Valley View University is the first university in Africa to have developed an Ecological Master Plan (EMP). This effort allows for a future development in a holistic way, with the idea of nutrients management. For this reason, a holistic ecological concept which allows for optimization of traffic, water and nutrients, open space, energy and waste has been developed. The overall concepts are integrated in the ecological master plan.

The creation of a sustainable campus led to the formation of an interdisciplinary team with a common goal to develop, implement and evaluate sustainable methods of urban planning, building, sanitation and agriculture. As part of the concept, recycling and reuse of waste water, grey water, urine and organics as fertilizer and soil conditioner on farmlands has been implemented at VVU. This implementation was supported by a research and development project which was financed by the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). This was also inline with the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s), agreed upon at the UN conference at Johannesburg in 2004, where discussion on water, which is absolutely necessary for the human beings directly as drinking water and indirectly for growing food, was highlighted.