This regional report is the product of the joint efforts of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the Inter-American Association of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering (AIDIS). The report assesses solid waste management in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) in the year 2010, and is the result of a year-long research and information analysis project supported by governmental agencies, NGOs, and universities from several countries of the region.
Strategies and Impact in Developing Countries emphasizes the research of sustainability management and strategies in developing countries providing information to the public, researchers, planners, and stakeholders dealing with sustainability management and strategies, particularly for developing and emerging economic countries.
Solid waste management affects every person in the world. By 2050, the world is expected to increase waste generation by 70 percent, from 2.01 billion tonnes of waste in 2016 to 3.40 billion tonnes of waste annually. Individuals and governments make decisions about consumption and waste management that affect the daily health, productivity, and cleanliness of communities. Poorly managed waste is contaminating the world’s oceans, clogging drains and causing flooding, transmitting diseases, increasing respiratory problems, harming animals that consume waste unknowingly, and affecting economic development. Unmanaged and improperly managed waste from decades of economic growth requires urgent action at all levels of society. What a Waste 2.0: A Global Snapshot of Solid Waste Management to 2050 aggregates extensive solid aste data at the national and urban levels. It estimates and projects waste generation to 2030 and 2050. Beyond the core data metrics from waste generation to disposal, the report provides information on waste management costs, revenues, and tariffs; special wastes; regulations; public communication; administrative and operational models; and the informal sector. Solid waste management accounts for approximately 20 percent of municipal budgets in low-income countries and 10 percent of municipal budgets in middle-income countries, on average. Waste management is often under the jurisdiction of local authorities facing competing priorities and limited resources and capacities in planning, contract management, and operational monitoring. These factors make sustainable waste management a complicated proposition; most low- and middle-income countries, and their respective cities, are struggling to address these challenges. Waste management data are critical to creating policy and planning for local contexts. Understanding how much waste is generated—especially with rapid urbanization and population growth—as well as the types of waste generated helps local governments to select appropriate management methods and plan for future demand. It allows governments to design a system with a suitable number of vehicles, establish efficient routes, set targets for diversion of waste, track progress, and adapt as consumption patterns change. With accurate data, governments can realistically allocate resources, assess relevant technologies, and consider strategic partners for service provision, such as the private sector or nongovernmental organizations. What a Waste 2.0: A Global Snapshot of Solid Waste Management to 2050 provides the most up-to-date information available to empower citizens and governments around the world to effectively address the pressing global crisis of waste. Additional information is available at http://www.worldbank.org/what-a-waste.
Central America is undergoing an important transition. Urban populations are increasing at accelerated speeds, bringing pressing challenges for development, as well as opportunities to boost sustained, inclusive and resilient growth. Today, 59 percent of the region’s population lives in urban areas, but it is expected that 7 out of 10 people will live in cities within the next generation. At current rates of urbanization, Central America’s urban population will double in size by 2050, welcoming over 25 million new urban dwellers calling for better infrastructure, higher coverage and quality of urban services and greater employment opportunities. With more people concentrated in urban areas, Central American governments at the national and local levels face both opportunities and challenges to ensure the prosperity of their country’s present and future generations. The Central America Urbanization Review: Making Cities Work for Central America provides a better understanding of the trends and implications of urbanization in the six Central American countries -Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama- and the actions that central and local governments can take to reap the intended benefits of this transformation. The report makes recommendations on how urban policies can contribute to addressing the main development challenges the region currently faces such as lack of social inclusion, high vulnerability to natural disasters, and lack of economic opportunities and competitiveness. Specifically, the report focuses on four priority areas for Central American cities: institutions for city management, access to adequate and well-located housing, resilience to natural disasters, and competitiveness through local economic development. This book is written for national and local policymakers, private sector actors, civil society, researchers and development partners in Central America and all around the world interested in learning more about the opportunities that urbanization brings in the 21st century.
This book highlights the need to boost infrastructure investment in cities as also the necessity for fiscal management across all levels of government-within the context of decentralizing service delivery responsibilities. The volume provides case studies reflecting various viewpoints and a range of success and failure stories from five countries. The topics covered include: - Impact of political and fiscal decentralization - Limitations on borrowing - Managing moral hazard - The role of the financial sector in striking a balance between controls and encouraging the local government to maintain fiscal discipline
The author examines the role of private participation in infrastructure (PPI) in mobilizing finance for key urban services, that is, urban roads, municipal solid waste management, and water and sanitation since the early 1990s when private participation came to be seen as a key element in infrastructure development. Her review indicates that for financing urban services, PPI has disappointed-playing a far less significant role than was hoped for, and which might be expected given the attention it has received and continues to receive in strategies to mobilize financing for infrastructure. Looking beyond the number, the author examines transactions and finds that there are good reasons-practical, political, economic and institutional-for these disappointments. Recommending that cities in developing countries try harder is not likely to relieve all these constraints. Experience shows that there are a number of features that raise the risk profile of urban infrastructure for private investors, which has meant that the bulk of the transactions that have taken place have been exceptions rather than harbingers of a growing trend. Many of the measures that could reduce the risk profile are outside the control of many cities, others unlikely to change, and yet another group of steps to be taken that would improve prospects for urban service provision, whether in the hands of public or private operators. These findings suggest a more pragmatic and selective approach to the focus on PPI as a source of finance, and more focus on the array of some of the fundamental steps, among them strengthening the public finances of cities to improve both the capacity to deliver services and to reduce the risks that private investors must take when they invest in urban infrastructure.
Municipal Solid Waste Energy Conversion in Emerging Countries: Technologies, Best Practices, Challenges and Policy presents contributions from authors from India, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, South Africa and China who come together to present the most reliable technologies for the energy conversion of municipal solid waste. The book addresses existing economic and policy scenarios and possible pathways to increase energy access and reduce the negative impacts of inadequate disposal. The book's authors discuss anaerobic digestion and other MSW conversion technologies, such as incineration and gasification. The environmental and social impacts of their introduction in small villages in emerging countries is also explored. Due to its focus on local authors and its pragmatic approach, this book is indispensable for bioenergy researchers and practitioners in emerging economies, as well as researchers, graduate students and professionals interested in developing waste to energy technology that can be implemented in those regions. It is also particularly useful to professionals interested in energy policy and economics, due to its assessment of policy and recommendations. - Explores the opportunities and challenges for municipal solid waste to energy technology implementation in emerging economies, such as Brazil, India, South Africa and China - Presents a detailed and updated overview of the commercial technologies available in these countries and their economic, environmental and social aspects - Includes case studies which highlight best practices and successful local experiences - Examines current economics and policy barriers for these technologies
