Current Issue

There are many examples of healthy, equitable, climate-adapted urban food and waste management practices underway in the east and southern Africa region. These practices integrate waste management, clean energy and green urban ecosystems. They demonstrate multi-sector, multi-actor collaborative planning, informed by disaggregated evidence of different forms, building coalitions that share goals, ideas and ownership, and bring diverse resources and skills to processes. They show how a holistic, circular economy links the 3Rs (reduce, recycle, reuse) to reclaim vacant land with waste dumps for gardens that enable urban agriculture; that use bio-waste for energy and that develop and use local technology innovations. These initiatives integrate equity, incomes and food security to bring sustainable benefit and improved health and nutrition for often marginalised groups. They integrate health and climate justice in reduced air and water pollution, reduce emissions from waste burning, reduce flooding from clogged drains, enrich soil through organic fertilisers, and climate proof infrastructures. In iterative steps, they assess, review and improve practice, and in so doing strengthen social respect for healthy ecosystems as a source of economic and social benefit and reduced ill health. An EQUINET community of practice on urban health proposed 10 areas of action for scaling up such practices. The recommendations to build, enable and amplify such practice are shown in the brief. In each there are examples of promising practice, guidance, methods, tools and experience to share, with hyperlinks to read further information on each example. Information is also given on where to submit your own examples, as the brief will be updated over time.