Making money from waste
Recently, some crazy scientists in Bristol, UK have discovered how to charge their smartphones with their own pee. By using micro-organisms which feed off their urine and generate electrons as a by-product, they have managed to produce enough electricity to charge a phone or power some lights.
Although we can question the utility of this technology, considering the very small amount of energy produced, there may still be method to these scientists’ “madness”. People generate millions of tons of waste every day, and with rapid urbanization and population growth, this will only increase. Urban areas already account for 75% of the world’s natural resource consumption and produce 50% of global waste. In most countries, especially low- and middle-income nations, the waste management systems currently used to collect, process and recycle this waste are insufficient and cannot meet demand. Untreated rubbish is already having terrible effects on the environment and human health, and if not properly contained, could lead to a global disaster with people literally drowning in their own garbage.
The global community is realizing the urgency of this problem, with many of the Sustainable Development Goals supporting waste and water reuse. The upcoming World Water Week in Stockholm will also focus on “Water and waste: reduce and reuse.” Technologies and approaches that productively reuse urine or other waste will be crucial in determining our capacity to achieve sustainable growth in the future.
Population pressure and increasing water competition in a changing climate require us to take stock of the availability and use of water across scales. Water availability not only influences farmers’ commercial prospects but also irrigation-related enterprises and agri-businesses. Greater water scarcity could jeopardize irrigation and agricultural markets while excessive water use can lead to declining ecosystems, water quality and soil health. IWMI advises development partners and the public and private sectors on all aspects of water resource availability and use through a variety of advanced modeling and remote-sensing products and tools, including 
The ability of farmers to engage in or expand irrigation depends on the prevailing socioeconomic, ecological and political contexts, which are often complex, non-linear and changeable. Overcoming systemic barriers to farmer-led irrigation development while taking advantage of existing opportunities 
A lack of affordable credit, particularly for women and resource-poor farmers, is one of the main barriers to expanding farmer-led irrigation in low- and middle-income countries. But 
Scaling farmer-led irrigation requires strengthening human capacity and knowledge exchange among all actors and stakeholders involved. IWMI takes an action research approach, working with national and international research institutions, governments, extension agents and public and private organizations to co-develop the scaling ecosystem and strengthen capacity to drive scaling networks and collective action. We support the