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Policy and Legal Aspects

Improving sanitation is a global objective with goals set by international organisations such as the United Nations and the World Health Organization.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDG) set by UNDP in 2000 include: the target to halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and sanitation.The MDGs help inform national policy making and the development of appropriate local objectives and targets for sanitation improvements.  National policy outlines the roles and responsibilities that different stakeholders play in planning, designing and implementing sanitation improvements.

Laws and regulations affecting sanitation can be found predominantly in the realm of public health legislation. Nevertheless, regulations related to sanitation provision may also be found under both environmental protection and occupational health laws and regulations. All of these laws and regulations need to be taken into account when seeking to improve sanitation in a particular community.

Under this topic you can find information on:

  • Policy and legal aspects of sanitation
  • World policy on sanitation
  • Useful publications on policy and legal aspects of sanitation
  • Other related links

FolderAt the End of the Pipe?

Programme public debate "are we connected?"

In January and February 2005, three meetings were held on the theme of sanitation and integrated sustainable urban planning. During these meetings, participants from various disciplines were encouraged to look abroad and take notice of new developments. After which they discussed the sustainability of our current sanitation systems and wether there are more feasible and efficient approaches now and in the future.

The public debate on 3 March concluded this series of meetings. It elaborated on the ideas and messages that were gathered, and formulated concrete input for the 13th session of the Commission for Sustainable Development (CSD) in April 2005 in New York.

The input of the meetings and the results of the public debate can be found hereunder:

  • Resume of the public debate
  • Proceedings of all sessions 
  • Overall Programme of End of the Pipe
  • Input for CSD 13 April 2005
  • Outcome of the CSD 13

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