Exploring the energy-food-health nexus in India: the role of human excreta in developing sustainable rural futures

尽管印度正在努力改善能源供应，但仍有大约2.4亿人用不上电。其中，90%以上的人生活在农村地区，在那里，无法获得现代能源对经济发展、农村生计、环境可持续性以及社会尊严和健康都产生了重大影响。在印度的许多地区，为烹饪和照明等最基本需求提供能源仍然是农村穷人面临的一项重大挑战，大多数农村家庭依赖传统的生物质燃料（木柴和农业废物）和煤油，这两种燃料对健康和环境都有严重影响。这些小型厌氧消化器（ADs）的潜在好处有三倍；它们提供了一种清洁、廉价的替代燃料；它们生产一种适销对路的生物肥料；它们减少了妇女和儿童收集柴火的需要，从而减少了性别分工。能够将厕所废物转化为甲烷沼气的AD技术还处于起步阶段；然而，这种厕所系统有可能改善全球南方农村社区的卫生条件并减轻疾病负担。尽管这种未充分利用的资源有潜力通过改善能源获取、减少腹泻病的流行和促进更可持续的生计来减少贫困，但在利用人类排泄物产生的沼气方面面临着重大的社会和文化挑战。该奖学金的总体目标将是量化和增强国内厕所AD系统在改善印度可持续农村未来方面的作用，通过(i)提高农村家庭能源安全（ii）通过去除有害病原体改善卫生条件以及（iii）通过生产一种可以在农作系统中安全用作土壤改剂剂的产品来提高粮食安全和可持续生计。该项目的核心将是对印度农村处理和处理人类排泄物的社会和文化可接受性进行评估。

Despite ongoing efforts to improve access to energy in India, approximately 240 million people remain without access to electricity. Of this, over 90% live in rural areas, where the lack of access to modern energy has significant implications for economic development, rural livelihoods, environmental sustainability in addition to social dignity & health. In many areas of India, providing energy for the most basic of needs such as cooking and lighting is still a major challenge for the rural poor with the majority of rural households depending on traditional biomass fuels (firewood and agro-waste) and kerosene, both of which have serious health and environmental implications. The potential benefits of these small-scale anaerobic digesters (ADs) are three-fold; they provide a clean, cheap alternative fuel; they produce a marketable biofertiliser; they reduce gender divisions of labour by reducing the need for women and children to collect fuel wood. AD technologies that able to convert toilet wastes into methane biogas are in their infancy; however, such toilet systems have the potential to improve sanitation and reduce disease burden in rural communities in the Global South. Despite the potential of this underutilised resource to reduce poverty by improving energy access, reduce the prevalence of diarrhoeal diseases and facilitate more sustainable livelihoods, there are significant social & cultural challenges facing the use of biogas derived from human excreta. The overarching aim of this studentship will be to quantify and enhance the role of domestic toilet AD systems for improving sustainable rural futures in India by, (i) increasing rural household energy security (ii) improving sanitation through the removal of harmful pathogens and (iii) increasing food security and sustainable livelihoods by producing a product that is safe to use as a soil amendment in agronomic systems. Central to this project will be an evaluation of the social & cultural acceptability of handling & processing human excreta in rural India.