This article uses a stochastic-optimization model to simulate the impact of flood embankment investments on the distribution of agricultural incomes in coastal Bangladesh. The authors find that the risk of crop loss is greatest for the poor, and make the case for planning models to consider interacting benefits and risks within a local political economy to better inform coastal adaptation decisions.
Published Article
(Re-)orienting the Concept of Water Risk to Better Understand Inequities in Water Security
This research article presents a theoretical framework for embedding water risk in equitable water security considerations, based on analysis of lived water experiences and hyrdosocial drivers in the Awash River basin in Ethiopia.
Assessing the effect of sustainable land management on improving water security in the Blue Nile Highlands: a paired catchment approach
This paper investigates the use of sustainable land management (SLM) practices over a 5 year catchment restoration effort in the Blue Nile Highlands, Ethiopia, analysing run off and soil moisture dynamics. It finds SLM interventions are capable of restoring natural hydrological functionality, and reducing nonproductive freshwater losses.
Fear, Efficacy, and Environmental Health Risk Reporting: Complex Responses to Water Quality Test Results in Low-Income Communities
This paper investigates how water quality information influences water safety management in rural Kenya. The authors find that while poverty threatscapes and gender norms hinder behaviour change, test results can motivate supply-level managers to implement hazard control measures.
Infrastructure alone cannot ensure resilience to weather events in drinking water supplies
The paper presents a novel multi-country empirical study measuring weather impact on water quality. Results show that weather-related shocks affect drinking water quality and health, requiring strengthened climate resilience that addresses management and infrastructure.
Invited perspective: Beyond National Water Quality Surveys: Improving Water Quality Surveillance to Achieve Safe Drinking Water for All (Sustainable Development Goal 6.1)
This perspective summarises a recent paper from the Joint Monitoring Program team (Bain et al. 2021), and recommends three key areas for capacity strengthening to advance water safety toward achieving SDG 6.1: better information through risk-based monitoring, improved institutional clarity on roles and responsibilities, and more investment in mainstream water safety planning.
Who does what and why? Examining intra-household water and sanitation decisionmaking and autonomy in Asutifi North, Ghana
This article examines two important aspects of decision-making around WASH: motivations behind a person’s actions, and the extent to which decisions are perceived to be solely or jointly made.
‘They will listen to women who speak but it ends there’: examining empowerment in the context of water and sanitation interventions in Ghana
This study explores the meanings of women’s empowerment in the WASH sector from the perspective of local stakeholders in the Asutifi North District, Ghana.
Geomorphic change in the Ganges– Brahmaputra–Meghna delta
More than 70% of large deltas are under threat from rising sea levels, subsidence and anthropogenic interferences, including the Ganges–Brahmaputra–Meghna (GBM) delta, the Earth’s largest and most populous delta system. This review describes GBM delta dynamics, examining these changes through the Drivers– Pressures–States–Impacts–Responses framework.
Individual choices and universal rights for drinking water in rural Africa
This paper seeks to understand which attributes of water services rural people value. The authors modelled more than 11,000 choice observations in rural Kenya by attributes of drinking water quality, price, reliability, and proximity.