WASH

Water

Clean drinking water

Animals

Focus Photo of Brown Sheep Under Blue Sky
A Close-Up Shot of a Turtle Underwater

Sanitation

Water Close Up Photography

Hygiene

Bucket of water in an outdoor setting where mosquitoes with viruses could lay their eggs. Courtesy of the Public Health Image Library, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Child Washing Hands with Soap

HYBRID SESSION: 21 AUGUST 2023 • 11:00 12:30 CEST

Putting animals on the WASH agenda


An increasing number of vulnerable people depend on animals for their survival, livelihoods, and dignity. We all share our water sources with other species. Yet WASH interventions often fail to consider animals’ roles, needs, and impacts on water.


Join us for an insightful session on how WASH interventions can address shared risks and opportunities at the animal, human, and water interfaces.


Donkey in the Sahara

Session goals

Farmer with His Water Buffalo

raise awareness

To bring visibility to animals as a critical component of WASH contexts

learn and share

To offer opportunities for participants to learn and share best practices that widen the scope of questions that can be addressed in WASH interventions

Network

To encourage cross-sectoral cooperation.

Six integrated approaches

to animals and WASH


The session explored new ideas and practices across six thematic areas,

showcasing initiatives that work across domains to build animals into the WASH equation.




Design: PresentationGO.com

Icons: flaticon.com

Opening words


Dr Carolina Probst

Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (Germany)


and


Sasha Koo-Oshima F

ood and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations (FAO)

Health

In settings where people and livestock live close, specific sanitation and hygiene measures are needed to prevent and control infections and antimicrobial resistance, and to improve animal health.


In addition, safe and efficient reuse of both human and animal excreta is also important to maintain fertile soils and reduce pollution of ground– and surface water.


See also: Chicken and cows do not use toilets: what can we do about it?


Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) and SLU facilitated in 2022/23 a network on WASH and One Health, with participants from Burkina Faso, Kenya, and Mozambique. A scoping study focusing on links between WASH and the prevention of zoonoses was carried out by network partners in Burkina Faso and Kenya. Interviews with WASH and zoonoses experts revealed barriers, opportunities and research needs for WASH to be seen as a key tool in zoonoses policies and programs, and conversely, for the prevention of zoonoses to be considered in WASH policies and programs.

One Health linkages

Linus Dagerskog


Swedish International Agricultural Network

Initiative (SIANI)

Stockholm Environmental Institute (SEI)


Health

CLTS and other WASH initiatives have largely ignored management of livestock and domestic animals, which the FAO estimates generate 85% of the world’s faecal waste.

The International Livestock Research Institute pilots Animal inclusive CLTS in Mali. The project is an innovative WASH model which integrates animal waste management strategies tailored to the realities of rural Malian households into Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS).


Animal inclusive CLTS in Mali

Dr Michel Dione


International Livestock Research Institute

Food production

Increasing demand for resource-intensive animal protein has resulted in higher point source water pollution from nutrients and antibiotics. This adds to the impact of poorly managed sanitation systems on food safety.


Better understanding of the connections between water quality and food safety is needed to safeguard human health, implement sustainable agriculture and improve environmental outcomes.


Additional resources available here on WGS (FAO and FDA), on anti- microbial resistance, on AMR and the environment, and on AMR and animal health.




Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) is an innovative tool tested in FAO pilot countries to address water-animal-human health linkages for improving detection in promoting health and the environment.

Whole Genome Sequencing

Sasha Koo-Oshima

Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations (FAO)


and


Dr Eric Steven

US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)


Biodiversity


Healthy natural infrastructure requires maintaining ecosystems and ensuring environmental flows, biodiversity and associated services (including WASH) are available in the watersheds for future generations of people, animals and plants.



WASH in watersheds

Janet C. Edmond

Conservation International

Animal welfare

Where entire communities are reliant on working animals for their subsistence and transportation of water supply, a healthy and well-protected animal workforce is a significant tool to effectively face the consequences of financial, social and environmental challenges.


The Working Animal Alliance is engaged with populations for whom equine welfare is intrinsically linked to ensuring access to water for both humans and livestock. The cases of families and livestock in the Sahel area in Senegal, and people and animals in Nepal, Honduras and Cambodia show how working equines are essential on a global scale.

Working animals and water security

Debbie Warboys

World Horse Welfare

The Working Animals Alliance

Security

Animals are increasingly caught in human disputes over water access.


Climate change and encroachment on animal habitats generate human-wildlife conflicts, while violence increases between nomadic herders and sedentary farmers competing for diminishing water and grazing land. Violence has intensified with governance failure to deal with resource shortages, insecurity, and social and environmental injustices.


Climate shocks such as droughts and floods can magnify local tensions and fuel conflict, particularly harming those who earn an income through agriculture and pastoralism.


The International Crisis Group explores the challenges posed by farmer-herder conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa and suggests ways to reduce the possibility of violence.


Farmer-herder conflicts

Elissa Jobson

International Crisis Group

Humanitarian,

development

and peace

Livestock Emergency Guidelines and Standards include Provision of Water as one of its six technical interventions and include information on the importance of water as a livestock emergency response, alongside technical options for water provision.

Livestock plays a central role in the resilience of livestock-dependent communities.


Strengthening the capacity of people and their livestock to tackle water shocks, slow-onset crises and complex and chronic water emergencies establishes strong links between short-term humanitarian interventions and long-term development goals. It also contributes to building peace.



Livestock, water,

and humanitarian response

Susan Bishop

Livestock Emergency

Guidelines and Standards


Schedule


Welcome


Session framing


WASH and One Health


CLTS and animals


Whole Genome Sequencing


WASH in watersheds


Animal welfare and WASH


Farmer-herder conflicts


Livestock, water, and humanitarian response

Q & A


Final remarks


Speakers

Dr. Carolina Probst

Division for pandemic prevention and preparedness, One Health

Sasha Koo-Oshima

Deputy Division Director - Lead on One Water One Health

helene le deunff

Programme Manager

Linus dagerskog

Research fellow

Michel dione

Senior Scientist – Animal Health

Animal and Human Health Program

janet c. edmonD

Senior Director

Eric Stevens

CFSAN Codex Program Coordinator

Debbie warboys

Public Affairs Officer – EU and International

elissa jobson

Chief of Advocacy

suzan bishop

Technical and Project Manager

Alejandro jimenez

Director, Water and Sanitation

Moderator

Sarah Dickin

Lecturer

International Centre of Education for Sustainable Development

A Water Ripple

Event reports

Policy Brief and recommendations