TY - JOUR
T1 - Global arsenic dilemma and sustainability
AU - Bundschuh, Jochen
AU - Niazi, Nabeel Khan
AU - Alam, Mohammad Ayaz
AU - Berg, Michael
AU - Herath, Indika
AU - Tomaszewska, Barbara
AU - Maity, Jyoti Prakash
AU - Ok, Yong Sik
N1 - Funding Information:
Hernandez et al. (2019) presented a successful case of taking electrochemical arsenic remediation (ECAR) technology developed by the researchers at the University of California-Berkeley (UCB) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in 2006 to the West Bengal state of India for its commercialization. The collaboration of UCB and UCB with the Global Change Program of Jadavpur University (GCP-JU) and local private industry group, received financial support from the Indo-US Technology Forum (IUSSTF) from 2012 to 2017. This collaboration targeted several sustainable development goals (SDGs) while addressing the arsenic public health crisis's technical, socioeconomic, and political aspects. This case highlighted the significance of designing a technology contextually, bridging the knowledge divide, supporting local livelihoods, and complying with local regulations within a defined Critical Effort Zone period with financial support from an insightful funding source focused on maturing inventions and turning them into novel technologies for commercial scale-up. Moreover, it underscored the importance of building trust with the community through repetitive direct interactions and communication by the scientists, which was vital for bridging the technology-society gap at a critical stage of technology deployment in this case. Thus it filled a knowledge gap regarding successful case studies in which the arsenic remediation technology obtains social acceptance and sustains technical performance over time while operating with financial viability ( Hernandez et al., 2019 ).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022
PY - 2022/8/15
Y1 - 2022/8/15
N2 - Arsenic (As) is one of the most prolific natural contaminants in water resources, and hence, it has been recognized as an emerging global problem. Arsenic exposure through food exports and imports, such as As-contaminated rice and cereal-based baby food, is a potential risk worldwide. However, ensuring As-safe drinking water and food for the globe is still not stated explicitly as a right neither in the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) nor the global UNESCO priorities. Despite these omissions, addressing As contamination is crucial to ensure and achieve many of the declared human rights, SDGs, and global UNESCO priorities. An international platform for sharing knowledge, experience, and resources through an integrated global network of scientists, professionals, and early career researchers on multidisciplinary aspects of As research can act as an umbrella covering the activities of UN, UNESCO, and other UN organizations. This can deal with the mitigation of As contamination, thus contributing to global economic development and human health. This article provides a perspective on the global As problem for sustainable As mitigation on a global scale by 2030.
AB - Arsenic (As) is one of the most prolific natural contaminants in water resources, and hence, it has been recognized as an emerging global problem. Arsenic exposure through food exports and imports, such as As-contaminated rice and cereal-based baby food, is a potential risk worldwide. However, ensuring As-safe drinking water and food for the globe is still not stated explicitly as a right neither in the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) nor the global UNESCO priorities. Despite these omissions, addressing As contamination is crucial to ensure and achieve many of the declared human rights, SDGs, and global UNESCO priorities. An international platform for sharing knowledge, experience, and resources through an integrated global network of scientists, professionals, and early career researchers on multidisciplinary aspects of As research can act as an umbrella covering the activities of UN, UNESCO, and other UN organizations. This can deal with the mitigation of As contamination, thus contributing to global economic development and human health. This article provides a perspective on the global As problem for sustainable As mitigation on a global scale by 2030.
KW - Arsenic
KW - Drinking water
KW - Human rights
KW - Sustainable development goals
KW - UNESCO
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85131634967&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2022.129197
DO - 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2022.129197
M3 - Article
C2 - 35739727
AN - SCOPUS:85131634967
SN - 0304-3894
VL - 436
JO - Journal of Hazardous Materials
JF - Journal of Hazardous Materials
M1 - 129197
ER -
