The private sector as a partner for SDG 6-related issues in megacities: Opportunities and challenges in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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Issue Date
2022-01-29
Editor
Authors
Ferreira, Maria Inês Paes
Oliveira, Vicente de Paulo Santos de
Sakaki, Graham
Shaw, Pamela
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Subject
Abstract
This article reviews recent studies that address water sustainable management opportunities
and challenges in megacities around the world, with an emphasis on the case of Rio de Janeiro
Metropolitan Region, one of the two megacities in Brazil. With reference to recent debates on water,
megacities, and the climate crisis, as well as UN Water and Global Report Initiative documents,
we focused on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda Sustainable Development Goal 6: Clean
Water and Sanitation for All. The new Brazilian sanitation legal framework regulates public–private
partnerships. In this context, the manuscript discusses the main question concerning water, sanitation,
and hygiene that arises in the Brazilian case study: is universality possible in profit-oriented models?
Through the current technical and academic literature consulted, the paper compares initiatives
involving multiple stakeholder governance models that depend on private resources to implement
universal access to drinking water, sanitation, and water-related extreme event controls, pointing out
alternatives that can help to achieve the targets of SDG. Validation by key informants supports the
synthesis of the reviewed documents, and the findings illustrate that concerted public efforts together
with market mechanisms can help to overcome challenges and surpass the profit-oriented logics of
private companies to achieve access to healthy and safe water, adequate sanitation, and improved
hygiene, especially for vulnerable populations. This finding has transferability to other megacities in
emerging countries that are facing public–private partnership debates on the provision of clean water
and sanitation for all.
Description
This article was originally published as: Ferreira, M.I.P., Oliveira, V.d.P.S.d., Sakaki, G., & Shaw, P. (2022). The private sector as a partner for SDG 6-related issues in megacities: Opportunities and challenges in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Sustainability, 14(3), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14031597