UN Millenium Development Goals

Purpose:

• To maintain the qualities of the physical environment that are considered important for health and human development to ensure they are sustainable (that is, available) for future generations. 

• Reducing poverty and achieving sustainable human development needs to be done in conjunction with ensuring a healthy planet. 

• To reduce biodiversity loss, as well as ensure access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation, which are important for promoting health and sustainable human development. 

Reasons why Goal 7 is important:

·       The achievement of environmental sustainability requires the maintenance of a stable environment that provides resources such as fresh water, food, clean air, wood, fisheries and productive soils, and that protects people from floods, droughts, pest infestations and disease.

·       Globally, more than 900 million people are classified as slum dwellers. These people do not have access to clean water, improved sanitation facilities, sufficient living space or houses of sufficient durability and structural quality. 

Target 1: 

Integrate principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs and reverse the loss of environmental resources.

• Sustainable development is the capacity to maintain the qualities within the physical environment that are considered to be important and valued, such as clean air and water, and ensure their availability for the long term.                                          
  Global warming:

·         To promote environmental sustainability, the policies and programs of all countries need to address the causes of global warming.

·         It is estimated that carbon dioxide (CO2) created from the combustion of fossil fuels by cars; factories and electricity production contribute more than 50 per cent of the greenhouse gas emissions on a global scale that are responsible for climate change.                                                                                                                                                        

·         Global warming has contributed to rising sea levels, which can have a devastating effect on populations living on coastal land. Rising sea levels can result in the flooding of communities, which not only causes destruction to properties but may also cause injury and death.

Reversing the loss of environmental resources:

·         Reversing the loss of environmental resources such as forests and clean water is essential to ensuring environmental sustainability and promoting the health and human development of populations.

Target 2:

• Reduce biodiversity loss, achieving, by 2010, a significant reduction in the rate of loss

·         Biodiversity refers to the different plants, animals and micro-organisms within the environment and the ecosystems of which they are a part. Ecosystems help maintain life support systems for humans.

·         Biodiversity loss is a worldwide concern with over 60 per cent of ecosystems being degraded or used unsustainably, resulting in the loss of plants and the extinction of species of animals and micro-organisms.

·         Reducing the depletion of the ozone layer in the atmosphere is also important for ensuring the maintenance of the ecosystems within the world.

·         increased rates of skin cancers in animals and humans

·         a suppression of the immune systems of humans

·         damage to plant life and an increased susceptibility to pests

·         a decrease in aquatic life forms.

Target 3:

• Halve by 2015 the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation

·         Water is vital for sustaining human life. While humans can survive weeks without food, they can last only a few days without water.

·         Every day, each person requires 20–50 litres of water free from harmful chemicals and contaminants for the purposes of drinking, cooking and hygiene.

·         Globally, around 2.8 billion people (approximately 40 per cent of the world's population) live in river basins that have some sort of water shortage.

·         For 1.2 billion of these people, the lack of water is due to physical reasons such as drought, environmental degradation and the number of people using the water source

·         As a result of lack of sanitation and clean water, there is a greater risk of diseases such as diarrhoea, cholera, worm infestations and hepatitis (see interest box below).

10 FACTS ON SANITATION:

1.    Globally, it is estimated that 2.6 billion people lack access to adequate sanitation. The regions with the lowest coverage are sub-Saharan Africa, Southern Asia and Eastern Asia.

2.    As a result of lack of adequate sanitation facilities, people defecate in the open, in waterways such as rivers or near areas where children play or food is prepared, which greatly increases the risk of disease. One gram of faeces in untreated water may contain ten million viruses, one million bacteria, 1000 parasite cysts and 100 worm eggs.

3.    Contaminated water, poor sanitation and poor hygiene are the cause of diseases such as diarrhoea, cholera and dysentery. In Africa, 115 people die every hour from these diseases.

4.    Poor sanitation and hygiene control in some health-care facilities results in infection. Globally, 5–30 per cent of patients in health-care facilities develop one or more avoidable infections when being treated in a health-care facility.

5.    Globally, emergencies such as droughts, floods, storms, earthquakes and fires affect 200 million people annually. The provision of adequate sanitation is vital for reducing the spread of disease and helping people return to their normal lives.

6.    Improved sanitation can reduce the rates of diarrhoea by one-third. Diarrhoea is responsible for approximately 1.5 million deaths per year, with those under five years of age most affected.

7.    Access to adequate sanitation in schools increases attendance rates, particularly for girls.

8.    Hygiene education and regular hand washing can reduce the number of diarrhoea cases by up to 45 per cent.

9.    The provision of adequate sanitation has economic benefits. For every US$1 spent on sanitation, there is a corresponding US$9 return in value.

10.  The cost to reach the MDG target of global sanitation coverage by 2015 is approximately US$14 billion annually.

Source: Adapted from WHO, 10 facts on sanitation.

 

Target 4:

• By 2020, to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers

·         People living in slum areas are at greater risk of poor health due to the lack of affordable housing, clean water and sanitation. There are many definitions of a slum; however, the simplest is ‘a heavily populated urban area characterised by substandard housing and squalor’ (UNHABITAT, 2010). According to the UN, there are four defining characteristics of urban slums:

1.    lack of improved sanitation

2.    poor water facilities

3.    non-durable housing

4.    insufficient living area.

·         In 2010, it was estimated that 828 million urban residents lived in slum conditions. People who live in slum areas are at much greater risk of contracting diseases resulting from lack of sufficient shelter, poor sanitation and contaminated water.

·         Shelters are often made from combustible materials, which place the slum dwellers at risk of injury from fire.

·         Shelters can be poorly constructed and prone to collapse. They also do not provide adequate protection from changing weather conditions such as flooding; this increases the risk of illness (for example, cholera, malaria and dengue fever).

·         In implementing programs that aim to improve the lives of slum dwellers, the underlying reasons for the existence of slums need to be considered. These reasons include:

Ø  migration of people from rural areas to urban areas to seek work

Ø  poverty

Ø  impact of globalisation, such as increased demand for skilled labour, resulting in unemployment for those who are unskilled

Ø  insecure housing and land tenure. Without long-term possession of housing and land, poor people are less likely to make efforts to improve their surroundings.

Areas where progress has not occurred or has been slow:

·            Although there has been progress made towards the achievement of Goal 7, there are a number of areas that are a concern. According to the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals Report 2010:

·         While global deforestation has been declining slowly, it is still occurring at a high rate in many countries. From 2000 to 2010, 16 million hectares of forest worldwide were lost from natural causes or being converted to agricultural land.

·         in 2007, the global emission of carbon dioxide increased by 3.2 per cent from the previous year and represents a 35 per cent increase above the 1990 level.

·         more birds and mammals are being driven towards extinction than are improving in status

·         although rural drinking water coverage has increased significantly in developing regions, 80 per cent of people globally who do not have access to an improved drinking water source live in rural areas

·         Southern Asia has the highest rate of open defecation in the world with 44 per cent of the population defecating in the open

·         poverty has a significant impact on sanitation; in 2005–08, the richest 20 per cent of the population in sub-Saharan Africa were five times more likely to use an improved sanitation facility than the poorest 20 per cent

·         sub-Saharan Africa is estimated to have the highest prevalence of urban slums, followed by Southern Asia