BORDA South Asia

Poverty alleviation along with natural resources and climate protection in India, Nepal and Bangladesh: sustainability by improving sanitation and promoting decentralised waste and wastewater treatment.

The South Asian countries of operation, mainly India, but also Nepal and Bangladesh, are marked by increasing economic growth and urbanisation. Despite the general growth trends, poverty remains high, for example in India, because growing economic prosperity does not affect large parts of the population. There is still a lack of sanitation facilities, even with the progress against poverty alleviation and many years of effort from various government agencies and private institutions. In India, 53% of the population defecate in the open, and 35.4% of people in Nepal do not have access to a toilet. With respect to waste management, it is estimated that each person in India produces about 0.4 kilograms of waste each day, of which 94% is disposed of improperly. A lack of sanitation, wastewater and waste management infrastructure contributes to increasing pollution, which has serious health and economic impacts.