Daniel Ddiba

Daniel Ddiba

Environmental engineer researching strategies for sustainable development in urban contexts

Blog posts

2024

World Toilet Day 2024: Toilets as a place for peace and climate action

3 minute read

Published:

Today, on World Toilet Day, we recognize toilets not just as an essential part of our daily lives but also as spaces that embody dignity, equality, and peace. This year’s theme, “Toilets: A place for peace,” reminds us of the critical role sanitation plays in fostering harmony—whether by reducing health disparities, mitigating environmental conflicts, or enhancing resilience to climate change. Within our Sanitation and Health team at the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), our work has been focusing on the transformative potential of sanitation to contribute to a healthier, more equitable, and sustainable world. This year, two recent media articles have spotlighted some of our work, underscoring how toilets can be a tool for peace by addressing global climate challenges.

New article at the SDG Knowledge Hub: Advancing climate finance for climate-resilient sanitation

less than 1 minute read

Published:

Together with my colleagues at SEI - Nhilce Esquivel and Carla Liera and other colleagues from the Climate Resilient Sanitation Coalition, we recently published an article on the SDG Knowledge Hub, introducing the newly developed Practical Guidelines for Designing Climate-resilient Sanitation Projects for the Green Climate Fund (GCF). These guidelines, a collaborative effort put together by members the Climate Resilient Sanitation Coalition, provide actionable recommendations for integrating climate adaptation and mitigation within sanitation projects, aiming to secure essential funding for vulnerable communities facing climate-related sanitation challenges. Set to launch at COP29, the guidelines offer practical tools for national governments and other stakeholders to align sanitation with climate strategies and access GCF funding.

Engagements at the 9th Africa Water Week in Cairo

3 minute read

Published:

This week, I had the opportunity of attending the 9th Africa Water Week in Cairo, Egypt, a flagship event convened by the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW). This year’s event brought together experts, policymakers, and stakeholders from across Africa and beyond to address the pressing challenges in water management and WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) services provision on the continent. Under the theme of “Placing Water and Sanitation at the Heart of Achieving Agenda 2063: the Africa We Want”, Africa Water Week fostered dialogue and showcased innovative solutions, bringing the vision of Agenda 2063 and the Africa Water Vision 2025 into sharper focus. Throughout the conference, I had the opportunity to participate in several sessions and engage in discussions on sanitation, climate resilience, resource recovery, and the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus, as described below.

Engagements at the World Water Week 2024

6 minute read

Published:

We’ve just concluded World Water Week 2024 which convened water and sanitation professionals from around the globe to address this year’s theme of “bridging borders: water for a peaceful and sustainable future.” In Stockholm and online, participants explored water’s dual role in both fueling and mitigating conflicts, with discussions covering everything from water security and cooperation across political divides to strategies for building climate-resilient and sustainable water and sanitation systems. Throughout the week, I engaged in diverse panels and sessions that underscored the role of sanitation in promoting resilience, sustainability, and cross-border collaboration.

Emerging evidence on the linkages between climate change and sanitation, for mitigation and adaptation

5 minute read

Published:

This week, we held a long awaited webinar about emerging evidence and action on the climate-sanitation linkages, on May 29th. The webinar was the result of a collaboration between the International Water Association (IWA) and the Climate Resilient Sanitation Coalition (CRSC), and aimed to provide an overview of the emerging evidence on the linkages between sanitation and climate change both from mitigation and adaptation perspectives.

Facilitating a strategy development process in Kenya

4 minute read

Published:

Over the past few months, a few of my colleagues at SEI and I have been engaged in a project to support our partners at Hand in Hand Eastern Africa to develop a strategy for their work on waste management and circular economy issues. Hand in Hand Eastern Africa is part of the global network Hand in Hand, which supports people at the bottom of the pyramid to build business that lift them out of poverty and build better livelihoods. They run a wide range of programs and in recent years, they envision waste management and circular economy as a crucial area where they can contribute simultaneously to improving people’s economic prospects, as well as environmental sustainability.

So throughout this week, I have been in Nairobi to meet with the Hand in Hand Eastern Africa team and to conduct a strategy development workshop, together with my colleagues from the SEI Africa office in Nairobi - Alphayo Lutta, Anderson Kehbila, Cynthia Sitati and Pauline Macharia.

New article at SIANI on turning wastewater into a resource and how this contributes to food security and climate action

less than 1 minute read

Published:

I recently wrote a blog post that has now been published on the website of the Swedish International Agriculture Network Initiative (SIANI). In the article, I explore how regions like Murcia, Spain, are addressing water scarcity and bolstering food security by reusing treated wastewater for agriculture. This practice not only sustains agricultural production but also contributes to climate mitigation and adaptation by recycling valuable nutrients and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Emphasizing the need for innovative solutions in wastewater management, the article calls for greater engagement, efficient resource recovery, and strategic financing to overcome existing challenges to scaling up resource recovery from wastewater.

2023

Knowledge mingle on plastic waste management at Kulturhuset

2 minute read

Published:

On Monday October 9, 2023, I had the opportunity to participate in a knowledge mingle event on plastic pollution and poverty alleviation, organized by Hand in Hand Sweden and Håll Sverige Rent at Kulturhuset Stadsteatern in Stockholm. The event aimed to raise awareness and foster dialogue on how plastic pollution and poverty are interrelated, and how we can work together to improve the situation for both the planet and the people.

Climate-resilient sanitation: three takeaways from World Water Week 2023

7 minute read

Published:

World Water Week 2023 underscored the urgent need for climate-resilient sanitation amid escalating climate change impacts. Despite growing awareness, challenges remain in understanding cause-effect relationships and securing adequate funding for sustainable sanitation systems.

Resource recovery in sanitation planning: What can decision support tools do for you?

1 minute read

Published:

Our paper “A review of how decision support tools address resource recovery in sanitation systems” has just been published, the result of a collaborative effort with colleagues Kim Andersson, Sarah Dickin, Elisabeth Ekener and Göran Finnveden. In this paper, we review 24 decision support software tools used for sanitation planning, and provide insights into how they address resource recovery across the sanitation service chain with regards to analysis of material flows, integrating resource recovery technologies and products in the design of sanitation systems, and assessing the sustainability implications of resource recovery.

Resources on the circular economy, energy and food

5 minute read

Published:

On this page, I provide a list of relevant resources related to circular economy, energy and food. The resources are provided as a reference for interested participants in circular economy related events at the Gothenburg International Science Festival 2023. You can use the links/URLs to access each resource.

2021

Exploring the circular economy potential of Naivasha’s organic waste

6 minute read

Published:

Every day, Kenyan urban areas generate solid waste at the rate of 0.31 to 0.75 kg per person per day. Less than half of that waste is collected and only about 8% of it is recycled. The rest ends up in landfills and dump sites leading to pollution, adverse health impacts and degradation of the ecosystem.

2019

The Kenya Sanitation Conference showed we know what to do – now it’s time to do it

6 minute read

Published:

The event proved sanitation discourse in Kenya has made great strides towards inclusiveness, realism and sustainability. Hopefully, we’ll see these values reflected in action. Kenya pays dearly for the gaps in its sanitation and hygiene services: total economic costs have been estimated at US$ 324 million annually. About 12.5% of Kenyans still practise open defecation and most of the population don’t have access to safely managed sanitation services, according to the latest report of WHO and UNICEF’s Joint Monitoring Program.

2018

How to write a motivational letter

11 minute read

Published:

I am enthusiastic about higher education and its potential to not only enable people achieve their dreams, but also to contribute to the economy through the development of human capital. Therefore, I have always been glad to help people go about the procedures of applications and admissions to university education. This being a peak season for many universities’ admissions cycles, several colleagues have contacted me over the past month or so to help them, mostly to review and critique their motivational statement/letters. The more people I worked with, the more I thought about writing a general guide to help perhaps even more people go about the process of crafting a motivational statement that best presents their personality and hopefully helps them stand out from the huge crowd of applicants.