Environmental problems of third world cities: A global issue ignored?
| Author | D. Satterthwaite,J. E. Hardoy |
| Published date | 01 July 1991 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/pad.4230110405 |
| Date | 01 July 1991 |
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND DEVELOPMENT, VOI.
11,341-361
(1991)
Environmental problems
of
Third World cities:
a global issue ignored?’
J.
E. HARDOY and D. SATTERTHWAITE
IIED
SUMMARY
This article describes the massive scale and range of environmental problems in Third World
cities, considered in terms of the impact mainly on human health. The first half
of
the article
is an overview of these problems at different geographic scales, ranging from the home and
workplace to the city region. It also discusses the interaction between city-based production/
consumption and environmental degradation in the wider region. The main problems identified
include unsafe and inadequate water supplies, inadequate provision for sanitation and solid
waste disposal (including toxic waste), overcrowding, hazardous working conditions and inef-
fective pollution control. The second half presents some conclusions. The poorer groups in
cities suffer most of the environmental burden. Governments and aid agencies allocate little
to addressing the most serious environmental problems; local government is weak and ineffec-
tive in most Third World nations and citizen groups and NGOs that might offer some redress
are often repressed. But without representative local government, and without NGOs and
citizen group action, these problems are unlikely to be solved. Finally, different perceptions
as to what constitute the World’s major environmental problems threaten to divide North
from South. If the North wants the South’s co-operation in addressing global problems,
it
must help the South address those environmental problems which impact most on the
health and livelihoods
of
its poorer citizens.
INTRODUCTION
The Third World’s urban population is already larger than the total population
of
Europe, North America and Japan combined. Current estimates suggest a total
of
1.3 billion people, with the total growing by
50
million each year (United Nations,
1987). Most Third World nations are still urbanizing; many continue to urbanize
rapidly. Although
our
analyses
of
recent census data suggest that the Third World
will be less urbanized, and far less dominated by ‘mega-cities’, by the year
2000
and beyond than that suggested by the United Nations (Hardoy and Satterthwaite,
1989), these analyses still imply a large and rapidly growing urban population.
Dr Jorge E. Hardoy is President of lnstituto Intemacional de Medio Ambiente
y
Desarrollo (IIED-America
Latina) in Buenos Aires. David Satterthwaite is researcher with IIED-America Latina and IIED-London.
‘This paper is a condensed version of a paper of this same name written at the request of the Overseas
Development Administration and presented at a Conference on ‘Cities-the Mainspring of economic
Development in Developing Countries’ in Lille, France, in November,
1989.
The authors are grateful
to many friends and colleagues for their help and comments-especially Diana Mitlin (IIED), Sandy
Cairncross (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine), and Greg Goldstein and other friends
at the World Health Organization who helped develop the authors’ interests in environmental health.
027 1-2075/9 1/04034 1-2
1
$10.50
0
1991 by John Wiley
&
Sons, Ltd.
342
J.
E.
Hardoy and
D.
Satterthwaite
This paper seeks to provide
a
short overview of the scale and nature of environmen-
tal problems in urban areas of the Third World. There is sufficient evidence to show
that environmental problems are serious and likely to be increasing, although infor-
mation is too scarce to be able to state where problems are most serious. In addition,
our knowledge in regard to the health implications of exposure to concentrations
of pollutants which are now commonplace in Third World cities remains poor-
especially for long-term exposure. It is also difficult to distinguish the health impact
of a particular pollutant, as distinct from the many other environmental, social,
economic and demographic factors which influence any individual’s health status.
In this paper, the term ‘environmental problem’ is used in a rather restricted sense,
to mean the presence of pathogens or toxic substances in the human environment
as a result of human activities which can damage human health. Some consideration
is also given to other kinds of environmental problem-for instance an inadequate
supply of a resource essential to human health (for instance, sufficient fresh water),
or damage to natural resources such as forests, fisheries or agricultural land, or
to natural systems as a result of their use
as
sinks for wastes which result from
city-based production or consumption. But, because of limits on the length
of
the
paper, no consideration is given to other important aspects, including noise pollution,
food contamination and characteristics of urban environments, which contribute
to high levels
of
psychosocial problems.
In 1983, when first asked to write about environmental problems in Third World
cities, we suggested that the range and diversity of such problems are perhaps more
easily understood if considered at different geographic scales (Hardoy and Satterth-
waite, 1984). In this paper, consideration is given to environmental problems at
four scales: the indoor environment in the home and workplace; the wider neighbour-
hood or district; the city; and the region surrounding the city and the rural-urban
linkages between the two. In conclusion, some issues related to environmental prob-
lems at a global level are briefly considered.
THE
INDOOR ENVIRONMENT-AT
HOME
AND AT
WORK
The fact that a high proportion of the Third World’s urban population live and
work in very poor conditions is too well known to need much elaboration. Despite
the many different forms of housing used by poorer groups (rooms rented in tenements
or illegal settlements, beds rented in boarding houses, houses or shacks built on
illegally occupied or subdivided land, or rudimentary temporary shelters on some
piece of open space), almost all are characterized by two environmental problems:
the presence in the human environment of pathogenic micro-organisms, especially
those in human excreta; and crowded, cramped, living conditions.
The first of these is a result of a lack of infrastructure and services-piped water
supplies, sewage connections (or other systems to dispose of human wastes), garbage
collection and basic measures to prevent disease and provide health care. Such defi-
ciencies ensure that many diseases are endemic among poorer households, including
diarrhoea, dysenteries, typhoid, intestinal parasites and food poisoning. When com-
bined with malnutrition, these can
so
weaken the body’s defence that measles, pneu-
monia and other common childhood diseases become major killers (Cairncross
et
al,
1990a). Cholera remains a threat for poorer groups in many cities; the outbreak
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