivers for their natural functions to the natural world as well as functions to human society. There are many obstacles to effective management of rivers, resulting in many rivers degrading to a deplorable state, the worse of which is being described as ―dead rivers‖. However, there are also many success stories of effective river management which has restored and revived rivers to a pristine state. The authors have found that the Tsurumi River Management model and the Cheonggyecheon River, both of which involve a very workable multi-stakeholders management model combining the strength of government, the private sector, the NGOs and the public to be highly successful. Japanese Stakeholders of the Tsurumi River were found to be very concerned and committed towards the conservation of the river and to protect people from floods. The most remarkable was the establishment of the Tsurumi River Information Centre which is run by NGOs for education of the public and school students. Likewise, the Cheonggyecheon River management model manifested total commitment from politicians down to the public. Both river management models showed the world how rivers can be managed effectively and when this happens, there are enormous benefits that follow. Rivers, therefore should not be merely looked upon by human society as a physical drainage feature but must be viewed as a vital ecosystem services provider, resources provider and a provider of a countless number of human benefits to society, even in terms of cultural and religious benefits. In contrast, however, the management of many major rivers in developing countries are still largely top-down or government-controlled with very little inputs from the private sector, NGOs or other stakeholders. This has often resulted in poor awareness, neglect and detachment of the public from rivers, leading to poor management and degradation of river systems world-wide. The two rivers from Japan and Korea showed that the world can learn from theses river management models, and adopt their management system. Globally, governments need to engage stakeholders and dedicate/relinquish some responsibilities on river management to them. This is possible in the area of public awareness and education whereby NGOs have the passion, human resources, expertise and commitment, and private sector has the funds. This research found that increasingly, in Japan and Malaysia, the responsibility of managing rivers, are in need of diversification with the public, NGOs, industrialists, farmers, and other stakeholders playing a greater role. The research also found that sustainable management of rivers necessitates cooperation between government and all stakeholders. Both the examples of Tsurumi River and Cheonggyecheon River demonstrate good cooperation between government, private sector and civil society in the effective management of the river basins. Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM) is the way forward. Ineffective river management via disintegrated river management will likely result in destruction of river reserve, river encroachment, pollution, erosion, loss of riverine biodiversity, loss of recreation areas and hazards related to rivers. Adopting IRBM will enable civil society and NGOs to participate actively in the conservation and restoration of rivers, and this is a first step towards embarking on a sustainable path towards restoring many rivers which are currently described as ―Dead Rivers‖ back to ―Living
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Rivers‖. Most importantly, all city councils should have River Information/Education Centres on major rivers that flow through cities that can create awareness and educate the public on all aspects of the river.
Acknowledgements: The authors would like to acknowledge the Fundamental Research Grant (FRGS) from Ministry of Education titled ―Effects of Floods on Human Society and the Role of Social Capital in Recovery in Malaysia‖, Account Number 203/PHUMANITI/6711393. References Butzer, K.W. (1976) Early Hydraulic Civilization in Egypt: A Study in Cultural Ecology. Chicago: Chicago University Press. Chan, N.W. (Editor) (2002) Rivers: Towards Sustainable Development. Pulau Pinang: Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia. Chan, N.W. (2005) Sustainable Management of Rivers in Malaysia: Involving All Stakeholders. Intl. J. River Basin Management Vol 3, No 3 (2005), 147-162. Chan, N.W. (2012) Managing Urban Rivers and Water Quality in Malaysia for Sustainable Water Resources. International Journal of Water Resources Development 28 (2), 343-354. Chan, N.W. (2015) Governance for Flood Disaster Reduction: Enhancement of Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) on flood disaster awareness, preparedness, warning system, evacuation plan & institutional arrangements for flood risk management in the Sungai Pahang Basin. Paper presented at the Workshop 1 on Flood Disaster Research 2014, 14-15 September 2015, Everly Hotel, Putrajaya, Malaysia. Chandler, T. (1987) Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth: An Historical Census (1987), Lewiston, NY: St. David's University Press. Das, M. (2001) Of myths and legends – Rivers. The Hindu, Sunday Magazine 1 July 2001. Douglas, I (2002) Sediment: A Major River Management Issue. In N W Chan (Ed) Rivers: Towards Sustainable Development. Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, 15-22 file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/9789401791434-c2.pdf (Accessed 14 Aug 2016). http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/ATR/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=897540 (Accessed 15 Aug 2016). http://www.serageldin.com/CommissionReport.pdf (Accessed 13 Aug 2016). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niagara_Falls (Accessed 13 Aug 2016). http://www.japanriver.or.jp/EnglishDocument/DB/file/004%20Kanto%2023/04.htm (Accessed 14 Aug 2016). http://www.gwp.org/en/ToolBox/CASE-STUDIES/Asia/151Japan-Tsurumi-River-Basin-WaterMaster-Plan-302/ (Accessed 14 Aug 2016). https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/tsurumi-river%E6%A8%AA%E6%B5%9C%E5%B8%82?select=WIfoRZhW2h3bFeK1jYfoVg (Accessed 14 Aug 2016).
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKidD5Z4Rug&feature=youtu.be (Accessed 14 Aug 2016). http://www.globalrestorationnetwork.org/uploads/files/CaseStudyAttachments/123_seoul-1.jpg. (Accessed 14 Aug 2016). Keizrul bin Abdullah (2002) Integrated River Basin Management. In N W Chan (Ed) Rivers: Towards Sustainable Development. Universiti Sains Malaysia Press, Penang 3-14. Keizrul bin Abdullah and Mohd Fadhillah bin Hj. Mahmood (1998) ―River Management – The Way Forward‖, Workshop on River Management, Kuala Selangor, 30-31 March 1999Nik Hassan Suhaimi Nik Abdul Rahman, 1998a and 1998b Pillsbury, A. F. (1981) "The Salinity of Rivers," Scientific American, July, 55-65. Ponce, V. M. (Undated) The natural function of rivers: Where did common sense go? (http://ponce.sdsu.edu/the_natural_function_of_rivers.html Accessed 14 Aug 2016). Ponting, C. (1991) A Green History of the World – The Environment and the Collapse of Great Civilisations. New York: Penguin Books. Wang, L. (2014) How the Cheonggyecheon River Urban Design Restored the Green Heart of Seoul (http://inhabitat.com/how-the-cheonggyecheon-river-urban-design-restored-the-green-heart-of-seoul/ Accessed 14 Aug 2016). Zhang, X., Yu, M. and Yang, G. (2000) Flood in Jing Jiang Reach of Yangtze River. In K.D. Nguyen (Ed) Ecosystem and Flood 2000. Hanoi: European Commission (DGXII).Natural Centre for Natural Sciences and Technology of Vietnam, and Minsitry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam, 11-21. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
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CHAPTER 39
SUSTAINABLE URBAN DRAINAGE AND CITIES
Nor Azazi Zakaria, Aminuddin Ab Ghani, Ngai Weng Chan and Chun Kiat Chang Introduction A city cannot be sustainable if its infrastructures, socio-economic systems, bio-physical processes and inhabitants are not sustainable. For example, if a city‘s drainage system is not sustainable, it will lead to water pollution, clogging of drains, sedimentation of rivers, degradation of water ecosystems (e.g. wetlands, lakes and rivers) and flooding (Photograph 39.1) (Chan, 2011; see also Chapter 15 and 17). A sustainable drainage system is one that is designed to reduce the potential impacts of new and existing urban developments on the natural hydrological system. A sustainable urban drainage system is one that does not disturb or change the hydrological system significantly, but is in balance with it. This system should be able to cope with the natural rainfall, stormwater, surface water drainage discharges and infiltration of water into the ground. The term sustainable urban drainage system is often not well accepted as many practitioners argue that the term ―Urban‖ itself refers only to cities. They argue that the term should be removed so that it rightful term is ―Sustainable Drainage System‖. This later term would then be inclusive and will acommodate rural sustainable water management practices as well.
Photograph 39.1: Flash flood along Jalan Tuanku Abdul halim in the federal capital city of Kuala Lumpur on 13 May 2016 (http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2016/05/13/kl-at-a-standstill-after-downpourcauses-flash-floods/ Accessed 17 Aug 2016). The United Nation‘s recently launched Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (see Chapter 40) has water as SDG 6. Water is one of the central issues in the 21st century for economic growth in all countries (see Chapters 15 to 21 in this textbook). In most developed countries as well as in many developing 259
countries, rapid growth of urban areas has resulted in significant increase of stormwater flow into receiving waters which increased flood magnitude and frequency. Conventional urban drainage which is made up of open concrete drains cannot accommodate the huge increase of stormwater, especially in the context of climate change coupled with deforestation. This has led to exacerbation of flood hazards (especially flash floods) as well as degraded water quality (Chan, 2015). In general stormwater management is essential focuses on solving flooding through drainage of the modern cities to receiving water bodies. Increasing urbanization has caused problems with increased flash flooding after sudden rain. As areas of vegetation are replaced by concrete, asphalt, or roofed structures, the area loses its ability to absorb rainwater. This rain is instead directed into surface water drainage systems, often overloading them and causing floods. The concept of sustainable urban drainage is to try to replicate natural systems such as forested and absorbent surfaces (that allows rain water to infiltrate into the ground) that store a significant portion of the rainfall. This is a cost effective stormwater and flood management solution as well as water pollution control solution with low environmental impact. A sustainable urban drainage system drains away dirty surface run-off through collection, storage, and cleaning before allowing it to be released slowly back into rivers, thereby avoiding flooding because rivers have sufficient time to drain off the excess water. As a comparison, conventional open drainage systems drains rain water quickly into rivers resulting in overtopping of river banks resulting in flash floods. Open drains also do not treat the stormwater leading to pollution of river waters with resultant harm to wildlife and also contamination of both surface (river and lakes) water as well as groundwater. A practical and affordable sustainable drainage system should be easy to manage, with little or no energy requirements (except from environmental sources such as sunlight, rainfall, wind energy etc.). It should affordable and easy to construct and resilient in usage, and also be environmentally and aesthetically attractive. If it is expensive and ugly/unattractive, house/building owners will shun it. Some good examples of sustainable drainage are shallow depressions/basins are dry most of the time when it's not raining, or shallow ponds or marshes. For example, a football field used for football when it is dry can be used as a retention pond when it rains heavily. Other examples of sustainable drainage systems are shallow ponds, rain-gardens (typically shallow landscape depression with grass, plants, shrubs or herbaceous plants), swales (shallow wide-based ditches that are normally-dry), filter drains (trench drains with gravel), bioretention basins (shallow basins with growing medium), reed beds and other wetland habitats that absorb, filter and temporarily store dirty stormwater. These systems when wet also provides suitable habitats for local wildlife and enhances the biodiversity (see Chapter 36). Any sustainable urban drainage system (SUDS) should be able to manage stormwater in developments that replicate the natural drainage regime and characteristics. Rain water and surface runoffs are absorbed, filtered and stored to allow natural treatments to occur at source prior to infiltration into the ground. The absorbed waters are then releases slowly into receiving waters. On an aesthetic angle, SUDS should blend beautifully into the landscape other than performing its primary functions of water treatment, pollution control, flood control, groundwater recharge and environmental enhancement. Rain water and stormwater that typically becomes polluted when in conatct with the surface are treated using enhanced natural mechanism such as filtration, infiltration and biological uptake by wetland plants. Pollutants are also allowed to settle in the systems rather than being transported out into rivers. It is important to understand how these techniques work together to provide the aims of sustainability in the most practical, cost effective and beneficial way (Construction Industry Research and Information Association, 2007). The Sustainable Urban Stormwater System (SUDS) management solutions is consistent with objectives of stormwater management approach, i.e. control at source and stormwater treatment train which focus on both the quantity and quality control of urban runoff. The application of SUDS is a new development attempt to solve three major problems commonly encountered in Malaysia namely flash floods, river pollution and water scarcity during dry periods. The success of the SUDS implementation proved that with innovation, managing stormwater in resilience and sustainable manner can be successfully managed
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without compromising on the overall project cost compared to traditional infrastructure system. SUDS has the potential to reduce the infrastructure costs, but it also reduces maintenance costs. It‘s also benefit the environment due to its minimise impact on local ecology, encourage the ecosystem values, function as well as preserved and providing benefits to the daily life‘s. This is a way forward in providing the sustainable water infrastructure to face climate changes which happened continuously in our region. SUDS emphasizes on holistic approach to stormwater management, meeting the multi-objectives of runoff quantity, quality and public amenity aspects, rather than just quantity aspect of conventional approach (Figure 39.1). SUDS uses the concept of the stormwater management train, illustrated in Figure 39.2. The management train starts with prevention or good house-keeping measures for individual premises, and progresses through to local source control, larger downstream site and regional controls. Water could flow straight into a site control but as a general principle it is better to deal with runoff locally, returning the water to natural drainage system as near to the source as possible. Only if the water cannot be managed on site should it be conveyed elsewhere. This concept of treating and storing water locally is very beneficial for water conservation and has a huge potential on water reuse. Just as rainwater harvesting technique, SUDS can be used to provide water source for non-potable use. The increased green area and infiltration facilities also enhance soil moisture replenishment and ground water recharge.
Figure 39.1: Difference between Conventional Approach and SUDS Approach (Construction Industry Research and Information Association, 2007)
Figure 39.2: The Treatment Train Concept for Stormwater Management (Construction Industry Research and Information Association, 2007) In response to the needs for paradigm shift the way stormwater is managed, the Malaysian government has launched the Urban Stormwater Management Manual for Malaysia (MSMA) (DID, 2001) in 2000 and a new-look manual, i.e. the 2nd Edition of Urban Stormwater Management Manual for Malaysia in year 2011 (DID, 2011) incorporating the latest approach in stormwater management, i.e. control-at-source approach. The introduction of MSMA, changed the stormwater management landscape in the country. With the increasing demands for green technologies and addressing climate change, engineers are facing a stiffer challenge to produce effective and sustainable drainage system. This requires the need to blend new technologies or innovations into the design of drainage facilities.
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Bio-ecological Drainage System (BIOECODS) A green sustainable urban stormwater management system known as Bio-Ecological Drainage Systems (BIOECODS) was designed by River Engineering and Urban Drainage Research Centre (REDAC), Universiti Sains Malaysia and subsequently constructed at the USM Engineering Campus, Penang in 2002. BIOECODS attempts to solve three major problems commonly encountered in Malaysia namely flash floods, river pollution and water scarcity. The Design Concept of BIOECODS is a stormwater drainage system designed with the concept of SUDS in mind, and as a result, is fully complied with the MSMA requirements. BIOECODS is made up of several important components that ultimately form an effective stormwater treatment train that control runoff quantity and preserve runoff quality. The BIOECODS is designed to provide time for natural processes of sedimentation, filtration and biodegradation to occur, which reduce the pollutant loads in stormwater runoff. In addition, BIOECODS blends easily into its surrounding, adding considerably to the local amenity and/or local biodiversity (Ab Ghani et al., 2004). Figure 39.3 illustrates the hierarchy of the BIOECODS and the water treatment functions of each components.
Figure 39.3: Schematic Illustration of BIOECODS in USM Engineering Campus BIOECODS is a Dual Layer Conveyance System. In order to reduce the drainage footprint of the BIOECODS, as well as to provide additional water treatment, a dual layer conveyance system was introduced. While the surface of the swale is generally not much larger than conventional drain, the total cross section area of the system provides much larger water storage and treatment function than a normal conventional drainage can offer. The surface layer resembles a grassed channel or a swale. Typical swale design, gentle side slope, low gradient and shallow depth applied to this layer. The underground layer, consist of a geosynthetic module enclosed in geotextile. It is connected to the surface layer via a layer of river sand or infiltration media. Photograph 39.2 presents a cross-sectional view of the said ecological swale.
Photograph 39.2: Typical Example of Constructed Swale 262
As runoff builds up on the surface, it is first infiltrated into the underground module. This infiltration provides both quantity and quality treatments to the runoff. First, the infiltration delays flow. Then the infiltrated water is stored in subsurface module. Only after the pool of water generates enough energy will it flow downstream within the module. Along the module, water is loss to adjacent ground through exfiltration of water from the side or bottom of the module. This water will percolate through the ground and are either retained as soil moisture or contribute to groundwater recharge. On the surface, swale attenuates flow by providing larger surface friction than concrete channel. For water quality treatment, three important processes are involved. First, as water flows into the swale from impervious surfaces, grass on swale surface acts as filter media to trap out particulate pollutants. The aerobic condition of the soil promotes hydrocarbon breakdown. The second treatment involved is the infiltration of water through sand layer and into the module. Infiltration filters out particulates and some smaller solid nutrients that are attached to the runoff. The geosynthetic module is manufactured in such a way that the internal structure of the module helps to break up water flow, creating turbulence and therefore increase dissolves oxygen. Finally, both the surface and subsurface flows will combine again by both discharging into the ponds and wetlands system. BIOECODS also has Other BMPs Components. For example, Dry Ponds are one of them. The excess stormwater is also stored on the dry ponds constructed with a storage function. The dry pond is essentially a detention pond, which has been integrated with the ecological swale to temporarily store stormwater runoff. The module storage tank is placed beneath the detention basin where the stormwater is drained out by infiltration (Photograph 39.3). The outflow path of the storage module is connected to the ecological swale at the lowest point, in order to drain the dry pond system in less than 24 hours. Dry ponds diffuse flow conveyed by swales and the reduced stormwater velocities enable more effective sedimentation, filtration and infiltration water treatments. The grassed surfaces of dry ponds are able to infiltrate a substantial portion of the annual surface runoff volume due to the increased soil permeability that is created by the deep and fibrous root systems of the landscape vegetation.
Photograph 39.3: Typical Example of Constructed Dry Pond Another BIOECODS component is the Detention Pond. Detention pond is the first community facility of the BIOECODS. It is primarily designed for attenuating runoff from developed areas through regulated outlet structures. The facility is typically designed to limit discharge to the pre-development stage, while storing water temporarily. On top of that, detention pond also serves water quality treatment and ecological functions. With aquatic and wetland plants planted along the water fringes, it provides some water quality treatment and habitat for urban wildlife. Extended exposure to sunlight in a pond will also help to breakdown certain pollutants. Photograph 39.4 shows the detention pond in USM Engineering Campus (http://www.usm.my/index.php/ms/gerbang-info/lokasi/kampus-kejuruteraan Accessed 17 Aug 2016). 263
Photograph 39.4: Typical Example of Constructed Detention Pond Wetlands is another BIOECODS component. With respect to the need for water quality improvements, the wetland (Photograph 39.5) is designed as a community treatment facility. As much as 90% of the total volume of annual stormwater runoff will flow through an area supporting a healthy population of wetland plants. Contaminants are removed either by direct absorption into plant tissues (soluble nutrients) or by physical entrapment and subsequent settlement on the bed of the wetland. Apart from water quality, the wetland is also designed as a habitat area for biodiversity conservation within a development, supporting species such as small mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and plants. The end product is expected to improve the aesthetic value for surrounding areas at the most downstream end of the drainage system.
Photograph 39.5: Example of Constructed Wetlands The construction of BIOECODS involves the use of specialised Materials. Despite its innovative design, the construction materials used to construct a BIOECODS system is rather common and easily available. Common construction materials such as geotextile, river sand, top soil and cow grass are widely used to construct the system. The only unique material used is the geosynthetic module. Initially designed as underground storage unit in overseas, it has been used innovatively to form an underground drainage network in BIOECODS. Despite the module relatively high price about a decade ago, the continuing popularity and more common use in Malaysia has saw this product being manufactured locally, significantly reducing the cost of material. Photograph 39.6 shows the geosynthetic module used materials in BIOECODS construction.
Photograph 39.6: An Example of Geosynthetic Module Used as Subsurface Conduit in BIOECODS 264
The Construction Methods varies from project to project, depending on the needs. The construction of ecological swale is very simple and does not require highly skilled labours. First, a trench will be dug using backhoe to desired depth after setting out. The trench is then backfilled with river sand to create a desired gradient for the subsurface drain. Then a geotextile is layered onto the sand. Geo-synthetic module is arranged side by side on the geotextile to form a continuous conduit, before the modules are wrapped up in the geotextile. The trench containing the enclosed module is then backfilled with river sand up to desired invert level. It is then topped up with a thin layer of top soil to sustain vegetation growth. Finally, cow grass is turfed on to the depression to create the surface drainage, i.e. the grass swale. The entire process involves very minimal machinery. On a daily average, a team of semi-skilled labourers of 4 can easily construct 60 - 80 metres of ecological swale. Photograph 39.7 shows the site condition and working procedure of constructing an ecological swale. The construction of dry ponds are very similar to the ecological swale, which involves the dual layer system, i.e. underground detention storage units (also using enclosed geosynthetic module) and surface depression, which is turfed. Other BIOECODS components, namely detention ponds and wetlands are constructed using typical industry method. The Performance of BIOECODS is very good compared to conventional drainage. Since its establishment, BIOECODS has been closely monitored for its hydrological and hydraulic performances. The first BIOECODS system in USM engineering campus has been monitored with sophisticated water quantity and quality equipments to record its performance during rainfall events continuously for almost a decade. The most significant benefit of BIOECODS is its ability to reduce flow peak and flow volume. The retardation in ecological swale and detention in dry pond, wet pond and wetlands have enable BIOECODS to successfully create a stormwater system that mimics natural condition, hence reducing flood risks. Figure 39.4 shows an example of flow attenuation in a stretch of ecological swale while Figure 39.5 shows flow attenuation with detention pond during a rainfall event. Table 39.1 and 39.2 provide further examples of flow attenuation in swale and pond respectively.
(1) A trench is dug with backhoe and layered with river sand
(2) Module is laid in the trench and wrapped in geotextile.
(3) Trench is backfilled with enclosed module buried within.
(4) A swale is shaped and topped up with top soil before being turfed.
Photograph 39.7: Work Flow of an Ecological Swale Construction 265
Site 1-s: Kadar Alir dan Kejadian Hujan pada 8hb September 2003 Masa (minit) 0
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24/6/2003 30/8/2003
Average Rainfall Intensity (mm/hr) 11 14.5
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Table 39.2: Example of Detention Pond Performances for Frequent Rainfall Events Rain Event 14/4/2007 16/4/2007 18/10/2009 11/11/2009
Total Time (min)
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40 70 65 155
23.5 23.2 84.6 171.5
35.3 19.9 78.1 66.4
Peak Flow (m3/s) Inlet Outlet 0.041 0.034 0.335 0.689
0.032 0.026 0.235 0.289
Volume (m3) Inlet outlet 2,214 1,545 23,919 38,859
1,777 1,200 18,365 18,870
Percent of Reduction (%) Peak Flow Volume 21.95 23.53 29.85 50.65
19.74 22.33 23.22 51.44
More detailed observations are recorded in Ainan et al. (2004). The performance of ecological swale was also verified using computer model by Abdullah et al. (2004) using XP-SWMM. In both cases, the authors found that the system performed admirably to attenuate flow from the catchment. Recently, a water balance analysis by Ayub et al. (2010) confirmed that the BIOECODS system actually increases 266
groundwater recharge through infiltration. During drier days, percolated surface water eventually ‗resurface‘ to supply much needed base flow to sustain plants and ecology within the constructed wetland. Water Quality Improvements is another benefit from BIOECODS. Apart from water quantity, water quality control of BIOECODS is also being constantly monitored through in-situ test as well as laboratory testing for the common water quality parameters. The final discharge from the system are most of the time conform to Class IIB of National Water Quality Standard published by Department of Environment. Table 39.3 shows the results for a quick sample test for a 3-month ARI event on 19 April 2006. Table 39.3: Water Quality Condition for Various Sampling Location of BIOECODS on 19 April 2006 BIOECODS Components
Location
Upstream Downstream Inlet Wet Pond Outlet Inlet Detention Pond Outlet Inlet High Marsh Wetland Micropool Outlet Class IIB, NWQS
Ecological Swale
pH 8.3 7 6.9 6.5 6.9 6.8 7 7.1 7.1 7.3 6-9
DO (mg/l) 6 6 6 7 8 8 6 8 7 6 5–7
Temp (°C) 28 25 24 26 24 25 29 24 23 28 -
Turbidity (NTU) 14 23 48 74 80 10 18 26 15 13 50
BOD5 (mg/l) 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 3
TSS (mg/l) ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND ND 50
TP (mg/l) 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.5 0.3 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.3 -
COD (mg/l) 34 13 7 6 22 20 13 16 26 19 25
NH3-N (mg/l) 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.4 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.3
**note: ND denotes non-detectable
It is worth mentioning that the use of this system significantly reduce the pollutant loads especially particulate pollutants, i.e. sediment. For the entire system, TSS was non-detectable, indicating that even if sediments were washed into the system, they are trapped very early on by the ecological swale networks. With the use of detention ponds and wetlands, most biological activities are concentrated in this area, the biological load is rather higher, but still in Class IIB limit. However, the discharge from wetlands is significantly of better quality, indicating the success of biological treatment occurring within the ponds and wetlands. Mohd Sidek et al. (2004) and Ayub et al. (2005) provide more detailed presentation of the water quality treatment results of BIOECODS. Water Conservation and Reuse in BIOECODS is another benefit. Ayub et al. (2010) documented the monitoring of water balance within the constructed wetland of BIOECODS system for 2007 and 2009. It was found that the constructed wetland received considerable amount of direct precipitation as well as runoff inflow. Outflow records from the wetland however, showed significant reduction in volume, as compared to the combined inflow. As evapotranspiration rate are almost constant (tropical climate) year round, the balance of water volume are translated into active storage and soil moisture or groundwater recharge. Figure 39.6 presents the plot of the fluctuation of water components in 2009. By having records of each components, the net interaction of stored water can be determined. There is a strong indication of outward movement of water from wetland into the ground in most of the time, indicating important groundwater or soil moisture recharge taking place. Since early 2010, a series of trials were conducted to investigate the potential water reuse in the BIOECODS system. In the first stage, the potential for nonpotable use was explored. The trial involved withdrawal of water from BIOECODS recreational pond to support laboratory use in REDAC's Physical Modelling Laboratory. A simple water usage budget calculation revealed that the recreational pond was capable of supplying sufficient water demand for the physical laboratory. The laboratory requires replacement and replenishment of freshwater every week to support mainly sediment transport and scour modelling. The water reuse contributes to the entire water demand of the laboratory, saving RM 634.80 on water bill in 2010 alone. This also translated to water 267
saving of 2160 m3 in a year. Table 39.4 summarised the water saving provided by the BIOECODS water reuse trial. Additionally, some other minor use of water in detention pond includes watering for nearby landscape and vehicle washing. However, no water audit was carried out for these activities. The water balance model and water audit trial demonstrated the immense potential of sustainable urban drainage system (in particularly BIOECODS) as an alternative water resource. In these years of water scarcity and water stress, urban drainage might just provide a partial solution to this long standing issue. Table 39.4: Water Saving of REDAC Physical Laboratory 1 2
3 4
Statistic Average Monthly Water Consumption Water Tariff (Penang) Fix Charge - RM2.50 First 20 m3 - RM 0.22 20 m3 to 40m3 - RM 0.42 40 m3 to 60 m3 - RM 0.52 60 m3 to 200 m3 - RM 0.90 Above 200,000 m3 - RM 1.00
Amount 180 m3 2.50 20 x RM0.22 = 4.40 20 x RM0.42 = 8.40 20 x RM0.52 = 10.40 120 x RM0.90 = 108.00 Total Monthly = 133.70 1080.00 m3 RM 1604.40
Total Annual Water Consumption Total Annual Water Savings (bills)
30,000.00 Downstream Outflow 25,000.00
Evaporation
Upstream Inflow Direct Precipitation
20,000.00
Net Volume 17,475.28
15,000.00
13,591.88
13,525.18
10,000.00 8,000.25 5,000.00
1,958.25 -
-1,557.92 -3,065.04
-5,000.00
-10,000.00 May
June
July
August
September
October
November
Figure 39.6: Water Balance Plot for BIOECODS Constructed Wetlands (May to November 2009) (Zakaria et al., 2011) Conclusion A city cannot be sustainable if its infrastructures, socio-economic systems, bio-physical processes and inhabitants are not sustainable. Therefore, if a city‘s drainage system is not sustainable, the city will not be sustainable as it will suffer water pollution, clogging of drains, sedimentation of rivers, degradation of water ecosystems and flooding. All cities need sustainable drainage systems that are designed to reduce the potential negative impacts of new and existing urban developments on the natural hydrological system. A good sustainable dranage system can cope with the natural rainfall, stormwater, surface water drainage discharges and infiltration, avoiding floods. In Malaysia, the Drainage and Irrigation Department has introduced the Urban Stormwater Management Manual or MSMA, and completely changed the stormwater management landscape in the country, especially in cities. The pressing issue of water stress 268
may have spurred the evolution of urban drainage from a runoff disposal system into an alternative source for water reuse. The Bio-ecological Drainage System or BIOECODS was introduced in 2001 by the River Engineering and Urban Drainage Research Centre (REDAC) in USM. Based on the success of its BIOECODS, REDAC was accorded the status of Higher Institution Centre of Excellence or HICoE on 9th October 2014 with a niche area on Sustainable Urban Stormwater Management (http://redac.eng.usm.my/html/directors%20message.htm Accessed 17 Aug 2016). Adopting the concepts of integration, control-at-source and sustainability, BIOECODS paved the way for a promising development in drainage design. Through innovation in design, the designers introduced the ecological swale, a dual layer conveyance system that minimize drainage footprint but provide additional water quantity and quality treatment. Other components such as dry ponds, wet ponds and wetlands are further evidences of the integration of stormwater facilities into surrounding landscape, adding significant values to otherwise passive open spaces. The project also overturned the stigma of increased cost due to innovative drainage. Final construction costs proved to be slightly cheaper than a conventional drain. A series of continuous research and monitoring also found that stormwater is effectively controlled in quantity and quality. Water balance model on the constructed wetlands revealed that water are captured within the wetlands especially during wet season, indicating good water conservation through pond storage, soil moisture and ground water recharge. BIOECODS is currently being put on trial for water reuse by supplying non-potable water from its recreational ponds for landscape watering and laboratory use. There is a huge potential of this trial to be expanded to include other non-potable in the campus. The system is a living proof for feasibility and multi-benefits of MSMA implementation, especially in cities. BIOECODS also testified that the current stormwater management concept is ready to face the challenges and meet the demand for the nation, and most importantly, to secure a new source of water for the future generations. Adopting BIOECODS for all cities is a logical first step. Acknowledgements: The authors would like to acknowledge the funding from the Kementerian Pendidikan Tinggi Long Term Fundamental Grant Scheme (LRGS) Account Number 203/PKT/6724003 for Data used in the final write up of this chapter. References Ab. Ghani, A., Zakaria, N.A., Abdullah, R., Yusof, M. F., Mohd Sidek, L., A.H. Kassim & A. Ainan. (2004). BIO-Ecological Drainage System (BIOECODS): Concept, Design and Construction. The 6 th International Conference on Hydroscience and Engineering (ICHE-2004), May 30th -June 3rd, Brisbane, Australia. Abdullah, R., Zakaria, N.A., Ab. Ghani, A., Mohd Sidek, L., Ainan, A. & Wong, L.P. (2004). BIOECODS Modelling Using SWMM. The 6th International Conference on Hydroscience and Engineering (ICHE-2004), May 30th -June 3rd, Brisbane, Australia. Ainan, A., Zakaria, N.A., Ab. Ghani, A., Abdullah, R., Mohd Sidek, L., Yusof, M.F. & Wong, L.P. (2004). Peak Flow Attenuatio n Using Ecological Swale and Dry Pond. The 6 th International Conference on Hydroscience and Engineering (ICHE-2004), May 30th -June 3rd, Brisbane, Australia. Ayub, K. R., Mohd Sidek, L., Ainan, A., Zakaria, N. A., Ab. Ghani, A. & Abdullah, R. (2005). Storm Water Treatment using Bio-Ecological Drainage System. International Journal River Basin Management, Special Issue Rivers'04, IAHR & INBO, Vol. 3, No. 3, pp. 215-221. Ayub, K.R., Zakaria, N.A., Abdullah, R. & Ramli, R. (2010). Water Balance: Case Study of A Constructed Wetland As Part of the Bio-Ecological Drainage System (BIOECODS). Water Science & Technology, Vol. 62, No. 3, pp. 1931-1936. 269
Chan, N.W. (2011) Addressing Flood Hazards via Environmental Humanities in Malaysia. Malaysian Journal of Environmental Management 12(2) (2011): 11-22. Chan Ngai Weng (2015) Chapter 6: Human Aspect of Water Security Focussing on Governance, Water Demand Management and Non-Revenue Water in Urban Areas in Malaysia. In Urban Water Cycle Processes, Management & Societal Interactions: Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability. Penang: River Engineering and Urban Drainage Research Centre Publication, 225-266. Construction Industry Research and Information Association or CIRIA (2007). The SUDS Manual. CIRIA, London, UK. Department of Irrigation and Drainage or DID, (2000). Urban Stormwater Management Manual for Malaysia (MSMA). DID, Kuala Lumpur. http://redac.eng.usm.my/html/directors%20message.htm (Accessed 17 Aug 2016). http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2016/05/13/kl-at-a-standstill-after-downpour-causes-flashfloods/ (Accessed 17 Aug 2016). http://www.usm.my/index.php/ms/gerbang-info/lokasi/kampus-kejuruteraan (Accessed 17 Aug 2016). MEGTW, or Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water, (2000). National Water Resources Study, 2000-2050. SMHB Sdn Bhd, Kuala Lumpur. Mohd Sidek, L., Ainan, A., Zakaria, N.A., Ab. Ghani, A., Abdullah, R. & Ayub, K.R. (2004). Stormwater Purification Capability of BIOECODS. The 6th International Conference on Hydroscience and Engineering (ICHE-2004), May 30th -June 3rd, Brisbane, Australia. Mohd Sidek, L., Takara, K., Ab. Ghani, A., Zakaria, N.A., Abdullah, R. & Desa, M.N. (2005). A Life Cycle Costs (LCC) Assessment of Sustainable Urban Drainage System Facilities. 1st International Conference on Managing Rivers in the 21st Century : Issues & Challenges, 21st - 23rd September, Penang, Malaysia, pp. 329-343 Mohd Sidek, L., Ab. Ghani, A., Zakaria, N.A., Desa, M.N. & Abdullah, R. (2006). An Assessment of Stormwater Management Practices in Malaysia. Bulletin Institution of Engineers Malaysia, pp 8-19, IEM, Kuala Lumpur. Zakaria, N.A., A. Ab. Ghani, Abdullah, R., Mohd Sidek, L., A.H. Kassim & Ainan, A. (2004). MSMA A New Urban Stormwater Management Manual for Malaysia. The 6 th International Conference on Hydroscience and Engineering (ICHE-2004), May 30th - June 3rd, Brisbane, Australia. Zakaria, N.A., Ab. Ghani, A., Abdullah, R., Mohd Sidek, L. & Ainan, A. (2003). Bio-Ecological Drainage System (BIOECODS) For Water Quantity And Quality Control. International Journal River Basin Management, IAHR & INBO, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 237-251. Zakaria, N.A., Ab. Ghani, A., Lau, T.L. & Leow, C.S. (2011). Securing Water for Future Generations through Sustainable Urban Drainage Designs: A Peek into the Bio-ecological Drainage System (BIOECODS). 3rd International Conference on Managing Rivers in 21st Century: Sustainable Solutions for Global Crisis of Flooding, Pollution and Water Scarcity (Rivers 2011), Penang, Malaysia, pp. 29-39. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ 270
CHAPTER 40
SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND COMMUNITIES IN THE CONTEXT OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS (SDGs)
Choe Jiayi, Yi Hong and Nicole Huang Yu Wen
Introduction In 1987, the release of the Brundtland Report had placed great importance upon environmental issues, specifically the need for sustainable development (see Chapter 8) such that economic development could be maintained without depleting resources for future generations. This resulted in the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, also known as Earth Summit, to be held in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992. Its product was Agenda 21, a non-legally binding and voluntary action plan for nations in regards to sustainable development, conservation and management of resources (Agenda 21, 1992). In 2002, Earth Summit II was held in Johannesburg emphasizing upon the need for clean water resources, aid for developing nations and other many issues. The conference had resulted in many partnership between corporations as initiatives as opposed to agreements between governments seen in 1992 (Oliver & Jeffery, 2002). Most recently, the Earth Summit took place in Rio de Janeiro in 2015. This culminated in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) ending in 2015, the SDGs were seen as an extension to address further issues of development and formed such that they were universal goals. The 17 SDGs each has its own individual targets that address various sectors for sustainable development by 2030. Sustainable Development Goals Of the 17 SDGs, SDG 1 is the most important as it deals with eradicating poverty. Eradicating poverty in various forms for the people all around the world is one of the targeted goals of sustainable development. Poverty is often being linked with unclean environment, bad health and education status of the poor. So as to eliminate poverty, breastfeeding was recently being identified as the solution to the problem. Breastfeeding can be the fundamental method to deter hunger among newborn and children, meanwhile enhance the health of both mothers and babies, which in turn also improves the welfare of the world and also a step in achieving a few SDGs. According to the shared statement made by WHO and UNICEF, breastfeeding is considered as a cost-efficient way for the long term advantage of babies and mothers‘ health and wellbeing. It does not need external resources to generate foods for the newborn, at the same time helps to prevent breast cancer risk of the mother. Personality of a person is also vital in reducing poverty. Avarice and egocentric people often make poverty getting more critical. Any resources available for living should be accessible to everyone. One should only obtain enough resources such as foods, water, and natural capital for their living without exploiting and seizing the others due to the fear of supplies shortage. SDG 2 deals with then ending of hunger. A world without hunger seems to be a reverie in the absence of solid approach to root out the issue. To address the problem, providing family planning education and appropriate birth control practice might be the prime solution to it (Phumaphi, 2014). Drastic increase in human population can create food and water short supply, due to high demand for basic necessities, such as land conversion for housing, requirement for food, medical purposes, all of these needs money. Having a good family planning, and by decelerate population growth rate, it decreases the need to transform agricultural and farming land into urban areas, thereby maintain the productivity of provisions for the people, assuring food security. Besides, climate change could have impact the productivity of foods. Events such as global warming, sudden drought or flood will devastate all products including marine 271
produce. Using eco-friendly and energy efficient technology products can reduce the probability of harmful elements that bring about changes to climate being emit into the surrounding. Reduce energy consumption, having a green lifestyle and organic way of living can help to protect the environment as less pesticide and other chemical components being release into the atmosphere. Donation of foods can also contribute in deterring hunger and emission of greenhouse gases as well. According to Conservation International, the processes involved in producing edible foods and the foods not consumed that are being dumped into landfill releases tons of gases. Without the need of producing extra foods for the hungry people, foods donated not only aid in lessen starvation, it also prevents GHG released into the atmosphere. Hence, indirectly helps in maintaining sustainable city development. SDG 3 deals with good health. Good health and well-being of the people plays pivotal role in sustainable development of the society as a whole. Healthy people are generally less vulnerable to diseases. The overall health and well-being of the people are linked with the social, economic and environmental status of the nation. Health of the people can be improved by having gender equity policies (Anonymous, 2010). Giving fair chances for both men and women in employment, ensures that both obtain same amount of remuneration to lead a healthy lifestyle, at the same time also reduces labour stress associated with unequal job opportunities and status. Besides, improve living conditions, healthy workplace and working schedule could support one‘s health and well-being. Provide workers a workplace less risky as possible as to reduce their exposure to many kinds of hazardous substances. Less exposure to insecurity during work time will reduce tension faced by workers, which might lead to body system disruption, causing various mental, emotional, behavioural and physical health effects. These impacts will results in low productivity, impede development of country. Apart from this, having balance work-life living also helps in reducing stress, stimulate better focus, concentration and satisfaction in any pursuit. Decrease and prevent people be laid up allows the country to continue the pace towards sustainable development. SDG 4 is about giving everyone the opportunity for inclusive and quality education. Quality education is required for the sustainability of cities. Actions to manage and develop the cities have to be up-to-date from time to time in order to move towards sustainable development. Well educated people normally are able to think and act practically and creatively while confronting with obstacle and challenges, making the cities more resilient. Quality education can be promoted by equal autonomy of every school (Morrison, 2014). Same level of autonomy enables the school leaders to establish a system that are more suitable and appropriate for the learning of students. Besides, it also exposes them to have the same opportunities for participation in any activities. Every types of school should receive same fund allocation for the development of schools. Insufficient fund will obstruct the growth of the school, such that school authority cannot afford to replace old teaching materials, expand and upgrade the environment around the school, which is also a vital element in improving the learning ability and progress of students. According to Cheney (2015), having outdoor education activities apart from traditional classroom learning is now considered as more beneficial types of learning process, since students can explore the real objects, stimulate them to become more innovative and creative and also obtain hands-on learning experience. Now that the society sees the ―quality‖ of the education as how one utilizes his or her knowledge in doing something rather than concerning how much one knows. Thus, improving teaching abilities of instructors is necessary in maintaining quality education, as the teacher teaches, the students are learning. With the society that is well-educated, intellectual can take advantage of the learned knowledge and bring the country for better future. SDG 5 is about gender equality. Gender equality is the foundation to human rights and part of sustainable world. Much news such as early marriage of girls and the perception of women should stay at home surfaced due to discrimination of females. It is still a male-dominated world nowadays, but allowing women to participate in every activity can at least alter the current situation of male inclination. Equality in education can facilitate in social equality. Education allows women to have contemporary ideology, defend for their own right to choose and make decision (Kelly, 2006). As women have a stand in each 272
occasion, they have the same opportunity to obtain resources. Women empowerment could challenge the uneven distribution of power and abrogate discrimination. This could secure their livelihoods, aid in alleviating poverty, sustaining their health and the environment. SDG 6 is on water and sanitation. Water is such a global issue and posed many challenges for cities (see Chapters 15-21). It aims to achieve access to clean water and sanitation for all. As a basic human necessity, the MDGs have met goal 7C: halving the proportion of population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015 (―United Nations‖, n.d.). However, the United Nations have reported that 2.4 billion still lack access to basic sanitation and at least 1.8 billion people use fecally contaminated water sources (―Water and Sanitation‖, n.d.). It is imperative to understand the underlying issues in providing access and future issues that will arise from climate change induced water scarcity. Within each region, urban cities need to research into the water management and infrastructure to maintain water as a sustainable resource. Informal settlements are often the areas within urban settlements that lack clean water resources and thus only placing those marginalised and lower income household at further vulnerability to health issues. Proper waste management should also be developed such that water pollution is prevented. From the consumer end, educational program can be introduced to reduce consumption and promote environmentally friendly practices to prevent contamination of water sources. SDG 7 is on sustainable energy. Omitted as an official goal from the MDGs in 2000, SDG 7 addresses the global concern for energy resources for a sustainable future as well as the lack of access to energy in many rural areas across the global. United Nations report that 3 billion people still rely upon traditiona l resources for energy such as coal, wood, animal waste and charcoal (―Energy‖, n.d.). The lack of access to electricity in regions of developing nations places women at higher risk to premature death due to cooking with open fires from traditional energy sources. Short term efforts to provide access to modern energy for cooking such as gas should be introduced and made affordable. On a larger scale, governments need to deploy the infrastructure needed to provide electricity access. Responsible for 60% of global greenhouse emission as reported by the United Nations, many countries have sought to reduce reliance upon traditional, non-renewable resources in effort to mitigate climate change (―Energy‖, n.d.). For sustainable management of urban cities, the most effective way for a pathway to low-carbon intensive economy is through energy efficiency. McKinsey & Co. (2009) produced a global greenhouse gas abatement curve which showed negative costs and positive benefits through retrofitting lights and other appliances. With high urban populations, there is much potential for reducing demand and ensuring a much more sustainable usage of energy resources. SDG 8 focuses on sustainable economic development. Of all the SDGs, SDG 8 probably has one of the most extensive targets to achieve as its goal is ―inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work for all‖. With the global recession and unstable economies, United Nations have reported the increase in global unemployment by 32 million such that in 2012, almost 202 million people were unemployed (―Economic Growth‖, n.d.). Decent work and job opportunities are the main way to alleviate poverty as it provides individuals the ability to better their standard of living and quality of life. To promote sustainable economic growth, OECD suggested green growth should be considered within urban communities through placing importance for local production of green goods (―Regional, rural and urban development‖, n.d.). This stimulates local economy whilst emphasising environmentally friendly products and practices. Education provision for communities can also aid in providing opportunities to develop skills needed for local jobs. It ensures the attainment of market demands for certain skills and providing them the most basic skills needed for jobs. Highlighting the ―decent‖ aspect of jobs, policies should be developed such that employees are provided with basic benefits and provided with a safe working environment. SDG 9 is on the promotion and building of resilient infrastructures. The United Nations reported that infrastructure is one of the main barriers to achieving access for all in terms of basic needs such as water, 273
sanitation, electricity, job and etc (―Infrastructure and industrialization‖, n.d.). Infrastructure is the foundation of pathways to achieving other SDGs and innovative efforts are needed for sustainable infrastructure. For sustainable infrastructure and technology to be implemented, initiatives should include various crucial actors such as the public, private investors and the government. In urban management, new infrastructure should increase the resilience of cities through consideration for climate change effects. The co-benefits of adaptive infrastructure to climate change can also aid in stimulating local green economy as noted by the World Bank (2011). Similarly, promoting sustainable industrialization of countries provide developing countries the opportunity to leapfrog. This is seen with China whereby the investments made into solar energy have provided the opportunity to bypass a heavily carbon-intensive development period (―China on Pace‖, n.d.). SDG 10 focuses on achieving equality between nations, and within nations. This SDGs aims to address the inequality between rich and poor countries, and between developed and developing countries. It also aims to breach the inequality gap within a country as inequality exists in all forms in terms of ethnicity, gender to economic status. Economic and political discriminatory issues hinder marginalized groups in bettering their lives. United Nations also reported that inequality reduces efforts to alleviating poverty, harms public and political relationships and individual‘s psychological well-being (―Reduce inequality‖, n.d.). Policies must be developed to eradicate discriminatory policies and resources to provide voice for affected groups. With urban environments as the melting pot of various religions, ethnicity and economic status, the community must develop understanding and respect for each individual regardless of one‘s background. These ideals must be fostered through time. Eradication and bridging the gap of inequality needs to be done to achieve sustainable development. SDG 11 is on sustainable cities and communities. This textbook and the course on Sustainable Urban Developemnt Progarmme (SUDP) are most appropriately aimed at addressing SDG 1 (see Chapter 1). SDG 11 aims to make the world‘s cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable (https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300 Accessed 17 Aug 2016). SDG 12 is focused on achieving the goal of ―Responsible consumption and production‖. Cities are responsible for major consumptions on the earth, especially big cities or mega cities. With the rapid urbanization happening in the global South, it drives billions of people to stream into big cities. As a result, according to McKinsey Global Institute, large cities will power the growth of consumption and global markets over the next decade and a half. Consumption is typically related to population growth. A rising number of consumers is expected to occur as a result of urban expansion. However, the great bulk of it is the increasing income and purchasing power. It is the way people consume that matters most rather than the ability to consume. Therefore, promoting sustainable city will significantly improve the consumption patterns of people living in cities. Responsible production includes controlling by-products, especially pollutants and negative environmental impacts from production processes. In order to build sustainable cities, industries with heavy pollution are subject to be regulated or moved outside of the densely populated areas. Moreover, sustainable cities help the transition to wide clean energy usage in the city, which directly encourages environmental friendly manufacturing and responsible production. SDG 13 is focused on making everyone take climate action towards addressing climate change. SDG 13 is a solution to a changing global climate. The COP21 held in Paris in 2015 has brought ―sustainable city‖ to the center of the attention, and climate actions are essential for transiting to sustainable cities. As urban population growth intensifies as well as increases vulnerability to climate change, cities play a crucial role in taking the low carbon action required to achieve the national and even global emission goals. There are several cities undertaking radical changes with ambitious climate action plans, such as Vancouver, Seattle, Chicago, and New York. Among them, Vancouver has achieved great progress with the Corporate Climate Action Plan at the municipal level and the Community Climate Action Plan at the community level. The target for the municipal plan was 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2010. As a 274
result, the city has reduced emissions from municipal operations to 33 percent below 1990 levels. Now Vancouver has the lowest per capita GHG emissions of any major city in North America. Cities are responsible for consuming 78% of all energy globally; climate action plans are there providing urban residents with practices that can save energy on their own. Overall, efficient Climate Action plans on a city-scale have set clear goals and proven to make significant impacts on sustainable urban development; implementing climate action plans is a fundamental step towards sustainable cities. SDG 14 talks about ―Life below water‖ and aims to conserve the resources in oceans, seas and marine in a sustainable manner. It emphasizes reducing pollution (marine debris, nutrient pollution, etc.) from landbased activities. By building sustainable cities, municipalities are prone to improve basic infrastructure, especially sewage system and stormwater management, which prevents pollutants entering the sea, and protect the marine ecosystem. Marine protection requires great efforts in regulation, as the ocean is usually regarded as ―public good‖, whose ownership and responsibility is not clear designated. Thus, the marine pollution is difficult to trace and regulate, and the fish resources are bearing over exploitation. With efforts towards developing sustainable cities, municipalities would strengthen regulation and supervision on fishery industry and pollution discharge. SDG 15 is to protect the terrestrial ecosystems which is of equivalent importance as the marine system. In Goal 15 ―Life on land‖, protecting life on land means ―sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, halt biodiversity loss‖. However, the rapid urbanization process nowadays contradicts forest conservation - 13 million hectares of forests are cut every year, and degradation of drylands has led to the desertification of 3.6 billion hectares. It is of vital importance to protect forests, as they are key to mitigating climate change, protecting biodiversity and the homes of the indigenous population. Nevertheless, it is possible for the urban development to incorporate forest and biodiversity conservation. The concept of ―‖garden city‖ integrate large green space well with residential areas, where residents can greatly benefit from the space for leisure and aesthetic purposes. Moreover, sustainable cities would provide more education opportunities for people in cities to have a close look at the terrestrial ecosystem and learn the importance of biodiversity to our earth. SDG 16 targets on ―Strong institutions‖. People are the center of sustainable development of all kinds because sustainable development is a process for meeting human development goals while sustaining the ability of natural systems to continue to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services upon which the economy and society depends. Building sustainable city means the city is built for citizens accessibility, convenient public transit and transportation system, affordable living, safe neighbourhoods, liveable environment, and more - are all available to them. Moreover, it means citizens are inclusive they have a say in their living environment and how the environment will develop. Thus, strong institutions are there to ensure public access to information and just law enforcement. Strong institution at municipal, national, and international levels all insure peace and justice in urban life. Last but not least, the goal of ―partnership for the goals‖ clearly indicate that successful implementation of the sustainable development goals requires the global partnership. SDG 17 focuses on implementing goals of achieving and revitalizing the goals of achieving sustainable development, which are more important than setting up goals. SDG 17 explicitly identifies targets of finance, technology, capacity-building, and systemic issues. A wide range of partnerships provides global platforms for sustainable cities, which could enhance municipal financing and identifying priorities for investment, involve other interested cities, organizations and practitioners in sustainable activities and learning events. Partnerships also make resources and information available to developing countries, where sustainable goals may take a longer way to achieve.
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Conclusion The 17 SDG goals listed let us see through the matters that are happening currently, knowing what are the underlying events that forestall a country to move towards sustainability and its targets to achieve that enable us to attain a sustainable world. A sustainable world allows all living things on earth to coexist in peace. Sustainable development of the world is aimed at building on three pillars, which are the social, economic and environmental aspects. To realize it, the only solution is to give the same attention to all these three pillars and strengthen it simultaneously. Since the world is an interconnected system where a balance institution will enhance the general weal of the people, hence sustainable development could then be comply. Clearly, as far as cities are concerned, the starting point for the SDGs for urban planners and city folks should be SDG 11 as this SDG aims at achieving sustainable cities and sustainable communities. SDG 11 is also easily overlapped with all the other 16 SDGs. Acknowledgements: The authors would like to acknowledge the training received at Water Watch Penang as interns for the period July to September 2016. The authors would also like to thank Universiti Sains Malaysia for offering many support facilities for this training. This chapter is a direct result of this training. Questions for discussion 1. What has your city done in terms of addressing the Sustainable Development Goals? Which SDG and which issues are the most pressing and what action plans have been set? 2. What are some local initiatives that you have observed indicating collaboration from various stakeholders to achieve the goal of sustainable cities? Which sector do you regard as the most important actor in achieving the 17 sustainable goals? 3. What are the challenges faced by women nowadays? What policies do you think can really decrease gender inequality? 4. Refer to the activities in your organisation, how does it help in achieving sustainable development in the society and city as a whole? What are the barriers that you think will slow down or prevent sustainable development? References Agenda 21. (1992). New York: UN. Retrieved https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/Agenda21.pdf (Accessed 17 Aug 2016).
from
Anonymous. (2010). Promoting public health and wellbeing in your community. Public Health Association of NZ Inc. Cheney, C. (2015, March 2). 3 ways to improve education worldwide. Retrieved from https://www.devex.com/news/3-ways-to-improve-education-worldwide-85532 (Accessed 17 Aug 2016). China on Pace to Become Global Leader in Renewable Energy. (n.d.) Retrieved from http://www.worldwatch.org/node/5497 (Accessed 17 Aug 2016). Conservation International. (2016, August 12). Reduce your energy consumption. Retrieved from http://www.conservation.org/Pages/What-you-can-do-tips.aspx#reduce-your-ener gy-consumption Economic Growth - United Nations Sustainable Development. (n.d.). Retrieved http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/economic-growth/ (Accessed 17 Aug 2016). 276
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Energy United Nations Sustainable Development. (n.d.). http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/energy/ (Accessed 17 Aug 2016).
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Fournier, A. (2016). Vancouver‘s Shrinking Footprint. BC Climate Action Toolkit.Retrieved from http://www.toolkit.bc.ca/success-story/vancouver-s-shrinking-footprint (Accessed 17 Aug 2016). Goldberg, E. (2016, August 8). How breastfeeding could help fight hunger, poverty, other global issues. The Huffington Post (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ howbreastfeeding-could-help-fighthunger-poverty-and-other-global-issues_us_57a4f012e4b 056bad2159263 Accessed 17 Aug 2016). https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300 (Accessed 17 Aug 2016). Infrastructure and Industrialization - United Nations Sustainable Development. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/infrastructure-industrialization/ (Accessed 17 Aug 2016). Kelly, J. (2006). Women thirty-five years on. In Cole. M. (Ed.), Education, equality and human rights. Retrieved from http://able.manavata.org/wp-content/uploads /2012/12/ education- equality-and-humanrights-Issues-of-gender-race-sexuality-disability-and-social-class.pdf (Accessed 17 Aug 2016). McKinsey & Co. (2009) Pathways to a low-carbon economy: Version 2 of the global greenhouse gas abatement cost curve. Retrieved from http://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/ dotcom/client_service/sustainability/cost%20curve%20pdfs/pathways_lowcarbon_economy_version2.ash x (Accessed 17 Aug 2016). Morrison, N. (2014, May 7). The 10 things school leaders would do to improve education. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/ nickmorrison/2014/05/07/the-10-things-school-leaders-would-do-toimprove-education/#739ec5314a69 (Accessed 17 Aug 2016). Oliver, M. & Jeffery, S. (2002) Earth Summit The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2002/sep/04/theissuesexplained.greenpolitics Accessed 17 Aug 2016). Phumaphi, J. (2014). To fight hunger, think family planning. Food Security in the 21 st Century. Retrieved from http://aspen.us/journal/editions/septemberoctober-2014/fight-hunger- think-familyplanning (Accessed 17 Aug 2016). Reduce inequality within and among countries - United Nations Sustainable Development. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/inequality/ (Accessed 17 Aug 2016). Regional, rural and urban development. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/regional/ greengrowth-in-cities.htm (Accessed 17 Aug 2016). The World Bank Group. (2011) Guide to Climate Change Adaptation in Cities. Retrieved from http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTURBANDEVELOPMENT/Resources/3363871318995974398/GuideClimChangeAdaptCities.pdf (Accessed 17 Aug 2016). Water and Sanitation - United Nations Sustainable Development. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/water-and-sanitation (Accessed 17 Aug 2016). @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ 277
CHAPTER 41
ADDRESSING SOME ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS IN HOCHIMINH CITY, VIETNAM: A CASE STUDY FROM URBAN PLANNING PERSPECTIVE
Nguyen Minh Hoa Introduction to Hochiminh City Hochiminh City (HCMC) was established over 300 years ago in 1698 during the era of Nguyen Kings the last feudal dynasty of Vietnam. The former name of Hochiminh City is Saigon. In 1975, however, the name ―Saigon‖ was changed into ―Ho Chi Minh‖ - an outstanding Vietnamese politician. HCMC is located in the south of Vietnam. The city shape is like a wing-spreading bat. Its span is 102 km; the distance from its top to bottom is 40 km. It spreads widely from the East to the South and is bounded by the East Sea with 20 km of coastline. Nowadays, HCMC covers an area of 2.100 km2 (accounting for 0.6% of the country‘s area) and it is the most populous city of Vietnam with 7.5 million people (accounting for 6.6% of national population). Having 19 districts and 5 suburban districts, HCMC is one of the 30 biggest cities in the world and one of the 5 biggest cities in ASEAN (the other 4 cities are Bangkok, Jakarta, Metro Manila, and Kuala Lumpur). HCMC is the biggest economic center of Vietnam. Its economic growth rate is about 11.0% in average which has always been the highest. It has 16 industrial zones and export processing zones, 3 software towns and 2 high technology zones, contributing 46% GDP and receiving most FDI (over 60%) compared to the whole country. GDP per capita is over 2.300 USD (the highest in Vietnam; GDP per capita of the whole country is about 600 USD). Like other countries, Vietnam is impacted by the economic crisis, but this city still maintains its GDP growth at a high level. Its poverty rate is the lowest in the country (there are currently about 8% of households living under 1.5 USD/capita/month). This city is also the biggest center of consumer goods, light industry, electronic industry such as ready-to-wear clothes, leather footwear, jewelry, wooden furniture, building materials, and food (Nguyen Minh Hoa, 2011). Overview of Environmental Problems in Hochiminh City Free Migration The city covers quite a large area but business activities are mainly concentrated in 10 inner districts. There are 4 newly urbanized districts and five suburban agricultural districts with less people, especially the one among the mangrove ecological zone, so that the operation of the 12 million people concentrate in 10 districts within an area of only 135 km2. Business, education, health, culture, entertainment… all concentrate in the downtown area and concentrate with high density in the core area of the city, also known as CBD (Nguyen Minh Hoa, 2015a). HCMC is a huge magnet for immigrants. Every year, migrants from the provinces in the North and Mekong Delta provinces in the West of Vietnam come to HCMC with the amount of 150.000 to 200.000 people, which is equal to a medium ward. They live mainly in the suburbs, but every day they have to move to downtown areas to earn a living. And if they live inside the city, many of those will encroach upon canals, rivers for a place to stay, thus slums would appear. They do jobs like workers in the industrial park, scrap traders, motorbike taxi drivers, hawkers, temporary workers in the construction site and have contributed to HCMC. But they also caused many problems for the city. They are factors that participate to creating environmental pollution. They are willing to litter, failing to pay waste collection, and a lot of them engage in social vices such as disturbing security, theft, robbery, drugs and prostitution. Also they cause great pressure on the city for housing, schools, and social security. Population growth in HCMC today is mainly due to the increased immigration. HCMC was forecasted that in 2050 the city's population could rise to 15 million people. (Nguyen Minh Hoa, 2015b).
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Traffic congestion Foreign travelers come to HCMC and call this city ―motorcycle city‖. The city has more than 8 million people and up to 6.352.926 million motorcycles. An average family of four people possesses 3.5 motorcycles. In addition to motorcycles, there are 600.000 cars, regardless of buses and trucks and hundreds of thousands of other motorized vehicles such as bicycles and pedicabs. Every day, there are more than 1,200 new motorcycles and 100 new cars registered in the city. According to the statistics by the Department of Transportation, HCMC has 3.583 roads with the total length of 3.668 km. The total surface area for transportation is 26 million m2 which only occupies a very low percentage, about 1.7 to 2% of the total urban land area and the transportation area per capita is 2.2 m2 (permanent population). (Bui Xuan Cuong, 2015). Five years ago, traffic jams only occurred at the gateways to the city or crossroads and during rush hours. For the time being, traffic jams take place at any time of the day and anywhere. Traffic jams last longer, about 2 - 3 hours, particularly on the bridges linking to the city. The time of traffic jams can record up to 6 hours and the length of the jams can be more than 40 km. Annual loss caused by traffic congestion is around VND 23.000 billion, equivalent to USD 1.2 billion. Each year in Vietnam 13.000 – 15.000 people die in traffic accidents, which means 35 people daily. of which 3.500 people died in the Hochiminh City. In the meanwhile, the precise loss caused by traffic accidents, such as death, injury, and damages to vehicles and families is on average VND 40.000 billion, equivalent to USD 2 billion. If including financial costs for raising orphans whose parents die of traffic accidents from childhood to adulthood, this cost is huge. Traffic congestion is one of the most serious problems and difficult to resolve in the city, after flooding (Nguyen Minh Hoa, (2015c). Air Pollution The agent causing most air pollution in the city is fuel emissions from motorcycles, cars and emissions from the producing plant of building materials. In recent years, the air pollution has been somewhat reduced, but compared to the normative standard of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Vietnam (MONRE), it is still high. In the first six months of 2015, the concentration of CO was recorded to increase in 10 measured point in the city, such as at Hang Xanh, Phu Lam, An Suong, Go Vap, the intersection Huynh Tan Phat - Nguyen Van Linh... At Go Vap measuring station, it had been recorded that the highest concentration of carbon monoxide in the air close to 16 mg/m3 (11,10 mg/m3 in 2014) and the lowest was recorded in Hang Xanh stations, which was 6,03 mg/m3 (5,61 mg/m3 in 2014). Besides, the noise level in the first six months of 2015 also increased compared to the average level of 2014. Standards allow the amount of noise of 70 dB, but in the first six months of 2015 at six measured points, the noise level index was approximately equal to or exceeding 2014‘s and was higher than a certain level. Airborne dust levels are also increasing. At Go Vap measuring station, the average dust concentration was 447 microgram/m3 in 2014 and the current is more than 496 microgram/m3. In particular, at the intersection Huynh Tan Phat - Nguyen Van Linh, from 486 microgram/m3 in 2014, it has increased to 613,83 microgram/m3 (Table 40.1) (VN government, 2015).
279
Table 40.1: Results of the monitoring of dust, CO and noise levels in the atmosphere semiautomatic stations in 2014 and the first 6 months of 2015 (Source: Report from the Center for Environment Monitoring and Analysis, Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Hochiminh City, 2015)
Testing location
2014 Jan – Jun 2015
Dinh Tien Huynh Tan Hoang – Phat – Hang Xanh Dien Bien Phu Lam An Suong Go Vap Nguyen Van Phu Linh Intersection Intersection DUST (microgram/m3) – National Standards of VN 05:2009/MONRE: 300 375,33 463,08 567,39 607,08 446,75 486,67 311,17
349,67
523,58
615,33
496,08
613,83
3
2014 Jan – Jun 2015 2014 Jan – Jun 2015
CO (mg/m ) - National Standards of VN 05:2009/MONRE: 30 5,61 9,93 6,33 10,38 11,10
5,88
6,03
6,13
9,24
7,69
11,11
15,98
NOISE LEVEL (dB) - National Standards of VN 05:2009/MONRE: 70 75,00 77,50 70,50 79,00 71,00 74,55
77,20
76,10
79,30
78,00
71,00 76,40
Housing for Low Income and Poor In HCMC, the low income earners include the wage and salary earners (such as medium or low rank workers and state officers) and the urban poor (such as vendor, hired labor, odd jobs). Their income is only about 1.5 USD - 2 USD/person/day (same or above the poverty line). It is very hard to look for a domicile with such income. In HCMC, number of people having no stable dweller is approximately more than 800.000 people (occupies 10% of total population of city). They used to live in the rental houses with bad condition and having little comfort and they used to occupy public land to build the slum settlements (Nguyen Minh Hoa (2010). According to the latest 2016 statistics, in the urban area of HCMC, there are 25.000 slums located on canals. These are mostly built and misappropriated by free and illegal immigrants. There are also 474 old apartment buildings built before 1975 for poor households but still exist due to the lack of money to abolish and reconstruct these, thus the housing issue for the poor now has no way to deal with (Lê Văn Khoa, 2016). HCMC produces millions m2 of housing per year, but it seems that the very little of which really reach to the poor consumers due to various reasons. To solve that situation, HCMC authority produces many policies but results are still limited. So the poor and low income earners in HCMC do not access to dweller. About 90 percent of migrants in HCMC are temporarily housed in unhygienic living conditions such as boarding houses that are available as rental and shareable housing units. These houses are often spontaneously built, lack technical standards, are overpriced and located in polluted marginal environments (Nguyen Minh Hoa et. al., 2013). Urban flood HCMC has an area of 2,100 km2, the Northern region is higher than the sea level 10 - 12 meters, the terrain is lower in the South of the city. Currently over 30% of the city area has a height equal to the sea level. Suburban districts like Can Gio, Nha Be, Binh Chanh are flooded when high tide water comes.
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In the Southern region of Vietnam, there are 6 months of dry season and 6 months of rainy season (from October 2016 till April 2017). In the rainy season, the situation of urban flood becomes more serious. Beginning in 2010 year and until now, the manifestation of climate change has revealed the obvious: rain lasts longer and may last longer than 1 hour; the number of raining times with 1.000 mm becomes more and more. The level of flooding increases each year. Especially from 2010 to present, flood level has been higher and higher and time for flood to come is faster. In 2008, the flood level was 1.45 meter compared with city ground, and it was 1.52 m in 2013; 1.55 m in 2014; and 1.67 m in 2015 (Figure 40.1). It is very difficult to separate and dissect what reasons that are create flood, but we could be sure about the fact that climate change is impacting the urban life of HCMC. According to the scenario, when the sea level rises from 0,7 meters to 1,0 meters, more than 70% of the surface area of the city will be submerged and more than 80% of citizen will be directly affected (Nguyen Minh Hoa (2015b). Among the challenges to the development of HCMC, the climate change is a major challenge, not only to the development of infrastructure but also to human mentality. A high pressure will be exposed to people, domestic and international investors and city government authorities when the construction of housing, offices or large urban development projects are located under sea water. A typical example was in 2004 when the city government authorities made a decision to establish a satellite city in the South of HCMC which was Hiep Phuoc port city. But so far the city has not shaped because people and investors are in fear that one day the city will sink under the sea. Therefore, to deal with climate change scenarios, HCMC government authorities has to build a strategic "Restructuring living space" plan in order to survive and grow in the coming situation. Figure 40.1: Urban flooding Map of HCMC in 2070 (Flooding is indicated by blue areas) Source: General Statistics Office of Vietnam (2014) Research Focus on Solid Waste Problem in Hochiminh City In HCMC, in the early stages of the process of industrialization and urbanization, Vietnamese received many positive outcomes such as the growth of economy, flourishing urban areas, modern infrastructure systems, but now there are also serious downsides such as depletion of natural resources, big debt, uncontrolled free migration, quickly increasing wealth gap, the growing gap between urban and rural areas, amongst which we must include the heavily polluted environment in big cities like Hanoi and HCMC. Environmental pollution may appear as solid waste everywhere, pollution of surface and underground water, increasing air temperatures, dust suspended in the air, noise exceeding the limit... Many reasons of these problems could be mentioned, analyzed and clarified below. HCMC‘s re-urbanization has been conducted since 1990 (Urbanization was first started by the French in 1890). As a result of a heavy war lasting more than 30 years, the conduct of urbanization and industrialization was very difficult and slow. To carry out industrialization, Vietnam needed a very large financial investment in infrastructure such as road transport systems, airports, sea ports and industrial 281
zones. And to have that huge amount of capital, the Vietnam Government has been selling mineral and other natural resources, borrowing external debt, and calling on foreign investors. In 1994, when the UN lifted the trade embargo of Vietnam and it was also the time that Vietnam and the United States normalized their mutual relations, the foreign investors started to come to this country. To attract direct investment, the Vietnam Government had made many preferential policies that seem easy on many terms, especially without the strict control of manufacturing and waste processing technology. At that time, most investors came to Vietnam with very outdated production technology even they themselves do not use those in their own country just to reduce the cost of the initial investment. Technologies for cement, sugar cane, thermal power, steel, chemicals production... were all from the 70s of the last century. That‘s why the massive amount of waste and other polluting substances like dust from cement plants, coal ashes from thermal power plants, by-product from sugar cane production plant have been causing serious environmental problem, affecting the lives of many citizens. Factories and plants everywhere always cause adverse impact on residential areas nearby. Hundreds of protests against the investors have taken place. A typical example is the case of Vedan, a Taiwanese company, to invest in the Northeastern region of HCMC. This company has been producing monosodium glutamate and sugar on a large scale. From 1994 to 2008 (14 years), Vedan did not build a sewage treatment system so that all the waste was discharged directly into Thi Vai river resulting in the complete death of 30 km of river with no fish or any creature else alive. More than 1.300 households living by fish farming, fishing and growing vegetables along the river were severely affected (Photograph 40.1). The company must compensate these households with 70 billion VNĐ (3.5 million USD). However, so far after 7 years the river has yet to be revived, people's health is still in bad condition and the number of people living along the river banks with cancer has significantly increased since then (VN-Government, 2009).
Photograph 40.1: One of many ―fish kills‖ caused by pollution in Hochiminh City‘s rivers.. It‘s common in every part of Vietnam to see the status of factories and plants polluting surface water, underground water, exhausting fumes into the atmosphere. Currently, the Vietnam Government has made positive changes to the law protecting the environment, but there are still concessions while sanctions are being realized. For large corporations from Korea, China and Taiwan, the environmental law seems to not even apply to any of them. The Using of Outdated Waste Treatment Technologies In HCMC, urbanization process results in the increase of urban population, construction and living standard of people. Consequence of this is the increase of the volume of solid waste. According to HCMC‘s Department of Natural Resource and Environment (DONRE), during the period 2000 - 2007, 282
amount of solid waste increased averagely 8% - 10% per year. In 2007, HCMC produced about 6.000 tons of all kinds of solid waste (including domestic, industrial and hazardous waste). In fact, solid waste in HCMC was not collected completely (the percentage of collected solid waste ranges from 70% to 90%), especially in the poor urban community located along the canals. According to HCMC Environmental Improvement Project, the estimated volume of solid waste of HCMC in 2015 is about 9.390 tons/day or 3,4 million tons/year by the year of 2015 (see Figure 40.2). In order to handle above volume of solid waste, HCMC has to pay 500 billion VND every year (including 140 - 150 billion VND for sweeping, 200 - 250 billion VND for transportation and 9 - 10 VND billions for collecting waste on canals). In addition, the city has to pay 150 - 200 billion VND for constructing dumping grounds and related works (Pham Gia Tran, 2010). Figure 40.2: Total volume of solid waste in HCMC Source: HCMC Environmental Improvement Project (2004)
But until now, the only way to handle waste disposal in Vietnam in general and HCMC in particular is to bury and to burn them. HCMC has 3 open landfills: Da Phuoc, Phuoc Hiep and Dong Thanh. Da Phuoc landfill is located in the south of the city and receives 2,000 to 2,500 tons of buried garbage every day; Phuoc Hiep landfill in the northwest buries about 2,000 tons per day; Dong Thanh landfill located in the west buries about 1,000 tons per day (Photograph 40.2). These 3 landfills are 7 - 10 km far from the CBD. Due to the simple method of disposal without steps of recycling, severe environmental pollution has started to appear, especially dirty water from garbage discharged into soil causing the earth to die so it cannot be cultivated and contaminating underground water sources so they cannot be used for drinking and irrigation. These mentioned landfills only receive 80% of the whole city waste, while the rest is piled up in residential areas, canals, rivers and unused open space. To add up to the situation, current landfills are in trouble because they don‘t have enough spaces to contain hundred-meter-high mountains of garbage and the needed time for solid waste to completely break down is from 15 to 20 years or more. Hence, in the next few years they will be closed while there is no vacant land to establish new landfill. HCMC has already planned to construct an up-to-date plant to process waste with German and American technology. But the prices are too high (over 1.5 billion USD for each plant), HCMC doesn‘t have funds to import these machineries. The use of devices with outdated technology is not only in manufacturing but also in transportation. Most of the cars in the country are originated from China, so the emission standards of the engine would be many times lower than that in Europe and North America.
283
Photograph 40.2: Landfills are causing huge environmental problems in Hochiminh City. Miscalculation in Urban Planning and Negative Consequences on the Environment Miscalculation in urban planning also takes part of responsibility for environmental pollution status quo of the city. The position of factories and plants in the city planning has caused pollution to Saigon River. Saigon River originates from the Vietnam - Cambodia border, 256 km long and running 80 km through HCMC. Cloth dyeing factories, chemicals factories, detergents factories, fertilizers factories and sugar factories are placed at the upstream of Dongnai River and some of these plants have no sewage system so all liquid waste is poured into the river. Results of water testing from HCMC Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DONRE) have shown that PH and Coliform indicators are high, exceeding the permissible standards of MONRE (Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment). Meanwhile, this river is the daily main source of water for HCMC‘s citizens, so the cost to purify river water into drinking water is very high. Table 40.2 shows results of Saigon River water quality monitoring in 2014 is poor. Table 40.2: Results of monitoring water quality at monitoring locations used for the purpose of water supply of the city in 2014 Source: HCMC – DONRE pH
Salinity (mg/l)
DO (mg/l)
COD (mg/l)
BOD5 (mg/l)
OIL (mg/l)
Coliform (MPN/100ml)
Mangan (mg/l)
Bến Củi (BC)
6,24
32,50
5,25
2,70
1,95
0,014
2.375
0,056
Bến Súc (BS)
6,12
30,63
5,72
2,78
2,08
0,015
754
0,053
Trung An (TA)
5,98
46,04
3,68
4,42
2,47
0,018
1.100
0,082
Hòa Phú (PC)
5,96
67,36
4,42
5,19
2,39
0,020
16.006
0,077
Phú Cường (PC)
6,20
64,58
3,67
4,44
2,54
0,025
49.918
0,051
Hoá An (HA)
6,58
34,17
6,02
2,20
1,72
0,024
9.026
0,038
Kênh N 46 (N46)
6,48
30,00
6,43
2,90
1,97
0,017
2.422
0,038
6 – 8,5
250
≥6
< 10
