Dead planet, living planet

ECOSYSTEM RESTORATION FOR HEALTH AND WASTE WATER MANAGEMENT Over half of the organic water pollution and initial wastewater production takes place outside of cities – largely a result of loss of wetlands, increasing erosion and run-off re- sulting from clearing of natural vegetation along field edges, streams, villages and slopes due to activities such as deforestation, overgrazing and intensive or unsustainable agri- culture (UNEP, 2010). Restoration of wetlands to help filter certain types of wastewater can be a highly viable solution to wastewater management challenges (Ko et al ., 2004). Forested wetlands treat more wastewater per unit of energy and have a 6 – 22 fold higher benefit-cost ratio than traditional sand filtration (Ko et al ., 2004).

Wetlands, river deltas, lakes and marshes play a crucial role not only in sedimentation of pollutants and organic matter, cultures and harvest of fish and provision of nesting or feeding habitat for birdlife all across the planet, they also serve as important filters for pollutants. Intensive management to increase agri- cultural production – through irrigation and the application of fertilizers and pesticides – can further reduce the water quality available for consumption. Such intensification has had major direct impacts on biodiversity, such as on farmland birds and aquatic species, but also on algae blooms and water quality, and in return, on people’s health. Run-off from agricultural and livestock production may result in the eutrophication or pollution of aquatic ecosystems (Seitz- inger and Lee 2008). Aquatic ecosystems are also being affect- ed by food production in terrestrial areas, mainly through high nutrient input and alteration of freshwater flows. In the NW Gulf of Mexico, nutrient enrichment mainly from fertilizer use in the Mississippi Basin, has accounted for the world’s largest hypoxic or dead zone (Turner & Rabalais 1991, Rabalais et al . 1999; UNEP, 2008). Without significant nitrogen mitigation efforts, marine areas will be subjected to increasing hypoxia

Securing safe water and reducing the unregulated discharge of wastewater are among the most important factors influenc- ing world health. WHO estimates that worldwide some 2.2 million people die each year from diarrhoeal disease, 3.7 % of all deaths and at any one time over half of the world’s hos- pitals beds are filled with people suffering from water related diseases (UNDP 2006). Of the 10.4 million deaths of children under five, 17 % are attributed to diarrhoeal disease, i.e. an estimated 1.8 million under-fives die annually as a result of diarrhoeal diseases (UNEP, 2010). Unmanaged wastewater is a vector of disease, causing child mortality and reduced labor productivity, but receives a disproportionately low and often poorly targeted share of development aid and investment in developing countries. However, while there is some increased focus on the need for treatment plants and operational maintenance over time (UNEP, 2010; UN-HABITAT, 2010), the role of ecosystem res- toration has sofar not received the attention it deserves – while providing the most viable operational, practical, cheapest and most effective solution for improving water quality in rural ar- eas and into urban centers.

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