Climate and Clean Air Coalition

Transformative action in the waste sector

Engineering X, the lead in a consortium; Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, International Solid Waste Association, Practical Action and UN Habitat, have been awarded $1.3m USD under the Climate and Clean Air Coalition’s Transformative Action funding call.

Since the publication of the Global Review on Safer End of Engineered Life in January 2021, Engineering X, in partnership, have sought to raise the attention of open burning of waste on the high level agenda; highlighting the catastrophic effects on human health and environment from this dangerous practice are embedded in international frameworks, national and sub national policies to support the implementation of solutions.

This new two-year project is a significant milestone, developing three regional roadmaps to increase action and awareness to end open burning in Africa, Asia and Latin America & the Caribbean. Despite the multiple dimensions to this problem (economic, social, and environmental) and serious impacts, awareness about the effect of open burning is poor. National and local governments, development partners, civil societies and development financing institutions need to urgently address this growing problem and ensure waste is properly managed. These roadmaps aim to equip local and national governments and other regional bodies with the knowledge and tools to plan and take action to reduce open burning of waste and toxic emissions. Activities will also include raising the profile of open burning with funders and connecting them to governments to focus on implementation.

Each roadmap will be built on information gathered from reviews of existing evidence and data, field surveys, consultative meetings, and interviews with key stakeholders. The road maps will be piloted in one city in each region. Lessons learned from these city pilots and the ongoing engagement with regional bodies will help to fine tune the roadmaps to improve their feasibility and sustainability at a regional level.