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URBAN ENVIRONMENT |
environmental degradation, hazards & pollution
This cluster emphasises
ways to combat environmental degradation and pollution hazards,
including innovative technical, social and community-based
responses to water, sanitation and waste disposal, industrial
and urban energy pollution, together with public health
protection and hazard reduction measures.
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local level
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Dinham, Barbara & Satinath Sarang (2002) - "The
Bhopal gas tragedy 1984 to ? The evasion of corporate responsibility"
Environment & Urbanization, Vol 14 No 1, April
2002 - IIED - [pdf]
India - This paper describes the inadequacies
in the response of the Union Carbide Corporation to the
accidental release of the highly toxic gas, methyl isocyanate,
from its plant in Bhopal, India in 1984. Over 20,000 people
are estimated to have died from exposure to this gas since
1984, with some 120,000 chronically ill survivors. The corporation
has always sought to underplay the health effects and has
refused to release its research on the health impacts of
the gas (which could have helped develop more effective
treatment). This paper describes the work of the Sambhavna
Trust, a charitable body set up to work with the survivors,
and its programme to develop simple, more effective, ethical
and participatory ways of carrying out research, monitoring
and treatment. Its programmes combine traditional and western
systems for health care and it ensures that individuals
and communities are actively involved in all aspects of
public health.
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city level
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Arrossi, Silvina (1996) - "Inequality and health in
the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires" - Environment
& Urbanization, Vol. 8, No. 2, October 1996, IIED
[pdf]
Argentina - This paper describes differences
in unsatisfied basic needs and in mortality rates by age
group for the 20 districts which make up the Metropolitan
Area of Buenos Aires. It also describes differences in causes
of death by age group between the central city (Capital
Federal) and the inner and outer ring of municipalities
that surround it. The paper ends with a discussion of why
it is important to develop a more detailed statistical picture
of health differences between districts in cities and examines
also the difficulties in doing so.
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Hunt, Caroline (1996) - "Child waste pickers in India:
the occupation and its health risks"- Environment
& Urbanization, Vol. 8, No. 2, October 1996 - IIED
[pdf]
India-This paper describes the health
risks to which waste pickers are exposed in their work (and
often in their homes). It then presents the findings of
a study on the health problems of a group of 100 children
living in informal settlements in Bangalore (India) in which
the health problems of those who work as waste pickers were
compared to those who do not.
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UN-Habitat (2002) - Station of purification of the worn-out
waters, Al Hoceima City - UN-Habitat / Best Practice
[pdf]
Morocco - Urban agglomerations are a source
of pollution, including its transfer and its dismissal.
The direct sewage tipping in the sea without any previous
treatment constitutes a potential threat, for zones of bathing,
for the aquatic life, capable thereafter to affect conditions
of hygiene seriously within the same agglomeration. To face
this situation, it became very urgent to put in place a
system that can stop the propagation of the problem before
it affects others zone.
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UN-Habitat (1998) - Biotechnical use of the fraction
organic of urban residuals, San Luis - UN-Habitat /
Best Practice [pdf]
Argentina - This project aims at satisfying
a growing demand: to solve the problem of the final disposition
of the urban solid waste, by means of the recycling of the
inerts that have some value in the market, and the transformation
of the biodegradable organic matter into a organic biological
fertilizer, and thus eliminating the complex problem of
environmental pollution and allowing the clean inert materials
to recycle.
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UN-Habitat (2002) - The Urban Drainage System Project
of Quanzhou - UN-Habitat / Best Practice [pdf]
China - The purpose of the Urban Drainage
System project was to improve the quality and sustainability
of the urban environment. The method applied is that of
detaining floodwaters with appropriate drainage facilities.
The implementation of the project solved the long-standing
problem of water logging in urban Quanzhou thus ensuring
a safer and healthier environment for the urban population
as well as improving the ecological conditions of the inner
city zone.
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UN-Habitat (2002) - Men Recycling Papers and their Social
Roles, Florianopolis -UN-Habitat / Best Practice [pdf]
Brazil - The company Terra Fine Papers,
has been participating for 10 years in the new industrial
revolution. The plan consists of valorization of the renewable
resources, productivity of resources, and an echo-strategy
where the business responsibility in the environmental administration
is a voluntary activity.
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UN-Habitat (2002) - Technical management of the impregnated
residuals of hydrocarbons, Bogota - UN-Habitat / Best
Practice [pdf]
Colombia - Our project is dedicated to
handling, use and recovery of hydrocarbons spread in the
water and floors; we have developed programs that use appropriate
technologies, adaptive to industries' needs and trade, they
can also be applied in any city in a short time, with low
costs.
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international level
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Kamanga, L Bull et al. (2003) - "From everyday hazards
to disasters: the accumulation of risk in urban areas"-
Environment & Urbanization, Vol 15 No 1, April
2003 - IIED [pdf]
This paper summarizes the discussions from a workshop funded
by UNDP on the links between disasters and urban development
in Africa, highlighting the underestimation of the number
and scale of urban disasters, and the lack of attention
to the role of urban governance. It notes the difficulties
in getting action in Africa, since the region’s problems
are still perceived as “rural” by disaster and
development specialists, even though two-fifths of its population
live in urban areas. It emphasizes the need for an understanding
of
risk that encompasses events ranging from disasters to everyday
hazards and which understands the linkages between them
– in particular, how identifying and acting on risks
from “small” disasters can reduce risks from
larger ones. It also stresses the importance of integrating
such an understanding into poverty reduction strategies.
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Stephens, Carolyn (1996) - "Healthy cities or unhealthy
islands? The health and social implications of urban inequality"
- Environment & Urbanization, Vol. 8 No. 2,
October 1996 - IIED [pdf]
This paper suggests that governments and international
agencies must address the large and often growing levels
of inequality within most cities if health is to be improved
and
poverty reduced. It describes the social and health implications
of inequalities within cities and discusses why descriptions
of
the physical symptoms of poverty (and their health implications)
are more common than analyses of the structural systems
which
produce and perpetuate poverty. It also describes the health
problems
from which low-income groups in urban areas suffer more
than richer groups including those that are not linked to
poor
sanitary conditions and those that are more linked to relative
poverty (and thus the level of inequality) than to absolute
poverty.
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websites |
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Documents highlighting DFID's published
work in the field of fighting environmental degradation,
hazards and pollution in urban areas. |
"Cities for Climate Protection"
- Allen, Adriana; Nicholas You (2002) –
Sustainable Urbanisation: Bridging the Green and Brown
Agendas – DPU [pdf]
The International Council for Local Environmental
Initiatives (ICLEI) Cities for Climate Protection
Campaign (CCP) was launched in 1993, and has
united more than 400 local governments in their
efforts to cut the local GHG emissions that contribute
to global warming and air pollution. Collectively,
these 400 cities and towns account for approximately
8% of global emissions. In Europe, more than 100
local governments participate in the CCP Campaign
with national campaigns underway in Finland, Italy
and the United Kingdom. |
"Minimising Waste,
Disseminating Experience "
- Ibid. [pdf]
India-The long-held belief that
pollution is an inevitable by product of industrial
development is no longer valid. A project called DESIRE,
carried out in India between 1993 and 1995 for the
United Nations Industrial Development Organisation
(UNIDO), has shown that enterprises can realise both
financial and environmental benefits from cleaner
industrial production. The initiative not only worked
to minimise waste, but also led to the dissemination
of the experience gained in participating factories
throughout their wider industrial sectors, in India
and beyond. |
"Going public on polluters" - Ibid.
[pdf]
Indonesia-There is much debate on
how best to get companies to comply with environmental
regulations and raise community participation in pollution
control. Launched in 1995 by Indonesia's Pollution
Control
Agency (BAPEDAL), the PROPER programme tackles
this challenge through the simple idea that public
disclosure of environmental performance will reward
companies that meet high environmental standards
through good publicity, while exposing those below
standards to the scrutiny of the public and the media |
"Phasing
out Polluting Fuels in Manila" - Ibid.
[pdf]
Philippines-The Manila Lead-Free
Coalition has evolved in the space of two years from
a local campaign to phase out the use of polluting
leaded fuel in the city to a nationwide Partnership
for Clean Air, covering the entire range of clean
air issues. Its sustained campaign for raising public
awareness to smoke belching has emphasised the links
between urban energy use,
pollution, health, and even global climate trends.
Air pollution in Metro Manila is among the worst in
the world.
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