Most fast-growing cities in South Asia face waterlogging and water contamination from improperly managed solid waste. Extreme weather events, including floods and droughts, are expected to further aggravate the situation and impact water supply, drainage, and sewerage infrastructure. Protecting cities requires reducing waste and improving waste collection, investment in drainage, replacing riverside and wetland dumping with engineered landfills, and identifying sustainable mechanisms to finance waste management.

ICIMOD’s South Asian Network for Development and Environmental Economics (SANDEE) in collaboration with the Asian Center for Development (ACD) and the Institute of Water Modeling (IWM), Bangladesh, has been conducting a joint research on climate change and cities in Bangladesh and Nepal. The research intends to understand the climate risks to Asian cities by specifically studying Bharatpur in Nepal and Sylhet in Bangladesh. It has examined the current situation and solutions for mitigating the risks of water logging from intense rainfall by improving the drainage network and solid waste management in these cities. This research also examines the willingness of households to pay for improved waste management service, the value of cleaner neighbourhoods, and sustainable financing of municipal solid waste management services.

In this context, SANDEE is organizing a dissemination workshop to share the research findings with stakeholders. The ongoing research on “The economics of solid waste management and drainage: Sustainable approach to making South Asian cities climate-resilient,” falls under the wider theme of climate change and cities supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada.