Published In

Solutions

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-1-2012

Subjects

Drinking water -- Developing countries, Sustainability -- Measurement, Carbon offsetting -- Developing countries

Abstract

The World Health Organization estimates that 884 million people do not have access to safe sources of drinking water. Meanwhile, about half of the world's population continues to use unsustainable, biomassbased energy sources for indoor fuel, leading to extensive deforestation, harmful indoor air emissions, and in many cases upper respiratory disease and high commodity costs for impoverished families. Exacerbating these problems are the international effects of climate change, expected to significantly impact developing countries by changing water and energy quality and availability. International development organizations work tirelessly to address these challenges. However, many efforts struggle with achieving long-term sustainability; many well-intentioned programs fail when their ambition is not matched by the financial sustainability and objective performance of data collection. Our team is studying these gaps, and we have proposed several concepts that seek to provide built-in accountability and sustainability mechanisms.

Description

This is the publisher's final PDF. Originally published in Solutions (http://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/)

Persistent Identifier

http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/9341

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