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With the rapid increase of the human population and the concomitant increase in freshwater demand, pressure on this natural resource is increasing. One of the approaches used to overcome water scarcity in several parts of the world is desalination of brackish or seawater. Coupling seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) with renewable energy (RE) is an active research area and understanding the environmental impact of these integrations using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is one of the tools available for the selection of sustainable water supply options for remote communities. This study uses LCA to assess the feasibility of integrating a SWRO with a hybrid energy system to meet the water needs in a remote community. The RE is supplied via electricity generated from biogas produced from the anaerobic digestion (AD) of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste. A 4500 m3/day SWRO plant was designed using WAVE software to satisfy the water demand of a small/medium town in a remote area in Lebanon. The biogas plant sizing was performed using HOMER Pro and different renewable percentages were tested. Biogas characteristics were taken from an existing organic waste AD plant in Lebanon. Based on the available mass of solid waste, the maximum achievable renewable fraction required to operate the SWRO was found to be 60%; the remaining electrical demand was supplied from the grid. The LCA was performed using Simapro Ph.D. version 9 to quantify the environmental impacts of this integration. IMPACT2002+ impact assessment method was used. Results show that using AD to power desalination is viable from an environmental perspective and achieves significant reductions in many categories when compared to conventional fossil fuels. Furthermore, increasing the renewable fraction in the hybrid energy system results in further reduction in the environmental impact. In particular, a 60% reduction in global warming potential was observed compared to conventional fossil fuels. However, for some categories, the impact increases upon increasing renewable fraction particularly for categories related to toxicity, eutrophication and acidification and this is mainly attributed to digestate application on land, highlighting the need for digestate enhancement. Accordingly, the system can be further improved by increasing the amount of waste collected and transformed and adopting a more site-specific design.

The cost associated with ISO 14001 certification has developing countries companies’ lag in environmental management.

The management of solid waste has been recognized as the cornerstone for sustainable development and closed loop circular economy models. Moreover, solid waste management is at the forefront of initiatives seeking to cut greenhouse gas emissions. This research stems from the limited success that solid waste management programs have had in the context of developing countries and the need to overcome the obstacles and impediments hampering the implementation of a sustainable solid waste management framework. It aims to facilitate the optimization process of the applied technical, operational, and managerial schemes, streamline sustainable practices and close the circularity gap that currently exists in waste management taking Lebanon as a case example. Accordingly, a performance assessment and optimization tool was developed to evaluate the administrative, environmental, and operational performance of 27 unions of municipalities and large municipalities encompassing more than 90 villages/cities. The model compares different technologies based on a set of user defined constraints and groups municipalities and operational facilities into four classes: (A) Superior, (B) Satisfactory, (C) Poor, and (D) No service. The excessive amounts of disposal rates, failure in the adoption of a comprehensive solid waste management framework, the absence of a contingency plan, and the consistent reliance on ad hoc strategies for handling solid waste characterized the sector in Lebanon. A thorough analysis of the various waste management systems revealed that none could be classified as “superior”, with the ratings of most schemes compounded in the lower end of the spectrum.

This research utilises the sustainable livelihood approach to evaluate the livelihood assets and resources and identify key challenges and development opportunities in a village in Southern Lebanon. Primary data using quantitative (structured questionnaire) and qualitative (semi-structured interview) methods were collected. The findings highlight the weak resource management and monitoring of various aspects. The factors influencing the village's livelihoods include constraints in water quantity and water quality monitoring, communication and micro-macro links, as well as the allocation of financial resources. The utilisation of the sustainable livelihood approach resulted in developing a practical action plan and a set of management strategies for the enhancement of the village's livelihood based on detailed local knowledge and community input. The significance of this research lies in defining and prioritising factors influencing rural livelihoods and typical relationships among them in real life situations. It focuses on quantitative and qualitative variables and provides evidence-based interventions.

Achieving sustainable development has become a major global goal reflecting the increasing concern by the public as well as decision makers over environmental issues. Although sustainable development indicators were developed to provide solid bases for decision making, many countries and in particular developing countries did not even approach sustainable development. This paper examines the challenges of measuring sustainable development indicators in developing countries. It also scrutinises the usefulness of those indicators in policy-making and their impact on decision-making process. In particular, this paper will evaluate whether the indicators have been integrated into policy-making procedures and whether they are facilitating sustainable development. Environmental data constraints, lack of coordination among concerned authorities and lack of resources impede the measurement of SDIs in developing countries. The case example of the water and sanitation conditions illustrates the ineffectiveness of integrating the SDIs into policy and decisionmaking processes. It is essential to have a common global core set of SDIs to alert decision makers to environmental problems, supplemented by local indicators that reflect local concerns and cultural diversity. Reporting should include analysis that links environmental factors and health outcomes that should be in turn converted to economic impacts.