Gert de Bruijne studied political sciences in Amsterdam, Tuebingen and West-Berlin. He was a fellow of the Middle East Research Associates in Amsterdam from 1985-1990 and worked as freelance journalist specialized in the Palestine issue. From 1990 onwards Gert de Bruijne lived in Palestine working for several employers as consultant and staff member on development project dealing with sustainable water and land management. Sanitation became his main occupation after he experienced the short coming of external input agricultural systems in arid areas, and the horrendous effects of random water use for sewer purpose and export driven agriculture. De Bruijne was one of the first who initiated a relatively successful ecological sanitation project in traditional Muslim community in the Hebron area. Since 200i he has been responsible for the development of a sustainable sanitation program at the WASTE adviser group in Gouda (The Netherlands). In 2008 he initiated the Nutrient Flow Task Group in the Netherlands to bring together people from various sectors concerned about the global consequences of the unavoidable depletion of mineral phosphates. Since 2004 WASTE and SEI are coordinating efforts to raise awareness about the phosphorous issue.