ENVIRONMENTAL-PROBLEMS OF THIRD-WORLD CITIES - A GLOBAL ISSUE IGNORED

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 ineffective 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 ineffective 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.