Hi Shikun,

I am so pleased you found your way to this forum! We have far too few Chinese contributors here, so I am wishing you a warm welcome and hope you enjoy the experiences you make here!

I was once in Beijing for an IWA Conference in 2006; it's possible that we met then.

You asked "is there any discussion about toilet-related greenhouse gas emission on the forum?" Answer: yes there is. You can find them here in the sub-category on "climate change and sanitation":
forum.susana.org/195-climate-change-and-sanitation

Or by putting GHG into the search field towards the top of the page. The search spans the entire SuSanA platform (i.e. forum and website) but you can narrow down the search results by clicking on "forum results only". Hope this helps. Please keep us posted about your progress.

Regards,
Elisabeth

Dear Elisabeth,

I appreciate your answers so much.

I was working with Zifu Li, Heinz-Peter Mang, Elisabeth Huba Mang since I became a master student in 2007. They are my tutors for my research careers. And I throw myself into sanitation and toilet completely at present.

I think I met you many years ago in Beijing for some conference organized by us. I am newcomers to this forum. However, I found there were so many interesting discussions on this forum. In the past days, I was active to raise and answer questions. I regret not joining early.

I read the Chinese book ‘Toilet revolution’, mentioned by Scott Chen. But I don't have it at hands in the UK. Otherwise, I could share some comments with international colleagues.

The question about "Toilet revolution in other countries" is based on a project. Promoting sanitary toilet is the task of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. Before, toilet retrofitting is under the supervision of the National Health and Family Planning Commission. Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs entrusts with us to complete a study of the toilet revolution in other countries.

I am also working on the research of toilet standardization. I have raised another question on another topic.

I have another question, is there any discussion about toilet-related greenhouse gas emission on the forum? For instance, GHG emission from open defecation and from UDDT or other improved sanitation facilities. I read a paper in Chinese, the GHG emission from the septic tank in urban China is equivalent to the whole GHG emission from the municipal wastewater treatment plant. I doubt that the GHG emissions from the rural toilet may be also a huge amount.

Once we have other publications within the topics in China, I will share with international colleagues. If you have any questions about sanitation in China, please no hesitate to ask. I am happy to share.

Thanks again for your attention.

Best greetings on behalf of Zifu Li, Heinz-Peter Mang, Elisabeth Huba Mang, and other Chinese colleagues

Shikun CHENG

Dear Shikun,

(for the benefit of newcomers: a previous discussion about the Toilet Revolution in China is available here: forum.susana.org/142-government-as-a-dri...several-publications)

You have asked for government-led large-scale initiatives to increase access to sanitation in countries other than India and China, right?

Some discussions about the government-led SBM in India are here: forum.susana.org/swachh-bharat-abhiyan-in-india-sba-or-sbm

The government in Ghana is also pretty active, and we have grouped the discussions together here:
forum.susana.org/ghana-government-initiatives

Since you ask for rural areas, the term community-lead total sanitation (CLTS) comes to mind. This has become an important part in many government programmes in developing countries. You can see previous discussions on the forum here:
forum.susana.org/5-community-led-approac...otal-sanitation-clts

I hope this helps. Don't be afraid to ask further about this or to enrich the previous discussions with your ideas.

I copy here a section from the conclusion of your paper ( link to the open access paper ) - this also applies to so many other countries:

Meantime, the challenges faced are: insufficient funding and policy
support, regional imbalance and lagging approval processes, weak
sanitary awareness and low acceptance of new toilets, lack of R&D
and service system. The toilet revolution in China requires a
concerted effort from many governmental departments. It needs to
address not only technology implementation, but also social
acceptance, economic affordability, maintenance issues and,
increasingly, gender considerations.

Regards,
Elisabeth

Dear all,

I am a researcher at the University of Science and Technology Beijing and I am working on toilet management, under the "Toilet Revolution" campaign in China (see attachment, a paper published by us about toilet revolution in China). I am now in the UK for one-year visiting at Imperial College London.

We are looking for some good experience in other countries about "Toilet Revolution" or similar topics, how can manage toilet in rural areas effectively? I know that India is implementing the "Clean India" campaign to build 111 million toilets until 2019. Are there any other countries which may have a similar campaign with China and India? I hope to learn more.

Thanks in advance.

Shikun Cheng, Ph.D.
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