OneWorld.net (U.S.)

OneWorld.net's take: The world population of urban slum dwellers has reached the 1 billion mark, reports a Nigerian newspaper following the United Nations' Monday announcement that urbanization of poverty may be one of the greatest challenges to development today.

• Rustom Ali Sheikh composts waste in a slum in Dhaka, Bangladesh. © Changemakers.net / Shehzad Noorani/Developing ImagesA slum is defined as an area "where people live without one or more of life's basic necessities: clean water, sanitation, sufficient living space, durable housing, or secure tenure," writes Kai N. Lee for the environmental think tank, the Worldwatch Institute. Key factors driving urbanization are high population growth, rural poverty, and conflict that forces people to relocate to cities. Life in urban slums is typically characterized by a lack of infrastructure that makes inhabitants ever more vulnerable to disease and environmental hazards like flooding, explains Kai.
  

• Rapid urban growth also has implications for global warming. While cities cover only 0.4 percent of the Earth's surface, they generate the bulk of the world's carbon emissions, according to Worldwatch. But if designed well, cities can be a force for environmental good. "There are efficiencies of scale," says architect Michael McDonough in the book Massive Change, noting particularly the positive effects of mass transit, green buildings, and freeing up natural space by consolidating people. "The surprise is that New York City is one of the most environmentally efficient cities on the face of the planet because of its density," he adds.
  

• Over the past half-century, the world’s urban population has increased nearly fourfold, from 732 million in 1950 to 3.15 billion in 2005, explains Worldwatch. About 1 billion of those people -- or nealry one third of the world's urban population -- are believed to currently be living in slum conditions. And by 2030, according to the UN's human settlement program, that number is likely to double.

Africa: Urban Slum Dwellers Worldwide Nearing One Billion - UN

From: Daily Trust (Abuja)

October 6, 2008

Nasidi Adamu Yahaya

The number of urban slum-dwellers worldwide has broken the one billion mark, making it clear that the urbanization of poverty is arguably one of the biggest challenges facing development today, executive director of UN-Habitat, has said.

Mrs Anna Tibaijuka said in a televised message to mark the World Habitat Day in Abuja yesterday that "no longer can we turn a blind eye to the plight of slum-dwellers living in life-threatening conditions. Nor can we hide from the fact that urban poverty and urban inequalities are on the rise around the world, in developed and developing countries alike.

"We have both a moral and an ethical responsibility to make our cities more harmonious by making them more inclusive. It is a societal imperative that we fight urban poverty and squalor if we are to secure urban safety and security," she said.

Mrs Tibaijuka stated that it was no coincidence that climate change is now coming to the forefront of international debate at the same time and at virtually the same pace as the world becomes urbanised.

She said cities consume upwards of 75 per cent of all energy and contribute to an equally substantial amount of greenhouse gas emissions, noting that they must therefore, be an integral part of any mitigation efforts.

"Reducing cities' contribution to climate change and vulnerability to the effects thereof, must be viewed as a historical opportunity to improve the living conditions of all men and women, including the most vulnerable sectors of our urban populations. Both adaptation and mitigation efforts require improved land-use planning, more robust infrastructure and smarter construction. I can think of no better initiative than to combine these efforts to make our cities and towns greener, safer and more equitable", Mrs Tibaijuka said.

In his speech, Minister of state for Environment, Housing and Urban Development, Chief Chuka Odom, said the theme of this year's world habitat day, "harmonious cities" was meant to draw attention to the different problems of rapid urbanisation, especially its widespread impacts on the total environment.

He said "to put the scale of the problem in proper perspective, a well researched World Bank study identifies 42 slums in Lagos metropolis. This report which implied that there are more slums than well managed neighbourhoods in Lagos, mirrors to a large extent, the situation in many other Nigerian cities."