Tackling the significant issues that climate change creates for sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene services.
We approach climate change in a holistic manner.
For our work in this area, we integrate thinking from environmental, social, and engineering disciplines to develop conceptual approaches and practical strategies for robust, equitable, and sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services under climate stress and uncertainty.
PROJECT | 2024-2026
Emissions Measurement to Improve Sanitation in Indonesia
EMISI project in Indonesia, an initiative of Ministry of Public Works and Housing, supported through DFAT’s Indonesia Australia Partnership for Infrastructure.
PROJECT | 2023-2024
Future proofing a basic social service: climate-resilient community-based rural water supply
This project aims to provide innovative tools, capacity, and policy recommendations to improve the climate resilience and inclusiveness of rural water systems in Indonesia, including their related water resources.
PROJECT | 2023-2025
Climate resilient and inclusive WASH systems in Cambodia
The research aims to support CSOs (Civil Society Organisations), water associations and government actors to adapt and implement guidelines related to climate resilient water resources management planning at varied scales in Cambodia (commune, district, catchment).
PROJECT | 2023-2024
CIRCLE WASH
Circular economy approaches can strengthen WASH services while driving climate resilience, inclusion and wider sustainability. CIRCLE WASH is a two-year research project contributing new thinking and case study insights about the potential of circular economy ideas for water and sanitation service systems.
Client: GHD - DFAT Water for Women Fund
Partners: IWEM, IWMI, UNICEF
Researchers: Avni Kumar, Jeremy Kohlitz, Juliet Willetts, Naomi Carrard, Monique Retamal
View more projects
PROJECT | 2023-2024
Towards Inclusive Climate Resilient WASH in Bhutan, Laos and Nepal
UTS-ISF is partnering with SNV to strengthen the climate resilience of WASH services in Bhutan, Lao PDR, and Nepal. The project involves strengthening government leadership on WASH and climate action, developing rural water management models for climate resilience, exploring household coping mechanisms, estimating GHG emissions from sanitation, and optimising sanitation supply chains.
Location: Bhutan, Nepal, Lao PDR
Client: SNV Netherlands Development Organisation
Researchers: Jeremy Kohlitz, Juliet Willetts, Naomi Carrard, Avni Kumar, Diana Gonzalez Botero
PROJECT | 2023-2025
UNICEF EAPRO partnership
UTS-ISF is working with UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office and country offices in the region to jointly build knowledge to inform climate resilient, safely-managed WASH services, including a focus on gender, inclusion, rights and accountability.
Location: Asia-Pacific region
Client: UNICEF
PROJECT | 2023-2024
Resilience in a Changing Climate: Advancing Research on Groundwater for Equity (RECHARGE)
The RECHARGE project explores how to achieve safely managed, climate resilient water services in urban areas of Indonesia and Vietnam, where household use of groundwater is prevalent but water quality issues are of concern.
In Indonesia this includes a focus on the relative risks in different cities, depending on groundwater depth, type of water and sanitation services, land-use and other factors. It also includes examining the extent of contamination from onsite sanitation systems and relationship to rainfall, as well as behaviour change approaches to shift from self-supplied groundwater to piped water services.
In Vietnam the project has a strong emphasis on social inclusion and climate resilience in groundwater access. It explores the role of groundwater as a primary source of drinking water in Soc Trang and Tra Vinh provinces. The research investigates household experiences of groundwater access and use, climate change impacts, and how water service providers and governments are grappling with the complexity and uncertainty of managing groundwater-based water services that are inclusive and climate resilient.
Client: Water for Women funded by the Australian Government's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT)
Partners: Universitas Indonesia, University of the South Pacific, Can Tho University
Researcher: Juliet Willetts, Diana Gonzalez Botero, Naomi Carrard, Tim Foster, Jeremy Kohlitz, Avni Kumar
PROJECT | 2022
Water for Women Climate Change Learning Agenda
UTS-ISF is collaborating with the International WaterCentre, WaterAid, SNV, IRC, RTI International and Plan International to produce learning materials and events on four topics related to climate change and WASH:
- Assessing climate risk, vulnerability and resilience
- Monitoring climate risks to WASH services
- Nature-based solutions for climate resilient WASH
- Climate financing for WASH
Location: Asia-Pacific region
Clients: GHD, DFAT
Partners: SNV Netherlands Development Organisation, International Water Centre, WaterAid, International Rescue Committee, RTI International, Plan International
Researchers: Jeremy Kohlitz, Juliet Willetts
RESEARCH OUTPUTS
Environmental Indicators Climate Risks to Inclusive WASH (2023) (Report)
Knowledge and Practice Gaps in Climate Resilient Inclusive WASH (2022) (Report)
Summary of climate risk, vulnerability and resilience assessment tools related to WASH (2023) (Summary) (Authored by: IWC)
Climate Finance for WASH: Pacific Region (2023) (Brief) (Authored by: WaterAid)
Climate Finance for WASH: Cambodia (2023) (Brief) (Authored by: WaterAid)
Climate Finance for WASH: India (2023) (Brief) (Authored by: WaterAid)
Climate Finance for WASH: Indonesia (2023) (Brief) (Authored by: WaterAid)
Climate Finance for WASH: Pakistan (2023) (Brief) (Authored by: WaterAid)
Climate Finance for WASH: Papua New Guinea (2023) (Brief) (Authored by: WaterAid)
PROJECT | 2021-2023
Climate resilient urban sanitation
Equipping the urban sanitation sector with tools and knowledge for building climate resilience.
RESEARCH OUTPUTS
ClimateFIRST: Climate Framework to Improve the Resilience of Sanitation Technologies (2023) (Tool)
Coastal Climate Impact Analysis and Sanitation Hazard Assessment Framework (2023) (Report)
Urban sanitation and climate change: A public service at risk (2022) (Report)
PROJECT | 2021-2022
Online course on climate resilient and inclusive WASH
UTS-ISF developed a free, self-paced online course for WASH professionals and students to learn about climate resilient and inclusive WASH. The course covers key concepts and theories, tools, and case studies relating to various dimensions of climate resilience and inclusion for WASH.
Location: Asia-Pacific region
Client: GHD - DFAT Water for Women Fund
Researchers: Jeremy Kohlitz, Juliet Willetts, Tamara Megaw
RESEARCH OUTPUTS
PROJECT | 2021-2022
Rural sanitation and climate change case studies
UTS-ISF and the Sanitation Learning Hub are producing a series of case studies that document how considerations of climate risk can be integrated into CLTS using the SNV Laos program as a case study, and how climate variability and extreme events affect rural sanitation in communities in Bangladesh and Burkina Faso.
Location: Lao PDR, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso
Client: Institute for Development Studies
Researchers: Jeremy Kohlitz, Juliet Willetts, Avni Kumar
RESEARCH OUTPUTS
Impacts of climate hazards on rural sanitation and hygiene practices in Burkina Faso (2023) (Report)
Mainstreaming climate risks into rural sanitation programming in Lao PDR (2022) (Learning Brief)
PROJECT | 2021-2022
Inspiring local government heroes of climate action for inclusive WASH
UTS-ISF and SNV used the Q-methodology to understand the motivators and constraints of local governments in Lao PDR and Nepal to tackle climate change issues in the rural WASH sector. Findings were used to trigger local government to integrate climate action into their WASH work through providing tailored support to motivated local government authorities.
Location: Lao PDR, Nepal
Clients: GHD, DFAT
Partner: SNV Netherlands Development Organisation
Researchers: Jeremy Kohlitz, Avni Kumar, Anna Gero, Juliet Willetts
RESEARCH OUTPUTS
Inspiring local governments to mainstream climate action in WASH (2022) (Case Study)
PROJECT | 2021
Learnings from the Water for Women Fund partners on climate change and inclusive WASH
UTS-ISF led an initiative with Water for Women Fund partners to synthesise their project learnings on climate change and inclusive WASH to share with the global WASH sector. The project produced a vignette report containing Fund partners’ experiences with and recommendations for addressing climate-related issues.
Location: Asia-Pacific region
Clients: GHD, DFAT
Researchers: Jeremy Kohlitz, Anna Gero
RESEARCH OUTPUTS
Making the critical connections between climate resilience and inclusive WASH: Lessons from Water for Women (2022) (Report)
PROJECT | 2020-2023
Climate change and sanitation: assessing resilience and emissions (SCARE)
The SCARE project seeks to develop our understanding of two inter-related and critical areas of WASH services related to climate change: the emission of greenhouse gases, particularly from onsite sanitation systems; and improving our understanding of what makes sanitation services resilient of climate change. Understanding both these issues is important to understand and make choices in trade-offs between reducing emissions and developing resilient and sustainable services that protect public health.
Location: Nepal, Ethiopia, Uganda, Senegal
Client: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Partners: Bristol University, University of Leeds, Kathmandu University, Haramaya University, Kyambogo University, Global Green Growth Institute
Researchers: Freya Mills, Juliet Willetts, Jeremy Kohlitz, Jay Falletta
PROJECT | 2020-2022
Rural sanitation and climate change: Putting ideas into practice
UTS-ISF and the Sanitation Learning Hub partnered to provide guidance on how communities can be supported to understand impacts of climate change on rural sanitation and what can be done to support climate resilient rural sanitation. A Frontiers of Sanitation issue outlines actionable ideas for addressing climate change in rural sanitation programming that are being tested in Lao PDR, Bangladesh and Burkina Faso.
Location: Lao PDR, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso
Client: Institute of Development Studies
Researchers: Jeremy Kohlitz, Avni Kumar, Juliet Willetts
PROJECT | 2020-2021
Urban sanitation climate resilience in Indonesia
UNICEF commissioned UTS-ISF and Universitas Indonesia to carry out a study in four cities to examine how climate change is likely to affect urban sanitation services. This study explored how communities, sanitation service providers and government agencies can be better prepared to respond and adapt. The research produced a synthesis report of learnings and recommendations, a technical brief and academic journal articles.
Location: Indonesia
Client: UNICEF
Partner: Universitas Indonesia
Researchers: Jeremy Kohlitz, Freya Mills, Juliet Willetts
RESEARCH OUTPUTS
Co-developing evidence-informed adaptation actions for resilient citywide sanitation: Local government response to climate change in Indonesia (2022) (Journal article)
Climate resilient urban sanitation in Indonesia: Hazards, impacts and responses in four cities (2021) (Report)
Climate resilient urban sanitation in Indonesia: Hazards, impacts and responses in four cities (2021) (Technical paper)
PROJECT | 2018-2022
Beyond the Finish Line: Supporting local governments to strengthen climate resilient rural WASH
UTS-ISF is working with SNV in Lao PDR and Nepal to better understand and respond to impacts of climate change on sustainable rural WASH. In Lao PDR, UTS-ISF and SNV are training local government authorities on understanding and assessing climate impacts on rural sanitation in Savannakhet Province. In Nepal, UTS-ISF and SNV are training local governments to in Sarlahi and Dailekh districts to account for climate risks in their rural water development work.
Location: Nepal, Lao PDR
Client: SNV Netherlands Development Organisation
Researchers: Jeremy Kohlitz, Anna Gero
RESEARCH OUTPUTS
Climate change, rural sanitation and hygiene in Bhutan: taking stock (2021) (learning brief)
Climate change and rural water in Nepal: taking stock (2021) (learning brief)
PROJECT | 2019
Climate change and urban sanitation: conceptual approaches and practical application
New lines of thinking are needed to ensure urban sanitation services are sustained equitably against climate change.
UTS-ISF and SNV Netherlands Development Organisation's research and learning partnership examined how climate change impacts urban sanitation, drawing on analyses in five countries: Bangladesh, Nepal, Indonesia, Tanzania and Zambia.
Location: Bangladesh, Nepal, Indonesia, Zambia, Tanzania
Client: SNV Netherlands Development Organisation
Researchers: Freya Mills, Jeremy Kohlitz, Juliet Willetts, Naomi Carrard
RESEARCH OUTPUTS
Considering climate change in urban sanitation: Conceptual approaches and practical implications (2019) (Report)
Climate sensitive FSM: New thinking from vulnerability, resilience and risk-hazard approaches (2019) (Presentation)
Urban sanitation and climate uncertainty: New ways forward (2019) (Conference Poster)
Considering climate change in urban sanitation: Conceptual approaches and practical implications [Summary] (2019) (Report Summary)
PROJECT | 2019
Climate, sanitation and health
Climate change projections indicate changes to the timing, intensity and spatial distribution of weather- and climate-related events. Increasing global and regional temperatures have the potential to increase the frequency, intensity and duration of severe extreme weather events; increase variable and unpredictable precipitation; and increase mean sea-levels.
These changes affect sanitation systems and the infrastructure, water resources, water services, and other social and governance systems on which sanitation depends. Many of the direct and indirect effects on sanitation pose a danger to human health and development.
This work produced a discussion paper linking climate, sanitation and health.
Location: Global
Client: World Health Organization
Researchers: Jeremy Kohlitz, Juliet Willetts, Anna Gero, Freya Mills
PROJECT | 2018-2021
Climate change response for inclusive WASH
This research project, as part of the DFAT Water for Women Fund, supported civil society organisations to assess climate change impacts to improve the service, gender and social inclusion outcomes of WASH programs.
