研究问题的调查说明

研究问题的调查说明

Statement of the research problem

The problem under investigation in this proposed work is the worsening solid waste situation found in urban Botswana. The concentration of population and business activities in urban Botswana is being accompanied by a rapid increase in the volume of solid waste generated from production and consumption activities. Against this situation of mounting waste generation, municipal authorities in the country seem unable to organize adequate collection and safe disposal of waste within their jurisdictions. As a result, urban settlements in the country are saddled with a worsening solid waste situation which proves to be intractable and threatens public health and the environment.

In spite of the concerns frequently raised by concerned groups, institutions and inpiduals among the populace, the solid waste situation in urban Botswana continues to worsen, thereby posing serious threats to public health and the environment. Besides, the environmental burdens associated with the worsening solid waste situation appears to fall more heavily on the poor even though waste removal and disposal are public funded and regulated. This proposed work is therefore undertaken in order to gain understanding of the challenges and issues involved in solid waste management in urban Botswana to pave the way towards finding a solution to the waste menace.

Purpose of the study

The purpose of this proposed work is to examine the solid waste situation in urban Botswana, with the aim of enhancing understandings of the problem and the key issues affecting urban solid waste disposal in the country, and also to identify possible solutions to the problem. In other words, the work proposed here has as major objective to answer the question …why are urban authorities in Botswana unable to organize adequate collection and disposal services within their jurisdictions?? In line with this, the specific objectives of the proposed work are:

To describe the urban solid waste situation in Botswana

?To identify the factors that militate against solid waste management efforts in the country

?? To identify ways to improve solid waste disposal in urban Botswana

Significance of the study

The worsening solid waste disposal situation in urban Botswana has attracted attention among the populace. High profile government officials including Ministers of Wildlife, Environment and Tourism, mayors of the major cities, Gaborone City an City of Francistown especially the and even the private sector about the deplorable solid waste situation in urban Botswana. The solid waste problem is also receiving a lot of media attention shown by the frequent featuring of waste disposal issues in newspapers, TV and radio discussions. Additionally, several Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) such as Somarelang Tikololog (Environment Watch Botswana), institutions and inpiduals have expressed concerns about the deplorable solid waste situation in urban Botswana while communities keep complaining to the authorities about waste that is engulfing their neighbourhoods and the health implications for their members. Moreover, the perpetuation of social and environmental injustice in the organization of waste management in urban Botswana seems to attract no attention in the country. It is, therefore, obvious that the solid waste situation in urban Botswana requires research attention to shed more light on the issue and pave the way for a solution.

In this regard, the media seems to be playing a pioneering role in drawing attention to the poor waste disposal practices of urban Botswana and the worsening environmental conditions that result from the practice. Academic research in the area include an MSc thesis (Nagabooshnam, (2011) submitted to Linkoping University in 2011, which considered the potential resource recovery of solid waste as an integral part of the waste management process in the country; and an undergraduate long essay by Loeto (2008), submitted to the University of Botswana, which examined the problems of solid waste management in Donga Area, one of the low-income area in the City of Francistown. Apart from these, there are a number of studies that have

investigated issues related to the urban solid waste problem in Botswana including Mmereki et al’s(2012), “Household Perceptions on Solid Waste Management Practices in Developing Countries: The Experience of the Northern Part of Botswana, Donga Area”; Toteng?s (2003) article titled; “Urban Environmental Management in Botswana: Toward a Theoretical Explanation of Public Policy Failure”; Gwebu?s (2003), article titled, “Population, Development, and Waste Management in Botswana: Conceptual and Policy Implications for Climate Change”; Mbongwe et al?s (2008) study of Healthcare waste management: Current practices in selected healthcare facilities, Botswana also included an analysis of disposal services available to the healthcare facilities in the country. Kgathi, and Bolaane?s (2001) article title; “Instruments for sustainable waste management in Botswana” also suggested effective strategies to manage solid waste. In this article, recycling, reuse and composting are suggested as effective strategies to manage solid waste.

The above-mentioned studies have examined a wide range of environmental issues including sanitation, water use and pollution, air pollution, the disease burdens associated with poor environmental conditions and the effects of waste disposal and other human activities on natural resource management, topics that are somewhat related to the urban solid waste problem. However, none of these studies has investigated the issue of solid waste disposal in sufficient detail to create adequate understanding of the problem even though it remains one of the most visible and nerve-racking problems in the urban areas. Thus, the solid waste situation in urban Botswana remains under-researched and hence poorly understood. This situation creates a knowledge gap and makes it difficult to find solutions to the worsening solid waste situation in the country. In view of the above, this proposed work can be justified on the grounds that it will further understanding of the solid waste problem affecting urban Botswana and provide a useful starting point for addressing an otherwise intractable problem. The proposed work will also contribute to both the theory and practice of urban solid waste management in poor countries generally. Methodological approach

This proposed work is to investigate solid waste management in urban Botswana with a view to understanding the nature of the solid waste problem and its causes. In line with this methodological approach, research tools associated with both quantitative and qualitative approaches will be combined to collect the data. This will mainly include were, field observation and surveys, and documentary analysis.

Data collection

The collection of data for this proposed work will be done in phases. This will include pilot study undertaken in the selected area. This is done to enable the author to familiarize with the research environment, identify key stakeholders in the waste sector. In this phase of the fieldwork surveys will be held with staff waste management department, six and different socio-economic groupings. Furthermore, this proposed work will also consult a range of published information including newspaper articles and other publications that could yield useful data for the proposed work study. Several approaches will be adopted, including the following

1.Field observation: The phenomenon under the proposed work, solid

waste, is one which lends itself to direct field observation. Thus,

observation is part of the data collection exercise. This will involve the

observation of waste situations and other conditions that could affect waste

management in urban Botswana such as the layout of settlements and road

access within residential communities. Waste disposal sites will also be

observed to gather data on such things as standard of maintenance and

environmental quality in the surrounding or nearby communities. In the

course of the field observation, photographs were taken of waste scenes

such as street litter, waste storage containers, the transportation and final

disposal of waste.

2.Documentary analysis: Miller and Brewer (2004) observed that

documents are a good place to search for answers and they provide a

useful check on primary information gathered through interviews and

questionnaires. Furthermore, documentary sources can provide a

convincing answer when other techniques fail to resolve a question. Apart

from that, documentary analysis allows the analyst to become thoroughly

familiar with the materials and helps to save on time as well as help

corroborate and strengthen the evidence gathered using other tools

(Robson, 1993). Since documents are usually written about past events and

by authors who know much about the subject under discussion, they can

provide reliable and quality information. Furthermore, using more than

one documentary source enables you to countercheck the information, a

form of triangulation.

Part of the information for this proposed work will be obtained from both

the traditional documentary sources like reports and newspaper articles as

well as from electronic media sources including television and radio

programmes. As part of the data collection process, these sources will be

critically examined for information relating to the issue of solid waste

management in the country. A number of studies will be available that had

investigated aspects of the urban environment including sanitation, water

and waste disposal. These were reviewed to draw relevant data for this

study. The print media also provided a rich source of information about the

state of solid waste management in various cities in the country. These will

include reports of workshops and press conferences on issues about the

urban environment including sanitation, water pollution and waste disposal.

The documentary data thus obtained will be used to supplement the

information gathered from survey and field observations. Thus, field

observation and documentary analysis will be utilized elicit information

for the current study of solid waste management in urban Botswana. This

combination of methods allowed the collection of a more inclusive data set

for the proposed work

Data analysis

Both quantitative and qualitative data will be gathered for the proposed work study using field observation and documentary sources. The qualitative data from field observation and document will be analyzed manually by making summaries of the waste situations in urban Botswana. The analysis of the proposed work will be organized under themes derived from the data and the research objectives that guided the entire investigation.

Work plan

The tasks of the proposed study depends on the time availability of the persons and institutions that will be involved, a task plan will be instead presented with the most relevant tasks to be completed in order to achieve the project objectives. Some of the tasks of the proposed work will probably be running in parallel, and it is also intended to publish articles based on this work in international events, journals or magazines, whenever possible. It makes part of the work plan to do (in brackets is the total time expected to be consigned to the task):

1.Literature review and the set up of an articles database. (3 months)

2.Contact with Supervisor Professor Li Baizhan from the Faculty of Urban

Construction and Environmental Engineering and expert in solid waste

management (2 months)

3.Contacts and discussions with the relevant authorities in solid waste

management (3 months)

4.Data analysis from the investigation target (3 months). This is expected to lead

to the publication of at least two accredited articles in an international event, journal or magazine, and therefore includes the time needed to write the articles and probably attend some conferences (5 months)

5.Public lecture on solid waste management

6.Final documentation of the project in the form of a book. (8 months)

此项工作调查的问题是有关博茨瓦纳这个城市日益严重的固体废物污染的现状。博茨瓦纳大量集中的人口增长以及商业活动使得从生产和消费活动中产生的固体废物量快速增长。在废物产生逐渐增长的情况下，该国市政当局似乎无法在其管辖范围内组织足够的收集处理以及安全处置废物的服务。因此，该国的城市住宅区面临着日益严重的固体废物排放问题，这个问题不仅难以解决而且威胁着公众健康与环境卫生。

尽管有关团体，机构和民众经常关注这个问题，但是博茨瓦纳城市固体废物排放的情况依旧继续恶化，这态势使得公众健康和环境面临着严重威胁。除此以外，即使废物移除与处理是由公共出资和监管的，处理日益恶化的固体废物排放的环境负担在贫困地区尤为明显。因此，此项调查工作是为了了解参与博茨瓦纳在处理城市固体废物的时所面临的挑战与问题，为解决问题铺平道路，争取找到一个解决废物威胁的措施。

研究目的

这项被提议的研究意在检测博兹瓦纳城区中固体污染的状况，提高人们对该国污染问题及城市固体污染处理的关键问题的了解，并为此寻求相应的解决方案。换而言之，这个研究也就是回答了“为什么博兹瓦纳的城市政府机构不能在管辖区域实施全面的垃圾回收以及处理措施？"除此之外，这个研究还有以下几个具体目的：

介绍博茨瓦纳城市固体污染的状况

确定有助于该国固体污染治理的方案

找出改善博茨瓦纳城市固体污染的方法

研究的重要性

日益严重的城市固体废物处理情况已经受到了公众的关注。高调的政府官员，包括野生动物，环境保护部门和旅游部门的部长们，全国各大城市的市长，弗朗西斯的哈博罗内市，甚至私营部门都对博茨瓦纳糟糕的固体废物的处理现状表示关心。固体废物问题也得到了很多媒体的关注，经常成为报纸，电视和电台的有关的专题节目。此外，一些非政府组织（NGOs）例如Somarelang Tikololog （博茨瓦纳环境观察组织），这些机构以及个人表达了他们对博茨瓦纳的固体废

物处理情况的关心，于此同时，社会团体也不停地向有关当局地抱怨，废物都要吞没他们居住的地方了，也会对社区成员的健康造成影响。因此，很明显的是需要对博茨瓦纳城市固体废物的情况进行研究，为进一步寻找解决方案铺平道路提供线索。

在这方面，媒体需要发挥先锋作用，使得公众关注博茨瓦纳贫乏的城市废物处理办法，以及关注由于日常行为造成的日益恶化的环境现状。在该地区的学术研究包括于2011年提交给林学平大学的硕士论文（Nagabooshnam 2011）。该论文考虑了将回收是潜在资源的固体废物作为废物管理过程中的一个组成部分。还有Loeto（2008）提交给博茨瓦纳大学的本科长篇论文，该文调查了弗朗西斯敦市的低收入地区之一——山东亚区的固体废物管理中的问题。除了这些，还有许多有关博茨纳瓦城市固体废物问题的调查研究，包括Mmereki等人（2012）著作的：“发展中国家有关固体废物管理实践的家庭认知”；在博茨瓦纳山东亚区北部的体验，Toteng的（2003）文章标题为，“博茨瓦纳的城市环境管理：公共政策失败的理论解释”。Gwebu（2003）的一篇文章，题为“人口，发展，和废物管理；博茨瓦纳的气候变化和政策影响”; Mbongwe等人（2008）的医疗废物研究管理：现行的医疗保健设施，包括博茨瓦纳提供给全国的医疗设施及对处理服务的分析，Kgathi，和Bolaane的（2001）文章，标题为：“博茨瓦纳可持续废物管理的工具”该文也提出了循环使用，重新使用和堆肥等有效管理固体废物的策略。

上述研究探讨了广泛的环境问题，包括卫生、水资源利用和污染、空气污染等问题，与恶劣环境相关的疾病和废物处理，还谈了人类活动对自然资源管理的其他影响，主题与城市固体废物问题稍有关系。然而，即使城市固体废物是城市中最明显，最让人的头疼的问题，但是这些做了足够多细节调查的研究，其中并没有一项可以让而我们对固体废物的处理这些问题有足够的了解。因此，博茨瓦纳城市固体废物的情况仍在研究，因此知之甚少。这种情况造成了知识差距，使得它很难找到解决该国形式恶化的固体废物的办法。鉴于上述情况，这项工作有正当的理由可以开展，它将进一步加深对博茨瓦纳的固体废物问题的认识，并为解决其他棘手问题提供了一个有用的出发点。拟议的工作也将继续有助于贫穷国家进行城市固体废物管理的理论和实践。

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