ES Chair Michael Simpson Among Co-Authors of Award-Winning Report to United Nations

Michael Simpson, chair of the Department of Environmental Studies at Antioch University New England, is among the authors of an award-winning report to the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT). The book, Solid Waste Management in the World’s Cities, has won the 2010 ISWA Publication Award from the International Solid Waste Association.

Forty-five researchers contributed to the unprecedented report, which is the third in the UN-HABITAT series “State of Water and Sanitation in the World Cities.” The result is a comprehensive assessment of solid-waste systems in twenty cities on six continents, including San Francisco, Bangalore, Cairo, and Rotterdam.

Michael, who previously was involved in UN-HABITAT research studies, oversaw data management for the project and contributed the book’s third chapter, “Profiling the Referenced Cities.”

“This is the first time that anyone has looked at the status of waste worldwide. That’s innovative,” he said. “What’s unique about the book is that it looks at the role of the informal sector, the scavengers. We’re not just looking at environmental issues, but at the social benefit of a large segment of the poor diverting solid waste into recycling.”

In April 2010, the report was presented to the UN General Assembly. Principal authors and editors Anne Scheinberg, David C. Wilson and Ljiljana Rodic will receive the 2010 ISWA Publication Award at the ISWA World Conference being held in Hamburg, Germany, on November 15-18, 2010.

Read more about UN-HABITAT here.