The Schumacher Institute

The widespread adoption of an agricultural circular economyrequiresthe recovery of resources such as water, organic matter, and nutrientsfrom livestock manure and sanitation. While this approach offers manybenefits, we argue this is not without potential risks to human andenvironmental health that largely stem from the presence of contaminantsin the recycled resources (e.g., pharmaceuticals, pathogens). We discusscontext specific challenges and solutions across the three themes:(1) contaminant monitoring; (2) collection transport and treatment;and (3) regulation and policy. We advocate for the redesign of sanitaryand agricultural management practices to enable safe resource reusein a proportionate and effective way. In populous urban regions withaccess to sanitation provision, processes can be optimized using emergenttechnologies to maximize removal of contaminant from excreta priorto reuse. Comparatively, in regions with limited existing capacityfor conveyance of excreta to centralized treatment facilities, wesuggest efforts should focus on creation of collection facilities(e.g., pit latrines) and decentralized treatment options such as compostingsystems. Overall, circular economy approaches to sanitation and resourcemanagement offer a potential solution to a pressing challenge; however,to ensure this is done in a safe manner, contaminant risks must bemitigated.

Achieving societal impact, as opposed to academic impact, is a growing area of focus for the research community globally. Central to this changing mission is the focus on multiple interconnected complex systems and the need for research that is not just interdisciplinary, but also transdisciplinary and grounded in stakeholder co-production. This document compares multiple approaches to impact planning and evaluation across four newly formed urban living labs in Sao Paolo (Brazil), Western Cape (South Africa), Bristol (UK) and Rotterdam (Netherlands), each of which sought to address societal issues linked to the food-energy-water nexus. A comparison matrix and a disaggregated impact table are derived from a comprehensive review of key definitions. These new tools were completed by each ULL alongside a post hoc pathway to impact statements. Comparisons are presented and discussed, the strengths and weaknesses of this approach are considered and opportunities for improvement in societal impact planning and evaluation are provided. Our main findings include the importance of establishing clear shared definitions while accepting plural understandings, the need to acknowledge resource as a critical factor in impact delivery and the headline need for far greater focus in this area from both funders and research groups.

There are many problems and challenges facing the world. They go beyond problems that can be solved. They present as continual challenges that perpetually shift and transform themselves. The word we use for these situations are issues and they are by nature complex and large scale – they are global and long term. However, action does follow thinking and talking, even if that action is internalized. This chapter explores thinking about complex global issues and taking action.

This is a report on the first session of a new venture for the UK Systems Society, called 'The Systems Forum'. We seek to discover how the idea for a Systems Forum might develop and this account is a report on the feedback from this first session. The intention of ‘The Systems Forum' is to create a space for connecting policy and decision makers with the ideas and processes of system thinking. The Systems Forum is intended to identify then address complex global issues that impact at local level. Different systems approaches will be investigated to see how appropriate and useful they are in addressing large scale organisational problems and at the grass roots, day to day management activities1. The theme for the first session was ‘migration'.