On behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), GIZ (former GTZ) started an international ecosan program in May 2001. In 2009, this program was re-named to "sustainable sanitation - ecosan" program to emphasise the aspects of sustainablility more. Ecological sanitation (ecosan) is a new paradigm in sanitation that recognises human excreta and household wastewater as resources that can be recovered, treated where necessary and safely reused. Ecosan systems enable the recovery of nutrients contained in excreta and wastewater, and their reuse in agriculture. In this way, they contribute to improved soil fertility and food security, whilst minimising the consumption and pollution of water resources. They also have the potential to produce renewable energy from biogas systems.

It is evident that the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) cannot be achieved by conventional disposal oriented sanitation solutions alone and that alternative approaches are needed. German development cooperation considers ecosan as a promising approach which can contribute to achieving the MDGs – not only the MDG target for improved sanitation, but also for example for reduced child mortality and enhanced primary education. Ecosan does not equate to a specific technology but is rather a way of thinking. It includes diverse technologies such as urine-diversion dehydration (UDD) toilets, composting, rainwater harvesting, constructed wetlands, vacuum sewers, biogas reactors and many more.

ecosan website in German

www.gtz.de/...

Sustainable Sanitation Alliance (SuSanA)

Secretariat currently led by GIZ.

www.susana.org