Humans are integrally linked to their environment. Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) activities associated with conservation integrate health objectives with watershed management approaches, and link rural and urban water supply and sanitation. These linkages reduce the impact of pollution on the watershed and the ecosystem goods and services that it provides. Conservation efforts more traditionally intersect with WASH at the rural or community level. However, the rapid growth of towns and cities, increased water variability related to climate change, and water stress such as aquifer over-exploitation, saline intrusion, and eutrophication, have increased attention on the upstream watersheds that filter and regulate urban water supplies.
Recognizing the need to better link freshwater conservation and WASH initiatives, the US Agency for International Development Bureau for Africa-supported Africa Biodiversity
Collaborative Group (ABCG) and its member organizations came together with development non-governmental organizations, academics and USAID and other donors, to produce these guidelines for integrated programming in sub-Saharan Africa. Their purpose is to provide guidance to health, development, and conservation professionals in sub-Saharan Africa on how to plan, coordinate, develop and achieve mutually supported WASH and freshwater conservation outcomes.