According to the World Resources Institute (WRI), urban populations in the developing world are growing at 3.5 percent per year, compared to less than 1 percent growth rates in developed world cities.
UN-Habitat says that a staggering 95 percent of the expected global population growth we will see over the next 2 decades will be absorbed by cities in the developing world.
What that means is by 2030 another 2 billion people from the developing world will be living in cities (only 100 million from the developed world meanwhile will be doing the same). Currently 75 percent of world's poorest people -- 1 billion -- live in cities.
Higher density, lower standards
Whether the new wave of migrants will find a better life in cities remains to be seen. More than 70 percent of city dwellers in the developing world (that's around 900 million people) live in slum-like conditions, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
And that number is predicted to more than double to reach 2 billion slum-dwellers by 2020.
The health risks for people living in slum-like conditions will come from every corner and will include increased mortality rates from heat waves; higher risk of exposure to flash floods, mudslides and landfalls; and more frequent exposure to waterborne and infectious diseases (notably dengue fever).
When it comes to poor cities, bigger is by no means always better. According to UN Habitat, the mega-cities of the future, (those with more than 10 million residents) will be "giant potential flood and disaster traps" if insufficient action is taken on behalf of their residents.
Already, 75 percent of the world's 21 mega-cities are based in the developing world, and by some estimates, 27 of the 33 mega-cities expected to exist by 2015 will be in developing countries.
Cities have always traditionally been the centers of the world's wealth, and the World Bank says that as much as 80 percent of the future economic growth of the developing world will come from its cities.
But the United Nations Environmental Program me (UNEP) has also recently said that population growth in the cities of the developing world "has outpaced the ability to provide vital infrastructure and services".
Pollution problems
It is also important for citizens to have access to personal heathcare services such as a first aid kit . Thus even as we conserve the environment we are also improving the lot of the citizens.
Rapid economic growth brings substantial problems of its own -- notably increased pollution. Already, 16 of the 20 most polluted cities in the world are in China, which is arguably undergoing the most rapid industrial and economic transformation the world has ever seen.
Today urban air pollution prematurely kills 1 million people a year, the majority disproportionately located in the developing world.
The pollution is not, as some might expect, always transport-related. Some of the most potent and deadly forms of pollution affecting city residents in the developing world are entirely industrial in their nature.
In 2007 the Blacksmith Institute came up with an unranked list of the top 10 most polluted cities in the world. Without exception the sources of that pollution were industrial -- factories pumping out chemicals into the atmosphere and into water supplies.
Monday, 10 March 2008
Tuesday, 4 March 2008
Energy Companies in Altruistic Move
The Times Online report that Britain’s biggest energy companies are holding talks with the Government about a deal to provide subsidised heating and electricity to the 4.5 million people thought to be living in fuel poverty.
Energy companies spend just 0.11 per cent of their £24 billion turnover helping to tackle fuel poverty, defined as households that spend more than 10 per cent of income on energy.
They have been threatened with a windfall tax on profits if they do not help to fund a nationwide scheme. The Government wants them to contribute to a fund and is considering matching industry payments with taxpayer contributions. The fund would allow for the creation of means-tested, standardised energy tariffs for low-income groups. Alistair Darling is expected to announce further details of the scheme on March 12.
National Energy Action, the charity, claims that half a million more households were plunged into fuel poverty earlier this year following the latest price increases. The Government’s goal of eradicating fuel poverty by 2016 has been thrown into jeopardy.
Leaders of three of Britain’s biggest power groups — Sam Laidlaw, chief executive of Centrica, which owns British Gas, Paul Golby, chief executive of Powergen, and a representative from EDF, will meet Malcolm Wicks, the Energy Minister, Yvette Cooper, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, and Geoffrey Norris, the Downing Street adviser, today to discuss the proposals. A meeting was held last week with the heads of Scottish and Southern Energy, Scottish Power and RWE NPower.
Several schemes already exist to assist low-income groups, but there is no standardisation and Energywatch believes that they help only one in 15 households living in fuel poverty.
Some companies spend significantly more on the problem than others. British Gas, for example, spends 0.49 per cent of its turnover, while SSE and NPower pay just 0.07 per cent. Energywatch said in January that, if all of the companies matched British Gas’s spending, an additional £72 million could be raised to help poorer households.
Spokesmen for the Treasury and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform declined to comment.
Ofgem, the energy watchdog, launched an investigation into the power and gas supply markets on February 21 because of growing public concern about rising prices, which the companies have blamed on wholesale gas prices and the need to invest more in low-carbon energy generation.
Power companies are being asked to spend billions of pounds investing in low-carbon generation over the coming years, including nuclear and renewable energy. The industry said that a windfall tax on profits would damage its ability to make investments to secure long-term energy supplies.
Profit sharing
8m Scottish & Southern Energy customers
0.7% Proportion of turnover that it spends on social tariffs
£723m Profits for first half of 2007
16m British Gas customers
0.49% Proportion of turnover that it spends on social tariffs
£533m Profits in first half of 2007
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