Where is the evidence? A global systematic review of sanitation system resilience to climate hazards
6 affiliations
- 1School of Civil Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
- 2School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
- 3Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Health Unit, Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health, World Health Organization (WHO), Geneva, Switzerland
- 4School of Civil, Aerospace & Design Engineering and Cabot Institute for the Environment, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
- 5Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, New South Wales, Australia
- 6Division of Data, Analytics, Planning and Monitoring, UNICEF, New York, New York, United States of America
Abstract
Despite sustained efforts over several decades, no region is projected to achieve universal sanitation access by 2030, according to international monitoring frameworks. Climate change is increasingly disrupting human and ecological systems, in turn deepening existing inequalities in access to essential services, including sanitation. Coupled with broader socio-economic and political dynamics, these pressures are expected to further widen the global sanitation service gap. Strengthening the resilience of sanitation systems to climate-related impacts represents a critical component of addressing this challenge. Building resilience requires an understanding of the attributes of sanitation systems and the adaptation actions across scales that contribute to their capacity to anticipate, withstand and recover from climate hazards. While existing scholarship has primarily examined the impacts of climate hazards on sanitation system performance, less attention has been given to resilience-building processes and practices. This systematic review is the first to synthesise the evidence on resilience in sanitation systems. The review identifies twenty-seven (n = 27) attributes and adaptation actions with potential to enhance resilience, none of which are currently considered in existing global monitoring processes. Only seventeen (n = 17) studies met the inclusion criteria, and empirical evidence remains scarce, highlighting substantial knowledge gaps. Findings also reveal a dominance of user-level, infrastructure focussed actions in low-income settings, with minimal evidence on operational or enabling environment strategies implemented by service providers or government actors. These findings highlight a substantial gap between identifying potential resilience-building measures and demonstrating how they contribute to resilience sanitation systems. Strengthening the evidence base requires greater emphasis on evaluating resilience outcomes, understanding interactions across the sanitation system, and examining how institutional and operational conditions shape adaptation over time. The findings provide a foundation for developing measurable indicators of climate resilience while highlighting the need for further empirical evidence to inform international monitoring frameworks and guide effective climate resilient sanitation planning.
Related
- Flooding-driven sanitation failure and enteric disease risk in urban informal settlements: Cholera as an illustrative case for climate-resilient sanitation in low- and middle-income countries
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- Spatiotemporal patterns of climate extremes and compound hazards: A case study of Saudi Arabia
- Deciphering genomic adaptations and climate resilience in the intertidal seagrass Zostera japonica
BibTeX
@article{wallace2026where,
title = {{Where is the evidence? A global systematic review of sanitation system resilience to climate hazards}},
author = {J. L. Wallace and M. K. Wright and M. A. Camargo-Valero and K. J. Charles and B. Engebretson and B. Gordon and F. Gore and G. Howard and R. Johnston and J. Kohlitz and F. Mills and K. Moon and A. Nijhawan and T. Slaymaker and M. Takane and J. Willetts and B. E. Evans},
journal = {PLOS Water},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1371/journal.pwat.0000474},
url = {https://journals.plos.org/water/article?id=10.1371/journal.pwat.0000474},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Where is the evidence? A global systematic review of sanitation system resilience to climate hazards
AU - J. L. Wallace
AU - M. K. Wright
AU - M. A. Camargo-Valero
AU - K. J. Charles
AU - B. Engebretson
AU - B. Gordon
AU - F. Gore
AU - G. Howard
AU - R. Johnston
AU - J. Kohlitz
AU - F. Mills
AU - K. Moon
AU - A. Nijhawan
AU - T. Slaymaker
AU - M. Takane
AU - J. Willetts
AU - B. E. Evans
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/07
JO - PLOS Water
DO - 10.1371/journal.pwat.0000474
UR - https://journals.plos.org/water/article?id=10.1371/journal.pwat.0000474
AB - Despite sustained efforts over several decades, no region is projected to achieve universal sanitation access by 2030, according to international monitoring frameworks. Climate change is increasingly disrupting human and ecological systems, in turn deepening existing inequalities in access to essential services, including sanitation. Coupled with broader socio-economic and political dynamics, these pressures are expected to further widen the global sanitation service gap. Strengthening the resilience of sanitation systems to climate-related impacts represents a critical component of addressing this challenge. Building resilience requires an understanding of the attributes of sanitation systems and the adaptation actions across scales that contribute to their capacity to anticipate, withstand and recover from climate hazards. While existing scholarship has primarily examined the impacts of climate hazards on sanitation system performance, less attention has been given to resilience-building processes and practices. This systematic review is the first to synthesise the evidence on resilience in sanitation systems. The review identifies twenty-seven (n = 27) attributes and adaptation actions with potential to enhance resilience, none of which are currently considered in existing global monitoring processes. Only seventeen (n = 17) studies met the inclusion criteria, and empirical evidence remains scarce, highlighting substantial knowledge gaps. Findings also reveal a dominance of user-level, infrastructure focussed actions in low-income settings, with minimal evidence on operational or enabling environment strategies implemented by service providers or government actors. These findings highlight a substantial gap between identifying potential resilience-building measures and demonstrating how they contribute to resilience sanitation systems. Strengthening the evidence base requires greater emphasis on evaluating resilience outcomes, understanding interactions across the sanitation system, and examining how institutional and operational conditions shape adaptation over time. The findings provide a foundation for developing measurable indicators of climate resilience while highlighting the need for further empirical evidence to inform international monitoring frameworks and guide effective climate resilient sanitation planning.
SN - 2767-3219
ER -