FORECASTING SUSTAINABLE URBANIZATION:

SUPPORT FOR SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE PLANNING IN CITIES

Inception and Data Collection Workshop

17-18 February 2020

State Institution, Dushanbe Plaza Dushanbe, Tajikistan

Workshop Report

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Table of Contents

Background ..............................................................................................................................................3

Project Aims ..............................................................................................................................................4

Workshop objectives .................................................................................................................................4

Programme ...............................................................................................................................................5

Key outcomes from workshop ...................................................................................................................6

Session 1: Opening and project introduction .............................................................................................7

Session 2: Reviewing urbanization, resource flows, and environmental trends in Dushanbe ......................9

Session 3: Data collection to support the baseline analysis and identify gaps ..........................................11

Session 4: Development of project plan ..................................................................................................13

Further information ..................................................................................................................................14

List of participants ...................................................................................................................................15

Participant evaluation form analysis .........................................................................................................17

More information on the workshop including the summary report of urbanization and resource

trends in Tajikistan and all presentations by the organizers and participants made during the

workshop can be found at:

https://www.unescap.org/events/forecasting-sustainable-urbanization-inception-and-data-

collection-workshop-dushanbe

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Background

The Asia-Pacific region is among the most rapidly urbanizing in the world. Its urban population increased by over 725 million people between 2000 and 2015 and is estimated to increase by another 688 million by 2030. The manner in which cities develop is vital for countries to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and to realize their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under the Paris Climate Agreement.

While many cities in the region have seen considerable economic and social development, urban planning has lagged and infrastructure development has not kept pace. This may threaten the region’s continued growth, and potentially prompt regression away from the SDG targets. Local policymakers often lack not only the capacity to gather and utilize information and data, but also the tools to understand longer term impacts of urbanization and growth, limiting the ability to properly plan and implement urban solutions that would ensure future cities are resilient and resource efficient. Additionally, long-term financing and investment needs are often uncertain due to a lack of robust forecasting of required infrastructure and resource needs. As a result, cities are likely to continue to experience urban sprawl, over-consumption or inefficient use and management of resources, severe environmental impacts and natural resource scarcities, increased inequalities, and a lack of access to services for both residents and industries.

In North and Central Asia, landlocked developing countries such as Tajikistan face even more challenges to manage urban growth amidst rapid GDP growth, which will accelerate resource consumption and carbon emissions. The average annual urbanization rates are expected to double between 2015 and 20301 while projected annual real growth in GDP currently exceeds 4 per cent. 2 This growth is already resulting in exponentially high resource intensities with Tajikistan’s material resource intensity in 2016 far exceeding subregional and regional averages.3 Tajikistan’s material resource intensity of 3.9 kg/US$ is more than double the ESCAP regional average of 1.8 kg/US$. This trend is similar for water: Tajikistan’s water intensity (measured in m3 per US$) is even more extreme, exceeding by over twenty times the ESCAP and subregional averages.4 Better understanding of these trends and future resource demands from urbanization will provide opportunities to reduce these extreme resource intensities.

1 Tajikistan annual urbanization rate increases from 0.56 in 2015-2020 to 1.30 in 2025-2030. Source: 2018 Revision of the World Urbanization Prospects, Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), available at: https://www.un.org/development/desa/publications/2018-revision-of-world-urbanization-prospects.html 2 Average projected real GDP growth (2018-2023), from World Economic Outlook, 2018, available at: https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/NGDP_RPCH@WEO/OEMDC/ADVEC/WEOWORLD 3 https://dataexplorer.unescap.org 4 Water intensity (in m3 per US$): the ESCAP average is 0.11, the average for the North and Central Asia subregion is 0.11, and in Tajikistan it is 2.6

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Project Aims

The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) proposes to assist three partner cities, Dushanbe in Tajikistan, Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan, and Xiamen city in China, to better plan sustainable infrastructure and manage urban growth by developing and applying a forecasting methodology and tool.

Altering future trajectories in these cities will require a decoupling of economic growth from resource consumption and a drastic reduction in resource intensities associated with urbanization. Through application of the tool, the project focus is to support cities to generate robust forecasts and develop future scenarios which will identify resource efficient development pathways. The scenarios will demonstrate cost and resource savings that can be achieved over a long-term period well beyond the project duration, and enable the partner cities to conduct infrastructure planning to create more resilient, resource efficient, and sustainable cities, including through nature-based solutions and adoption of environmental policies for sustainable management of resources.

Through this project, ESCAP seeks to assist cities to address the increase in natural resource depletion resulting from unplanned and/or unmanaged urbanization. Altering these trends requires robust analysis of existing data and metrics and a means to forecast resource needs, investments, and the potential for policy interventions and technical solutions. The resulting tools and methodologies would then have the potential to be replicated and scaled-up throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

Workshop objectives

The purpose of this city-level workshop in Dushanbe was to introduce the project and collect data to support the baseline analysis and the development of the forecasting tool. The objectives of the workshop were:

1. To broaden understanding of the relationship between urbanization and resource consumption, and to review the policy environment of urbanization, resource flows, and environmental trends in Dushanbe;

2. To identify data to support a baseline analysis and projections for resource use and intensities in Dushanbe based on population and GDP estimates to 2025 and 2030; and

3. To develop a project plan and establish a Working Group to support the project’s implementation in Dushanbe.

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Programme

Day 1

09.30 – 10.00 Registration

10.00 – 11.00 Session 1: Opening and project introduction – Opening remarks – Introduction to project – Plenary comments

11.00 – 11.15 Coffee break and group photo

11.15 – 12.30 Session 2: Reviewing urbanization, resource flows, and environmental trends in Dushanbe – ESCAP presents regional data – Local institutions present trends in Dushanbe

12.30 – 13.30 Lunch

13.30 – 14.30 Session 2 continued

14.30 – 14.45 Coffee Break

14.45 – 16.00 Session 3: Data collection to support the baseline analysis and identify gaps – Introduction to the tool’s data needs – Participants discuss potential data sources in breakout groups and

then report back in plenary

Day 2

09.00 – 09.15 Review of previous day

09.15 – 10.45 Session 3 continued – Participants discuss potential data sources in plenary

10.30 – 10.45 Coffee Break

10.45 – 11.45 Session 4: Development of project plan – Working Group established and project plan elaborated

11.45 – 12.00 Closing remarks and workshop evaluation

12.00 – 13.00 Lunch

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Key outcomes from workshop

- The aims of the ‘Forecasting Sustainable Urbanization’ project were introduced, presentations were delivered on the relationship between urbanization and resource consumption at the global and regional levels, and participants delivered presentations and contributed to engaging discussions on the policy environment of urbanization, resource flows, and environmental trends in Dushanbe;

- It was noted that the forecasting tool that is being developed under the project is not intended to rewrite Dushanbe’s existing development plans, but is instead a tool to supplement the city’s existing efforts and initiatives by enabling officials and stakeholders to visualize the resource implications of different potential infrastructure and policy options;

- Official representatives of Dushanbe City Hall and partner organizations agreed to support the data collection for the baseline analysis and expressed interest in applying the forecasting tool in Dushanbe to identify pathways to improve living standards for the city’s residents, which is particularly pertinent given Dushanbe’s significant forecasted population growth;

- Potential data sources for the project’s indicators were identified across material use, solid waste generation, energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption, land use, and socioeconomic status in Dushanbe. Challenges related to the availability or timeseries of data for some of the indicators were discussed, inter alia data on waste management and the environmental impacts of resource use;

- With the support of Mr. Husniddin Saidmuminov, First Deputy, Main Department of Architecture and Urban Planning of Dushanbe and the focal point for the project in Dushanbe, an official letter will be prepared on behalf of the Mayor of Dushanbe. This letter will be sent to the organizations and departments that were identified as potential sources for the data;

- The project’s next steps and project timeline were presented. The data collected will be used to develop a baseline analysis for Dushanbe with visualizations of business-as-usual projections of resource consumption and resource intensities based on population and GDP estimates to 2030. A forecasting tool training and scenario making workshop will be conducted once the forecasting methodology and tool are developed;

- Based on the application of the forecasting tool, Dushanbe city officials will be able to forecast and visualize the resource impacts of various policies and infrastructure investments and develop resource efficient scenarios to support the achievement of Dushanbe’s existing targets and development plans.

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Session 1: Opening and project introduction

Mr. Tolib Karim Rahimzoda, Deputy Mayor of Dushanbe, kindly provided the opening remarks for the workshop. The Deputy Mayor expressed his gratitude to the project partners and workshop participants and his desire for Dushanbe to become a green city. He outlined the development strategy of Tajikistan and highlighted the achievements of the city of Dushanbe, which has made particular progress in architecture and urban planning. He noted that this project to support the improvement of public services, infrastructure, and the living standards of the population through the more efficient use of natural resources is a positive and timely initiative, and stated that the Mayor’s office offers its cooperation to ESCAP and will provide support to enable the successful implementation of the project in Dushanbe.

Mr. Curt Garrigan, Chief of the Sustainable Urban Development Section, ESCAP, introduced the ‘Forecasting Sustainable Urbanization’ project. Dushanbe was selected to be a project city based on an analysis that found that Tajikistan’s resource intensities are significantly higher than subregional and regional averages, whilst the city of Dushanbe is also experiencing significant population growth. Since 2000 Dushanbe has grown by approximately 350,000 people and the city is projected to add almost half a million more people over the next 15 years. Being able to forecast and visualize the impacts of economic and population growth on resource use will enable the city of Dushanbe to develop policy pathways and plan infrastructure investments that can achieve city targets whilst using resources more efficiently, being cost effective, and reducing pressures on the environment.

The world's cities are the powerhouses of economic growth, with 80 per cent of global GDP being produced within them, but they also account for most of the world’s resource use and greenhouse gas emissions. The world is also rapidly urbanizing, with the Asia-Pacific region alone projected to increase its urban population by an additional 1.2 billion people by 2050. Therefore, the decisions and actions required to drive society towards more sustainable patterns of production and consumption will have to be made, to a large extent, in the world’s cities.

Resource decoupling aims to enable the use of fewer resources (including materials, energy, water, and land) whilst maintaining economic growth, and offers a route for countries and cities to reduce high resource intensities. Forecasting enables cities to visualize the impacts of population and economic growth on their resource needs and develop scenarios to translate existing city targets for increasing resource efficiencies into policy actions. Forecasting can also help cities to prioritize actions and investments, identify potential cost savings, and validate existing initiatives and investments that have increased resource efficiencies.

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The implementation of the ‘Forecasting Sustainable Urbanization’ project in Dushanbe will have four components. The project will:

1. Collect data on urbanization, resource flows, and environmental trends in Dushanbe;

2. Train stakeholders and officials in Dushanbe to apply a forecasting tool to better understand the future impacts of urban growth;

3. Support stakeholders and officials in Dushanbe to develop policy pathways based on forecasted resource efficiency scenarios to plan sustainable infrastructure and achieve city targets;

4. Disseminate the lessons learned and the forecasting tool throughout the Asia-Pacific region, spotlighting the experience in Dushanbe.

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Session 2: Reviewing urbanization, resource flows, and

environmental trends in Dushanbe

This session provided an opportunity to review the urbanization, resource flows, and environmental trends in Dushanbe. ESCAP representatives opened the session by presenting the national-level trends in Tajikistan and how they compare with subregional and regional averages for material use, solid waste generation, energy use, and water use. ESCAP representatives also presented on the significant population growth in Dushanbe and reflected on the available data on resource use in the city, with water consumption over three times higher than the national average, and the city accounting for most of the air pollution in Tajikistan. The territory of Dushanbe is also planned to increase by almost three times by 2040.

Participants also presented on urbanization and resource trends in Dushanbe, and there were engaging roundtable questions and discussions amongst the participants. Highlights of the discussion included:

- Over recent years Dushanbe’s population has increased more quickly than other cities in Tajikistan, largely in part due to the higher quality of life available in Dushanbe compared to other cities;

- The Master Plan of the city of Dushanbe was highlighted as the first key document that guides the strategic and economic development of the city. It was adopted in 2012 and has been approved by the Dushanbe municipal government, with key Ministries and city departments taking part in the development of the plan. The Master Plan focuses on the improvement of living standards and the implementation of the Master Plan includes an expansion of the territory of the city of Dushanbe. In addition, all relevant Ministries and Dushanbe city departments have been involved in the collection of relevant data since 2015;

- Alongside the Master Plan, the Strategy for the Socioeconomic Development of the city of Dushanbe was highlighted as the second key document for the city, of which a draft resolution has been adopted. The strategy supports informed decision-making and appropriate mechanisms for identifying where and what should be constructed in Dushanbe;

- The rapid growth of Dushanbe has caused planning and development challenges. For example, neighborhoods near Dushanbe but that are administered by other territorial authorities have been built up, increasing complexities for planning and transportation needs. In addition, the treatment plant in Dushanbe will be moved to the western part of the city within the next 15-20 years, and some unplanned development in the city has had negative environmental effects, though improving the environment is a key component of the Master Plan;

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- The recent increase in air pollution in Dushanbe since 2015 has resulted from the increased emissions from the construction of thermal power plants. With the planned expansion of industrialization in Dushanbe, participants agreed the city needed to determine which kinds of industries should be prioritized in order to help minimize pollution levels in the city whilst also providing jobs and opportunities;

- Waste management is a challenge in Dushanbe, with issues including a lack of waste collection vehicles and incomplete access for most of the population to waste collection points. This results in waste leaking into the nearby river, and waste management in Dushanbe city could be better planned. An organic waste treatment plant is to be constructed, however, which will be able to process organic waste into mineral fertilizer;

- The city has an overloaded transportation network, with both the public transportation system and roads placed under stress by the daily commutes of thousands of people from peri-urban areas and the migration of people to Dushanbe. Ring roads were proposed as an option to reduce congestion within the city;

- Decisions regarding the development of Dushanbe should also ensure the safety and security of the city’s population. In particular, Dushanbe is located in an earthquake-prone area, so approval for the construction of high-rise buildings should only be given following a detailed study of the land and groundwater context, and height restrictions for buildings should apply where risks are identified.

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Session 3: Data collection to support the baseline analysis and

identify gaps

During this session participants discussed potential data sources, first in breakout groups facilitated by ESCAP representatives and then in plenary. The outcomes of the discussions on the data availability and potential sources for each of the kinds of resources to be forecasted in the tool are summarized below. It was noted that for many of the indicators data is only available for the last 5-8 years, as this is the period during which a process of reconstruction and improvement of the statistical data collection system took place in Dushanbe.

- Water consumption: The key indicators on water consumption could be provided by Tajikvodokanal (the water company that operates in Dushanbe), with data available from 2005. Data exists on wastewater and on wastewater that undergoes treatment at sewage treatment plants, as well as on the proportion of the population that lacks access to safe drinking water (approximately 3-5 per cent). One complication is the thermal power plants in the eastern and northern parts of the city that use large volumes of water as part of their systems, which is then discharged and treated through the communal treatment facilities, though this is accounted for under the Vodkhoz (the local government agency that provides water services) reporting system;

- Solid waste generation: Data on the collection of general solid waste can be obtained from the Committee for Environmental Protection and its unit in Dushanbe city, as well as from the State Unitary Enterprise "Khojagii Manzi Komunali". Data is available by type of waste generated and source of waste. Additional data on hazardous waste can potentially be sourced from the Agency for Drugs under the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. Data gaps include information on the composting of organic waste, on biogas and biomass formation, and on incineration and waste burning;

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- Energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions: Potential sources for these indicators include the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Tajikistan, the Ministry of Industry of the Republic of Tajikistan, "Zelenstroy", "Barki Tojik", the City Committee on Environmental Protection, and the Tajik Hydrometeorological Center. On the issue of renewable energy, it was highlighted during the discussion that some renewable energy is generated locally but not sold back to the grid, and some traffic lights are already powered using solar energy. Greenhouse gas emissions from transportation can potentially be calculated, as can emissions from stationary sources, though there are challenges calculating the fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions of private sector entities. In addition, data on air quality disaggregated for Dushanbe is available, and the United States Embassy in Tajikistan built a stationary laboratory in 2018 in Dushanbe that has data on PM2.5;

- Material use: Data on material use in Dushanbe could potentially be sourced from the Department of Industry and Construction, the Department of Trade and Services of the Statistics Agency under the President of the Republic of Tajikistan, the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Tajikistan, the Dushanbe City Statistics Agency, the Department of Municipal Services of Dushanbe City Hall, "TajikGaz", the Department of Industry and Energy of Dushanbe City Hall, and the Department of Trade of Dushanbe City, though it was noted that data on national material use may not necessarily be disaggregated for Dushanbe;

- Land use: Sources for land use data proposed included the Environmental Protection Committee of the Republic of Tajikistan, the Land Management Committee of Dushanbe City, and the Environmental Protection Department, the Greening Department, the City Architecture Department, and the Construction and Utilities Department of Dushanbe City. For data on land use for roads and transportation, the Office for Road Repair and Construction and the Office of Architecture and Construction were identified as potential sources. It was proposed during the discussion that green belts should be constructed around the city, whilst it was noted that activities are already ongoing to plant over 30,000 trees in Dushanbe;

- Socioeconomic status: The Department of Demography of Dushanbe City and various departments of the Statistics Agency under the President of the Republic of Tajikistan were proposed for the indicators on the socioeconomic status of Dushanbe.

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Session 4: Development of project plan

The next steps for the project were discussed in plenary, and a consensus was reached on the need for an official letter to facilitate the data collection process in Dushanbe. It was agreed that an official letter for this purpose will be prepared on behalf of the Mayor of Dushanbe, and that this letter will be sent to the organizations and departments that were identified as potential sources for the data during the workshop. It is anticipated that these recipients of the official letter would then be able to provide the available collected data within a matter of weeks.

During the closing of the workshop Mr. Husniddin Saidmuminov, First Deputy, Main Department of Architecture and Urban Planning of Dushanbe and the focal point for the project in Dushanbe reiterated the willingness of the City of Dushanbe to proceed according to the proposed plan and thanked the participants for their active engagement and ESCAP for their support to Dushanbe through the implementation of this project.

The next steps for the project that were presented and agreed during this session are summarized below:

- Proceed with the collection of data on urbanization, resource flows, and environmental trends in Dushanbe;

- Based on the collected data, produce a baseline analysis with visualizations of resource consumption and resource intensities based on population and economic growth estimates to 2025 and 2030;

- Develop the forecasting methodology and tool, incorporating inputs from the participants at the Dushanbe workshop;

- Train stakeholders and officials in Dushanbe to apply a forecasting tool to better understand the future impacts of urban growth (modality of training dependent on the COVID-19 pandemic);

- Support stakeholders and officials in Dushanbe to develop policy pathways based on forecasted resource efficiency scenarios to plan sustainable infrastructure and achieve city targets.

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Further information

Further resources and presentations made at the workshop can be found online at:

https://www.unescap.org/events/forecasting-sustainable-urbanization-inception-and-data-collection-workshop-dushanbe

For any questions or to share your experiences, information, case studies, or upcoming events with the ‘Forecasting Sustainable Urbanization’ team, please kindly contact: escap-edd-suds@un.org.

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List of participants

Mr. Abdulhakzoda, M., Architect, State Unitary Enterprise “NIICA” (Building Research Institute)

Ms. Abdullayeva Z., Leading Specialist, Office of the Chairman of Dushanbe

Mr. Alovidinov, Shodimurod, Deputy Chief, Main Department of Architecture of Dushanbe

Mr. Boturov, Kodir, Specialist, Renewable Energy Center, Academy of Sciences

Mr. Burhanov, H., Chief Specialist, Committee of Architecture and Civil Engineering

Ms. Burkhanova, Muazama, Supervisor, Civic Initiatives Support Center

Mr. Giesov, M., Main Architect, State Unitary Enterprise “Projectstroy”

Mr. Habibov, S., Head, Division of Treasury, Main Department of Finance of Dushanbe

Mr. Hursandzod, Manuchehri, Director of Management, State Concern “Barki Tajik”

Mr. Jalolov, Shamsiddin Asomuddin, Institute of Economics and Demography, Academy of Sciences

Ms. Jalolova, Shamnam, Institute of Economy, Academy of Sciences

Mr. Kalandarov, Saymurod, Senior Engineer, State Unitary Enterprise “Dushanbevodokanal”

Mr. Karimov, H., Head, R.N.D of Dushanbe

Mr. Khakimov, B., Chief Specialist, Department of State Expertise

Mr. Khalilov, S. A., Specialist Committee of Architecture and Civil Engineering

Mr. Khasanov, F., Architect, Shakhrofar OJSC

Ms. Khomidova, H., Chief Specialist, City Hall of Dushanbe

Mr. Kodirov, A., Director, Center for Innovative Development of Science and New Technologies, Academy of Sciences

Mr. Kosimzoda, P., Head, Department of Energy and Industry, City Hall of Dushanbe

Mr. Kurbonali, Rahmon, Head, Economic and Trade Development Department

Ms. Kurbonova, A., Deputy Head, Department of Environmental Protection, City of Dushanbe

Mr. Lolaev, B., Architect of State Unitary Enterprise “NIICA” (Building Research Institute)

Ms. Malonova, Shoira, Chief Specialist, International Relations Department, City Hall of Dushanbe

Mr. Mirzorahim, Tolib, Director, State Unitary Enterprise "Registration of State Property of Dushanbe"

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Ms. Nilufar, X., Specialist, Legal Department, Office of the Chairman of the City of Dushanbe

Ms. Nurova, Ruhafzo, Specialist, International Relations Department, City Hall of Dushanbe

Mr. Rahimzoda, Nurullo, Head of Division, Department of Environmental Protection, Dushanbe

Mr. Rahimzoda, Tolib Karim, Deputy Mayor of Dushanbe, Tajikistan

Mr. Safarov, Sharifkhon, Chief Engineer, Department of Capital Construction

Mr. Saidmuminov, Husniddin, First Deputy, Main Department of Architecture and Urban Planning of Dushanbe

Ms. Samikova, H., Head, Department for Construction and Utilities, City Hall of Dushanbe

Mr. Sattorov, Ikrom, Director of the Chairman, Public Organization “Sino”

Mr. Sherov, Hassan, Chief Specialist, Department of Nature Protection, City of Dushanbe

Ms. Sufizoda, H.B., Head, Department of Social Protection of the Population, City Hall of Dushanbe

Ms. Tsuraeva, M.T., Leading Specialist, Committee of Architecture and Civil Engineering

Mr. Tursunmurodov, C., Architect, Shakhrofar OJSC

Mr. Ulugov, Umidjon, Coordinator, Public Organization “Peshsaf”

Mr. Umarov, Hochimahmad, Professor, Tajik National University

Mr. Zabirov, I., Director, State Unitary Enterprise “Solid Waste Landfill”

Ms. Zuhurova, N., Teacher, Dushanbe International school

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Participant evaluation form analysis

57%

35%

57%

64%

59%

32%

43%

61%

39%

27%

32%

36%

4%

4%

9%

9%

32%

The workshop has increased myawareness of resource and

environmental impacts of urbanization.

The workshop was useful and I will beable to apply the knowledge in my work.

The workshop has increased my personalcapacity to sustainably manage naturalresources and minimize environmental

impacts in the context of urban andeconomic growth.

I am able to share the information andknowledge I have received from the

workshop.

The overall quality of the presentationsand discussions was good.

I am interested in using the forecastingtool in my work to explore ways to

sustainably manage growth and optimizeinvestments in Dushanbe.

Agree strongly Agree moderately Neither agree nor disagree Disagree

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An evaluation form was distributed at the end of the workshop to participants to collect inputs for next steps and for the development of the forecasting tool, and to assess the effectiveness and impact of the workshop. The evaluation form provided participants with an opportunity to share qualitative feedback for consideration by the organizers. The following provides an overview of the comments and feedback received.

All respondents reported the workshop increased their awareness of the resource and environmental impacts of urbanization and 96 per cent of respondents reported that the workshop had increased their personal capacity to sustainably manage natural resources and minimize environmental impacts in the context of urban and economic growth.

In response to a question on what aspects of the workshop they most liked, common answers from respondents included the workshop’s focus on different kinds of resources and their use across different sectors, the application of data and indicators to better understand urbanization and population growth in Dushanbe, and the discussions amongst the participants during the breakout groups. When asked what features they would find most valuable in the forecasting tool, respondents proposed that the tool could provide information on the solutions to respond to the challenges of urbanization in Dushanbe, and were particularly interested in solutions that could enable solid waste to be used for productive purposes and solutions that could reduce greenhouse gas emissions.