冈本视频 is a global academic hub for the Sustainable Development Goals, which form a key cross-cutting theme of its The Empowerment University strategic plan.
Our 2024 report on all 17 SDGs will show what work the university has been doing through research and engagement in helping to meet those targets and raising awareness of the progress towards the 2030 aims.
Our reports start with the United Nations’ verdict on progress from their 2024 report on SDG 6 Clean Water and Sanitation.
UN PROGRESS REPORT ON SDG 6
Progress remains ‘insufficient’ on SDG 6 with none of the targets for 2030 set to be achieved and moderate progress on 15% and minimal progress on a further 50% of the aims. This means that 25% of the targets are at a stagnation level and 10% have actually regressed on the 2015 baseline assessment.
The UN reports: “At the current speed, in 2030, 2 billion people will still live without safely managed drinking water, 3 billion without safely managed sanitation and 1.4 billion without basic hygiene services. In 2022, roughly half the world’s population experienced severe water scarcity for at least part of the year. One quarter faced “extremely high” levels of water stress. Climate change worsens these issues, posing significant risks to social stability”.
冈本视频 NEWS ON SDG 6 in 2024
冈本视频 students join forces to tackle litter in and around the city's waterways
Students from 冈本视频 (冈本视频) have helped fill 35 bags worth of rubbish from around a local river to help clean up the city’s waterways and stop plastics reaching our seas and oceans.
A group of volunteers from the university helped clear piles of waste from the banks of the River Soar, including shopping trolleys, a bike, a grandfather clock and car keys.
More than 20 students joined forces with Leicester City Council and the Canal and River Trust for the annual litter pick, timed to coincide with the COP29 climate talks in Baku, Azerbaijan.
冈本视频 RESEARCH ON SDG 6 IN 2024
Monitoring Hazards in Dam Environments Using Remote Sensing Techniques: Case of Kulekhani-I Reservoir in Nepal (Bhagawat Rimal and Abhishek Tiwary)
Maintaining the operability of a hydroelectric power station at a scale originally designed is being compromised by continuous reservoir sedimentation.
The hydropower projects in the low-to-mid mountain regions of Nepal are witnessing a combination of these phenomena, affecting their optimal performance in meeting long-term sustainable power supply targets. This paper presents a combination of geo-spatial analysis and field evaluations to identify the trends from Kulekhani-I, one of the oldest storage-type hydropower projects in Nepal, using long-term time series remote sensing satellite imagery from 1988 to 2020.
This study has identified an urgent need for addressing the following two key contributory factors through an effective control mechanism to avoid rapid sedimentation in the reservoirs: natural—landslides and floods leading to mainly silt deposition during heavy rainfalls; and anthropogenic—road construction materials dumped directly in the reservoir. Effective implementation of a remote sensing monitoring scheme can safeguard future damages to dam environments of more recently built storage-type hydropower projects.
Oil spill classification using an autoencoder and hyperspectral technology (Maria Gema Carrasco-Garcia, Lipika Deka and David Elizondo et al)
Hyperspectral technology has been playing a leading role in monitoring oil spills in marine environments, an issue of international concern. In the case of monitoring oil spills in local areas, hyperspectral technology of small dimensions becomes the ideal solution. This research explores the use of encoded hyperspectral signatures to develop automated classifiers capable of discriminating between polluted and clean water, and even distinguishing between various types of oil.
The role of emotional appeal in water conservation communication: a framework for social media engagement (David Proverbs et al)
Amidst growing concerns about water shortages, harnessing the potential of social media emerges as a crucial strategy in attempts to conserve consumption While informative messaging in environmental communication has been widely acknowledged, the role of emotional appeal remains underexplored.
By applying Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to a dataset containing 443 responses, the analysis reveals that emotional appeal, when evoked through creativity, not only positively influences individuals’ attitudes but also extends to shape perceived behavioural control. These findings further emphasise the ability of emotional appeal to serve as a complementary aspect that enriches individuals’ motivational framework and influences their inclination towards engaging in the intended behaviour. The study has important implications for improving current marketing efforts and encouraging behavioural shifts among water consumers. By including emotional appeal in social media communication strategies, environmental communicators can build empathy and promote sustainability more effectively.
Nearest-better network assisted fitness landscape analysis of contaminant source identification in water distribution network (Yiya Diao, Shengxiang Yang et al)
Contaminant Source Identification in Water Distribution Network (CSWIDN) is critical for ensuring public health, and optimization algorithms are commonly used to solve this complex problem. However, these algorithms are highly sensitive to the problem’s landscape features, which has limited their effectiveness in practice.
Our analysis reveals for the first time that CSWIDN exhibits the landscape features, including neutrality, ruggedness, modality, dynamic change, and separability. These findings not only deepen our understanding of the problem’s inherent landscape features but also provide quantitative insights into how these features influence algorithm performance.
SDG 6 Clean Water and Sanitation