UNESCO Office, Jakarta Flagship Programme UHJAK/09/Flag2

Sustainable Water Management Improves Tomorrows Cities Health (SWITCH) -in-Asia

Region:

BACKGROUND
Increasing global change pressures, escalating costs and other risks inherent to conventional urban water management are causing cities to face ever managing scarcer and less reliable water resources. Furthermore, satisfying water uses and services and waste-water disposal without creating environmental, social or economic damage is an increas-

Partners:
Research institutions; municipal authorities; city planners; developers; small and medium enterprises; non-governmental organizations (NGOs); United Nations agencies; banks and bilateral agencies; water authorities; water companies (private and public)

General Objective:
To develop, apply and demontechnological and socio-economic solutions and approaches that contribute to the development of water management (UWM) schemes in Asian Cities

Duration:
Phase I from 2009 to 2014 (action research*, demonstration and establishment of a learning alliance), and Phase II from 2011 to 2018 (replication and scaling up)

61% of the global population, and its share of the global urban population has risen from 9% in 1920 to 48% in 2000, and is expected to rise to 53% by 2030. Asia holds half of the worlds cities including 6 of the worlds 10 largest cities. Many of these cities have doubled their population every 15 to 20 years. By 2020, two-thirds of the entire Association of East Asian States (ASEAN) urban population will live in only

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Bangkok; Kuala LumpurKlang; Singapore Triangle; Java; and Manila. At present, 69% sanitation, and Asian rivers are the most polluted in the world, with three times as many bacteria from human waste as the global average. Growing cities and their populace exert a tremendous amount of stress on the environment and society creating major challenges in water use and waste disposal, and water pollution. These, in turn, have serious negative social and economic consequences.
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Estimated budget:
55-60,000,000 USD

For more information, please contact:

UNESCO Oce Jakarta Jl. Galuh (II) No. 5 Kebayoran Baru Jakarta 12110, INDONESIA tel: +62-21 739 9818 fax: +62-21 7279 6489 jakarta@unesco.org www.unesco.org/jakarta

*Action research: Research carried out by practitioners supported by researchers and taking place in the real world as opposed to a laboratory, computer or university

 UNESCO Jakarta/Pungky Utami, CLCC Unit

HOW CAN SWITCH HELP AND HOW DOES IT WORK?

SWITCH aims to bring about a paradigm shift in urban water management away from existing ad hoc solutions to urban water management and towards a more coherent and integrated approach. vision of SWITCH is for sustainable urban water management in the 'City of the Future'. The SWITCH Consortium represents academics, urban planners, water utilities and consultants. This network of researchers and practitioners works directly with civil society through 'learning alliances' in ten global cities. These are platforms which bring city stakeholders (utilities, ers. Other methods such as demonstrations, research, training and knowledge sharing are used to accelerate the sharing and adoption of more sustainable urban water solutions across

WE WILL WORK TO DELIVER THE FOLLOWING:

L Create a change in urban water management practices through its dissemination and training components. L Contribute to a reduction of water-related vulnerabilities, health impacts (replication in other cities). L Generate new technical know-how on UWM technologies (e.g., storm-water source control, eco-hydrology concepts, advanced ecological sanitation, soil-aquifer-treatment systems) that will be used by water engineers and city planners. L Demonstrate that the application of the SWITCH-in-Asia cies in terms of environmental and socio-economic sustainability. L Active school water and sanitation programme, which adopts the same concepts of rational use and reuse, and links this also to the school curriculum in the context of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). L Contribute to water supply for all and improved service provision by protecting water resources (reduction of pollution). L (un)treated wastewater to replace expensive drinking water for uses in (urban) agriculture and forestry, industry and households. L recovered from the waste-water; for instance in urban agriculture.

SWITCH-in-Asia
During the 4th World Water Forum in Mexico in March 2006, the European Union and UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education launched the SWITCH initiative, which constitutes a world-wide innovative urban water management project, implemented via a 33-partner consortium, addressing similar objectives as those outlined in the SWITCH-in-Asia programme. In order to achieve our objectives, SWITCH-in-Asia will be implemented along three components, namely: action research; demo-sites; and capacity building and awareness-raising. The regional programme will be initiated at the national level for target countries including Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea (Rep of ), Malaysia, Nepal, the Philippines, Samoa, Singapore, Timor-Leste and Vietnam. SWITCH-in-Asia is however an openended initiative and invites additional countries in the region to join at any time during the implementation. Each country and city should demonstrate concrete aspects of innovative approaches towards sustainable UWM. Here, the preliminary list includes: eco-technologies for water and sanitation; eco-hydrology for water quality improvement; cleaner industrial production; waterscapes for storm-water management; urban agriculture; groundwater recharge coastal water; delta-cities; green schools; water education and capacity building; water demand management and water reuse, as key topics. Each national project will be interconnected through a learning alliance to facilitate exchanges and communication at the regional level forming a regional learning alliance.

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