The ethical use of geospatial data for sanitation

ALICANTE, Spain — COVID-19 has brought the importance of good sanitation to the fore, as communities work to prevent the coronavirus from spreading. According to speakers at a recent event on the issue, geospatial data could play a key role in this — but serious consideration needs to be given to ethical challenges. Globally, 2 billion people lack access to basic sanitation facilities such as toilets or latrines, which can contribute to the spread of disease. Geospatial data — which identifies the location of a place, person, or object via methods such as surveying, remote sensing, and geovisualization — has enormous potential for combating the sanitation crisis, said Lieven Slenders, geospatial manager at Gather Hub, a nonprofit focused on sanitation data. Having increased access to data around this issue could allow decision-makers to better identify sanitation needs and take action to address them, he said at the online event hosted by the Benchmark Initiative. “If you’re planning to implement a sanitation solution, you need to understand what the area looks like, how many people are there,” where the facilities are, and so on, said Laura Mugeha, geospatial engineer at Sanergy, a Nairobi-based social enterprise offering sanitation services to vulnerable communities. A new tool from Gather Hub, supported by the Benchmark Initiative, allows decision-makers to see the availability, accessibility, and accuracy of publicly available sanitation data from the 50 countries at the lower end of the United Nations’ Human Development Index. And Slenders described research being done in identifying COVID-19 bacteria in the fecal matter in certain areas that could help decision-makers identify the virus’s prevalence and suitable policy. But as with any form of data, there are ethical challenges in collecting and using location data. These include privacy, transparency, consent, and security concerns. While other sectors may already have more detailed standards and security measures, organizations working in the water, sanitation, and hygiene space typically do not have the same level of resources, Slenders said. The pandemic could leave the sector even more vulnerable from an ethics perspective. Changes in technology tend to outstrip changes in policy and legislation, said Edafe Onerhime, head of data for effective development at the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, during the panel discussion. This means there is “a real danger that we take a ‘black swan’ event like the pandemic and throw out ethics because we have more pressing concerns,” she said. To combat COVID-19, many countries have engaged track-and-trace systems, utilizing location data to monitor people’s movements. Ignoring ethics then sets up the potential for harm and a reduction in human rights, Onerhime added. For example, mapping toilets involves personal, private spaces and information, Slenders said. “Would you want that to be out there? Should that be open or not?” he asked. “Location data, personal data — you can do beautiful things with it, but the risks are extreme for possible misuse. So it’s [about] constantly being aware of what might we risk with somebody with bad intentions and to account for that,” he added. This is why, when collating data, organizations in the sanitation space must consider if it has been given on a voluntary basis, if consent has been given to share it, and whether the use of the data has been adequately explained, Slenders said. One advantage of geospatial information, Mugeha said, is its ability to be combined with additional information — for example, the location of a business could be combined with information on the services it provides. But this is also the greatest disadvantage from an ethics standpoint, as the combination can unwittingly result in the disclosure of personal information, Mugeha said. “Location data, personal data — you can do beautiful things with it, but the risks are extreme for possible misuse.” --— Lieven Slenders, geospatial manager, Gather Hub “We know there have been cases of ethnic cleansing. By linking geographic data to things like biometrics, are you also helping make that a lot easier to happen?” Onerhime asked. With geospatial data, there is also a risk that certain communities are missed entirely or underrepresented. “Such is bound to happen,” Mugeha said, noting that this is often the case with informal settlements. “A couple of years ago, when you looked at Google Maps, the largest slum in Africa was not on the map,” she said, adding that meant the area was not catered for when allocating the budget for sanitation efforts. Using sanitation data ethically To ensure organizations working in the sanitation space implement and engage with geospatial data in a way that averts risks to individuals and minimizes negative impacts, Onerhime pointed to some existing ethical frameworks for data that could be useful: the Open Data Institute’s Data Ethics Canvas, the U.K. government’s Data Ethics Framework, and the U.K. Office for Artificial Intelligence’s guidance on understanding AI ethics and safety. However, these do not specifically deal with geospatial data. To fill those gaps, she recommended organizations work with people who have expertise in geospatial data but also have the social, geographical, and political expertise of the country in which the data is being acquired. “If we bring the people together who understand the nuances and what’s needed to make these succeed, we can actually fine-tune our responsible use of geospatial data further,” Onerhime said. Gather Hub has created a set of principles to help organizations as they work to improve the integrity of their sanitation data. These include being transparent on why data is being collected, ensuring data diversity, protecting privacy, sharing data without compromising privacy, making data accessible without certain skills or technology, using data for the social good, working in collaboration with others, and sharing lessons from successes and failures. Local NGOs should also be viewed as partners rather than just collaborators when collecting geospatial data, Mugeha said. “One of the discomforts for me — as someone who lives in the West but comes from an African country — is that we have a very different experience of what harms can be,” she said. Local people are able to share what could be perceived as harmful in terms of the disclosure of location data and sanitation access, and they can ensure the data is collected and used in a way that protects the privacy and security of communities. “Combining local knowledge with ethical practices is a great starting point for any organization,” Mugeha said.