Announcement
4th International Faecal Sludge Management Conference
Date and Location
19-22 February 2017 in Chennai, India
Background
Worldwide, 2.7 billion people rely on onsite sanitation. Yet, there is still typically no management system in place to deal with the resulting faecal sludge (e.g. septage and pit latrine sludge). The result is that the waste typically ends up being dumped directly into the urban environment, with significant health and environmental implications. Creating faecal sludge management (FSM) infrastructure and public services that work for everyone, and keep fecal sludge out of the environment is a major challenge for achieving universal sanitation access.
To address this challenge, a global platform for discussion of FSM was created in 2011 by leading global sector organizations. The aim was to share and brainstorm potential solutions, to formulate policy recommendations that promote best practices, and to identify lessons learned in how to make FSM an integral part of sanitation service delivery. Building on the success of the first three International FSM Conferences in Hanoi (2015) and in Durban (2011& 2012), FSM4 aims to bring together professionals working in the sector, including utilities, service providers, cities, governments, academics, scientists, consultants, donors and industries, to support the global initiative of disseminating sustainable solutions for FSM.
FSM4 will be held in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, where the State Government has recently initiated measures to address FSM with regard to policy, regulatory changes, innovative solutions, and pilots. FSM4 will focus on innovative and practical solutions that can be scaled up, including three tracks: research, case studies, and industry & exhibition.
FSM Research Track
Implementation of effective FSM programs requires that decisions are made based on peer reviewed data rather than opinion and rules of thumb. For this reason, documented research into FSM is important. This stream will focus on new FSM research results that are applicable for low- and middle-income countries. This includes aspects such as:
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FSM Case Studies Track
This track will present case studies and lessons learned from practical experiences of providing and managing FSM services and infrastructure. It will provide examples of successful FSM at scale in low- and middle-income countries, along with lessons learned from successes and failures in places where city FSM operations are still developing. The case studies should be strongly evidence-based, including data on population served, and address, among other aspects:
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FSM Industry and Exhibition Track
This track will focus on providing an outreach platform for relevant products and services across the entire FSM chain. It will create a physical space for suppliers and customers of FSM solutions to interact, demonstrate practical evidence, disseminate information and build alliances. The product and services highlighted will be relevant to FSM specifically and not sanitation in general. This includes options/solutions for
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Call for Abstracts and Registration
A call for abstracts will be issued in the coming weeks along with registration information.
Convenors
The FSM4 conference is convened by the FSM Conference Advisory Board composed of leading organizations and individual experts:
- Asian Development Bank
- Water Research Commission (ZA)
- World Bank-WSP
- Bill& Melinda Gates Foundation (US)
- UNESCO-IHE (NL)
- Eawag-Sandec (CH)
- GIZ (DE)
- Sustainable Sanitation Alliance
- University of KwaZulu-Natal (ZA)
- BORDA (DE)
- Indian Partners
For further information please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
