UN: Action needed to curb urban growth

A report published by the IRN (Integrated Regional Information Networks, the humanitarian news and analysis service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) provides an in depth analysis of the humanitarian impact of urbanisation in the world. For the first time in history more than half the world?s population, 3.3 billion people, live in cities, and by 2030 it is predicted that this number will reach 5 billion, says the report.

The report finds that the problems that rapid urbanisation presents in developing countries are mainly due to unplanned growth and inadequate living conditions. In 2001 it was estimated that 31% of the world?s population lived in slums. A few examples? Of the 13 million that live in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, 3.4 million live in squatter settlements while sixty percent of Nairobi?s population call slums home.

Ironically however, the UNFPA 2007 Report says that ?cities concentrate poverty, but they also represent the best hope of escaping it?. In fact, it is in urban areas that the majority of the economic value of a country is generated, explains David Satterthwaite, who works for the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED).

But how to solve the dilemma of overcrowding, and the inevitable poverty and health risks that follow? NGOs are reluctant to move into cities, says the chief of CARE USA, Helen Gayle, because ?the donor community has not co-evolved in the direction of facing urban poverty as rapidly as urban poverty has occurred? ? NGOs are dependent on donor funding and thus tend to follow the priorities of their donors, which in this case do not lie with world?s urban poor.

Download the full report from IRN?s website:

• www.irinnews.org