In south-central Thailand, villagers near the Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate, home to petrochemical plants, oil refineries and coal-fired power stations, worry that their water is heavily polluted.
Sometimes, the data was unavailable publicly or presented in a language communities could not understand.
When information was released, it was often poor, technical and did not meet local people’s demands, said the report issued on Wednesday.
“Access to information is really the foundation for any kind of meaningful public participation or accountability in environmental decision-making,” Elizabeth Moses, the report’s co-author, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
In Thailand and Mongolia, people who request information are asked to come to the environment ministry to pick it up, even though some live hours away and do not have the money or time to travel, added the WRI specialist in water governance.
“For the world’s poorest people, access to clean water means fewer outbreaks of deadly diseases, less time spent away from the classroom by children collecting water, and greater economic opportunities for women,” said the WRI report.
While all three countries the WRI report focuses on have comprehensive laws to disclose information, many do not indicate how information is to be made available or comprehensible to affected communities, the report said.
The Indonesian and Thai environment ministries did not respond to Thomson Reuters Foundation requests for comment.
The ministry will soon seek parliamentary approval for amendments to tighten up implementation of a 2012 law on fees for water pollution, he added.
The WRI report urged the three governments to set up national systems to collect and publish environmental information.

YAOUNDE (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – The Middle East and North Africa region loses about $21 billion each year because of an inadequate supply of water and sanitation, the World Bank said on Tuesday, warning urgent action is needed to prevent ripple effects on stability and growth.
“As the current conflict and migration crisis unfolding in the Middle East and North Africa shows, failure to address water challenges can have severe impacts on people’s well-being and political stability,” the report said.
In Yemen, which is reeling from more than two years of conflict, water supply networks serving its largest cities are at risk of collapse due to war-inflicted damage and disrepair, and about 15 million people have been cut off from regular access to water and sanitation, the U.N. children’s agency (UNICEF) said in a separate statement on Tuesday.
Overall, 183 million people lack access to basic drinking water in countries affected by conflict, violence and instability around the world, it added.
With the urban population in the Middle East and North Africa expected to double by 2050 to nearly 400 million, a combination of policy, technology and water management tools should be used to improve the water situation, the World Bank report said.
“Water productivity – in other words, how much return you get for every drop of water used – in the Middle East in general is the lowest on average in the world,” said Anders Jägerskog, a specialist in water resources management at the World Bank and one of the report’s authors.
Water governance – in particular, water tariffs and subsidies – must also be addressed, he said.
The region has the world’s lowest water tariffs and spends the highest proportion of GDP on public water subsidies.
Such policies lead to excessive use of already scarce water supplies and are not sustainable, said Jägerskog.
Another challenge is that more than half of the wastewater collected in the region is fed back into the environment untreated.

(Adds U.N. figures, paragraphs 5 to 7) YAOUNDE, Aug 29 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – The Middle East and North Africa region loses about $21 billion each year because of an inadequate supply of water and sanitation, the World Bank said on Tuesday, warning urgent action is needed to prevent ripple effects on stability and growth.
“As the current conflict and migration crisis unfolding in the Middle East and North Africa shows, failure to address water challenges can have severe impacts on people’s well-being and political stability,” the report said.
In Yemen, which is reeling from more than two years of conflict, water supply networks serving its largest cities are at risk of collapse due to war-inflicted damage and disrepair, and about 15 million people have been cut off from regular access to water and sanitation, the U.N. children’s agency (UNICEF) said in a separate statement on Tuesday.
Overall, 183 million people lack access to basic drinking water in countries affected by conflict, violence and instability around the world, it added.
With the urban population in the Middle East and North Africa expected to double by 2050 to nearly 400 million, a combination of policy, technology and water management tools should be used to improve the water situation, the World Bank report said.
“Water productivity – in other words, how much return you get for every drop of water used – in the Middle East in general is the lowest on average in the world,” said Anders Jägerskog, a specialist in water resources management at the World Bank and one of the report’s authors.
Water governance – in particular, water tariffs and subsidies – must also be addressed, he said.
The region has the world’s lowest water tariffs and spends the highest proportion of GDP on public water subsidies.
Such policies lead to excessive use of already scarce water supplies and are not sustainable, said Jägerskog.
Another challenge is that more than half of the wastewater collected in the region is fed back into the environment untreated.

YAOUNDE (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – The Middle East and North Africa region loses about $21 billion each year because of an inadequate supply of water and sanitation, the World Bank said on Tuesday, warning urgent action is needed to prevent ripple effects on stability and growth.
Deaths due to unsafe water and sanitation in some parts of the region, particularly countries affected by conflict, are higher than the global average, it added.
“Water productivity – in other words, how much return you get for every drop of water used – in the Middle East in general is the lowest on average in the world,” said Anders Jägerskog, a specialist in water resources management at the World Bank and one of the report’s authors.
Water governance – in particular, water tariffs and subsidies – must also be addressed, he said.
The region has the world’s lowest water tariffs and spends the highest proportion of GDP on public water subsidies.
Such policies lead to excessive use of already scarce water supplies and are not sustainable, said Jägerskog.
Another challenge is that more than half of the wastewater collected in the region is fed back into the environment untreated.
“Along with better water management, there is room for increasing the supply through non-conventional methods such as desalination and recycling,” Guangzhe Chen, senior director of the World Bank’s global water practice, said in a statement.
Improved water management could bring considerable financial returns, the report noted.
Reporting by Inna Lazareva; editing by Megan Rowling.

YAOUNDE, Aug 29 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – The Middle East and North Africa region loses about $21 billion each year because of an inadequate supply of water and sanitation, the World Bank said on Tuesday, warning urgent action is needed to prevent ripple effects on stability and growth.
Deaths due to unsafe water and sanitation in some parts of the region, particularly countries affected by conflict, are higher than the global average, it added.
"Water productivity – in other words, how much return you get for every drop of water used – in the Middle East in general is the lowest on average in the world," said Anders Jägerskog, a specialist in water resources management at the World Bank and one of the report’s authors.
Water governance – in particular, water tariffs and subsidies – must also be addressed, he said.
Such policies lead to excessive use of already scarce water supplies and are not sustainable, said Jägerskog.
Another challenge is that more than half of the wastewater collected in the region is fed back into the environment untreated.
"Along with better water management, there is room for increasing the supply through non-conventional methods such as desalination and recycling," Guangzhe Chen, senior director of the World Bank´s global water practice, said in a statement.
Improved water management could bring considerable financial returns, the report noted.
Egypt, Syria and Iran – which have the largest proportion of irrigated land in the region – are the countries that could benefit most, it added.
(Reporting by Inna Lazareva; editing by Megan Rowling.

Women leaders wangle water taps, security in India’s slums.
AHMEDABAD, India (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Hansaben Rasid knows what it is like to live without a water tap or a toilet of her own, constantly fearful of being evicted by city officials keen on tearing down illegal settlements like hers in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad.
Jadibanagar, with 108 homes, is one of more than 50 slums in Ahmedabad which have been upgraded by Parivartan – meaning "change" – a program that involves city officials, slum dwellers, a developer and a non-profit organization.
Instead, they favor upgrading of their slums or redevelopment.
Homes in Jadibanagar slum, where a woman community leader trained by a local non-profit has overseen the upgrade of the settlement with water taps, toilets and paved lanes, and with a guarantee of no evictions for 10 years in Ahmedabad, India.
Thomson Reuters Foundation/Rina Chandran Earlier this month, officials in the eastern state of Odisha said they will give land rights to slum dwellers in small towns and property rights to those in city settlements in a "historic" step that will benefit tens of thousands.
"These homes are all illegal, but that doesn’t mean the people cannot live decently," said Bhonsale.
But with an upgrade, the women make the decision very quickly by themselves," she said.
Homes in Jadibanagar slum, where a woman community leader trained by a local non-profit has overseen the upgrade of the settlement with water taps, toilets and paved lanes, and with a guarantee of no evictions for 10 years in Ahmedabad, India.
Thomson Reuters Foundation/Rina Chandran Elsewhere, in Delhi’s Savda Ghevra slum resettlement colony where about 30,000 people live, non-profit Marg taught women residents to demand their legal right to water, sanitation and transport.

WAJIR, Kenya (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Hamara Hujale tries to keep an eye on two squirming children and a pot of simmering ugali – a white doughy dish – as she reaches for her buzzing phone.
Hujale, who lives in the northeast Kenyan town of Wajir, used to make and sell kitchen utensils, "mostly to pastoralists who would use them as dowry for their daughters’ weddings".
Last year she secured a loan of 370,000 Kenyan shillings (about $3,560) through Crescent Takaful Sacco, an Islamic finance institution, and used the money to buy a tuk-tuk and set up a taxi business in Wajir.
But in this Kenyan region bordering Somalia, where over 90 percent of the population is Muslim, few banks or institutions offer financial services that comply with Islamic law, which bans gambling and speculation, including interest-bearing loans, said Diyad Hujale, a program coordinator at Mercy Corps, a charity, and no relation to Hamara.
Repeated droughts create "a vicious circle where they not only have no alternative income if they have lost their harvest, for example, (but) they are also made more vulnerable to the next shock", she said.
While many clients use the sacco as a way to boost their cash on hand, others like Hamara Hujale take out larger loans to set up their own businesses.
That fills a key gap in the market that is not met by other banks or institutions, Diyad Hujale said.
Key to the sacco’s model is trust, said Mutisya.
Hamara Hujale, who took out a loan on her own, now makes up to 2,000 shillings ($20) per day from her two businesses – nearly twice as much as when she only sold utensils.
Simonet said a mobile service would make particular sense for pastoralists.

Solar energy powers clean water, business opportunities for refugees.
DAR ES SALAAM (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Sadick Thenest remembers how his 8-year-old daughter had a narrow brush with death two years ago, when she contracted cholera after drinking contaminated water.
“She was so gaunt, weak and had terrible diarrhea,” said the refugee from Burundi.
“I always ensure that my children use clean and safe water,” he said.
“I have instructed them to wash their hands with soap after using a toilet.” Thenest, who works as a technician with international engineering charity Water Mission, said the health situation in the camp is improving as more people get access to clean water from a recently installed solar-powered water treatment facility.
As part of a broader initiative to help refugees access clean energy and sanitation, Water Mission is installing more such plants in three refugee camps in western Tanzania.
The $5.3 million project, funded by the Denmark-based Poul Due Jensen Foundation, is expected to provide safe water for some 250,000 refugees in Nyarugusu, Nduta and Mtendeli camps.
“We will document saved lives and ensure general public health, as a result of safe water,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
A recent shipment of 780 solar panels to Tanzania will produce 226,000 watts of power and provide a continuous supply of safe water to keep children in good health, it said in a statement.
Yet while access to clean energy for refugees and their host communities is a global priority for UNHCR, analysts say millions of displaced people still lack access to sustainable, cheap energy sources because of a lack of funding.

Solar energy powers clean water, business opportunities for refugees.
By Kizito Makoye DAR ES SALAAM, June 23 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Sadick Thenest remembers how his 8-year-old daughter had a narrow brush with death two years ago, when she contracted cholera after drinking contaminated water.
"I always ensure that my children use clean and safe water," he said.
Thenest, who works as a technician with international engineering charity Water Mission, said the health situation in the camp is improving as more people get access to clean water from a recently installed solar-powered water treatment facility.
As part of a broader initiative to help refugees access clean energy and sanitation, Water Mission is installing more such plants in three refugee camps in western Tanzania.
The $5.3 million project, funded by the Denmark-based Poul Due Jensen Foundation, is expected to provide safe water for some 250,000 refugees in Nyarugusu, Nduta and Mtendeli camps.
"We will document saved lives and ensure general public health, as a result of safe water," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
A recent shipment of 780 solar panels to Tanzania will produce 226,000 watts of power and provide a continuous supply of safe water to keep children in good health, it said in a statement.
Yet while access to clean energy for refugees and their host communities is a global priority for UNHCR, analysts say millions of displaced people still lack access to sustainable, cheap energy sources because of a lack of funding.
Providing solar street lamps and lanterns and energy-efficient cooking stoves can greatly improve the lives of refugees and contribute to their protection, Okello said.

Drought, floods slash Sri Lanka’s rice production, threaten food security – U.N.. ROME (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – A severe drought followed by floods has slashed agricultural production in Sri Lanka, leaving some 900,000 people facing food insecurity, the United Nations said, warning that without help the situation might further deteriorate.
Production of rice, the country’s staple food, is forecast to drop almost 40 percent to 2.7 million tonnes in 2017, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP) said in a report on Thursday.
Other crops including pulses, chillies and onion are also expected to take a blow, it said.
In May, the situation was exacerbated by the worst torrential rains in 14 years, which triggered floods and landslides in the country’s southwest, killing some 200 people and forcing many from their homes.
"The level of water in irrigation reservoirs is still well below the average," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone.
Unable to grow their own crops, many families have to buy food at local markets where prices have spiked due to the crisis, it said.
FAO and WFP said seeds, equipment, irrigation support, and cash assistance are urgently needed to help farmers in the next planting season starting in September, and to prevent conditions from deteriorating.
"If (the planting season) fails the situation will worsen a lot for the families affected," Coslet said.
(Reporting by Umberto Bacchi @UmbertoBacchi, Editing by Alisa Tang.
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