What are Key Urban Environmental Problems?

May 3, 2009

Defining urban environmental problems

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While there is now widespread agreement that urban environmental issues are important, there is little coherence in how international agencies and others define the urban environment and identify its critical problems. This is not just a semantic question, as it is intimately related to how and where funds are allocated and to who can expect to benefit from the resulting environmental improvements. Most of the confusion arises from the qualifier ‘environmental’ and what it should mean in an urban context.

If urban environmental problems are defined and pursued too broadly, then almost all urban development initiatives can be labeled environmental. For example, Einstein’s oft-cited definition of the environment as ‘everything that is not me’, could be used to designate anything from better shopping facilities to better televisions as urban environmental improvement.

But if urban environmental problems are defined too narrowly, many of the generalizations noted in the introductory paragraph cease to be true. For example, defining urban environmental problems as ‘the degradation of urban water, air and land’ excludes many of the environmental health problems suffered predominantly by the poor, as well as the extra-urban impacts that threaten regional and global sustainability.

While both very broad and very narrow usage are common in the literature, when people complain of ‘environmental problems’ they are typically referring to damage to the physical environment, mostly caused by other people, and usually with harmful consequences for human welfare, either now or in the future. So common sense suggests that urban environmental problems are threats to present or future human well-being, resulting from human-induced damage to the physical environment, originating in or borne in urban areas.

This definition includes:

• Localized environmental health problems such as inadequate household water and sanitation and indoor air pollution.
• City-regional environmental problems such as ambient air pollution, inadequate waste management and pollution of rivers, lakes and coastal areas.
• Extra-urban impacts of urban activities such as ecological disruption and resource depletion in a city’s hinterland, and emissions of acid precursors and greenhouse gases.
• Regional or global environmental burdens that arise from activities outside a city’s boundaries, but which will affect people living in the city

It does not encompass:

• Problems in what are sometimes termed the ‘social’, ‘economic’ or ‘cultural’ environment.
• Natural hazards that are not caused or made worse by urban activity.
• The environmental impacts of urban activities that are of no concern to humans, either now or in the future.

The table presents a wide range of city-related environmental hazards. Despite their diversity, all fall within the definition, provided the phrase ‘resulting from urban activities’ is itself interpreted broadly. Most are the unintended side-effects of human activity in cities. Some might more accurately be ascribed to a lack of preventive measures. In all examples, however, better urban practices and governance could help reduce the burdens, and it is this distinction that is most critical operationally.

The urban environment in international development assistance

By and large, the definition given above is consistent with the perspective on urban environmental problems taken by most international development agencies (a notable exception being the Dutch government’s DGIS, which explicitly includes the urban social environment as a focal area, alongside the urban physical environment). However, a review of a range of bilateral and multilateral donors suggests that several factors skew the operational definition of environment away from many of the central environmental concerns of the urban poor:

1. Responsibility for taking the lead on environmental matters is often assigned to divisions that are not directly involved in urban development assistance on the grounds that the environment generally, and natural resources in particular, are primarily rural concerns. Such divisions are unlikely to have the knowledge or influence to promote urban environmental issues. Moreover, they have a tendency to define environment in natural resource management terms, which can easily lead to ignoring the environmental health issues that are of particular concern to the urban poor. National and local environmental agencies in recipient countries, the natural counterparts of environmental staff in development agencies, also tend to define their role as one of ‘protecting’ the environment and to view most of the environmental threats in low-income neighborhoods as beyond their mandate.
    
2. Broad definitions are employed to illustrate the importance of environmental issues but narrower definitions are used to construct environmental indicators, while still narrower definitions are typically employed to identify environmental programs and projects. Thus, for example:
   • It is routinely noted that millions of deaths every year from diarrhea and respiratory infections could be prevented by environmental improvements.
   • Statistics on household access to water and sanitation are only sometimes included in lists of environmental indicators.
   • The projects that target such improvements are generally infrastructure projects and are labeled as such (i.e. they are rarely part of a donor agency’s ‘environment’ portfolio).

   This can easily give the impression that environmental initiatives are responding to a far broader set of environmental concerns than they actually are, while at the same time ignoring environmental benefits that can come from ‘non-environmental’ initiatives. 
    

3. Operationally, a distinction is often made between two different approaches to environmental improvement: investing in ‘stand-alone’ environmental initiatives and attempting to ‘mainstream’ environmental concerns into all development activities. It is generally held that ‘mainstreaming’ is ultimately more important. However, at least in its early stages, mainstreaming tends to define the environmental agenda in terms of reducing the environmental impacts of development in both urban and rural areas. Thus, in the urban context, the cross-cutting environmental goal is often expressed in terms of ‘protecting’ the environment or ‘preventing’ the degradation of urban water, land and air. Again, this can easily detract from the local environmental threats that are of particular concern to the urban poor.
    
4. Pressure from Northern environmentalists has been an important factor in convincing international development agencies to address environmental issues. Northern environmentalists are usually more concerned with regional and global issues involving the natural environment than with local environmental health burdens faced by the urban poor. Again, this reinforces a tendency to ignore the environmental threats facing the urban poor although it does put pressure on development agencies to address global environmental issues.

As international and local interest and capacity to address urban environmental problems increases, new, more locally-driven environmental strategies are also emerging. Many cities in Europe and America, and increasingly in Latin America, Asia and Africa are experimenting with city-wide initiatives to address environmental problems. Bilateral and even more often multilateral donors have been supporting a number of these initiatives, often called Local Agenda 21s. There is still much to learn from these local initiatives, including perhaps how best to define urban environmental problems in their local context. Ultimately, while it may be useful to define urban environmental problems in the abstract, operationally it may be more important to respond to local initiatives in a coherent fashion, whether or not they fit some abstract definition.

SUMMARY: Range of city-related environmental hazards by scale and type

SCALE	TYPE OF HAZARD	SOME SPECIFIC EXAMPLES (This list of examples is not intended to be comprehensive)
Within house and its plot	Biological pathogens	Water-borne, water-washed (or water-scarce), airborne, food-borne, vector-borne, including some water-related vectors (e.g. Aedes mosquitoes breeding in water containers where households lack reliable piped supplied).
	Chemical pollutants	Indoor air pollution from fires, stoves or heaters. Accidental poisoning from household chemicals. Occupational exposure for home workers.
	Physical hazards	Household accidents – burns and scalds, cuts, falls. Physical hazards from home-based economic activities. Inadequate protection from rain, extreme temperatures.
Neighborhood	Biological pathogens	Pathogens in waste water, solid waste (if not removed from the site), local water bodies. Disease vectors, e.g. malaria-spreading Anopheles mosquitoes breeding in standing water or filariasis-spreading Culex mosquitoes breeding in blocked drains, latrines or septic tanks.
	Chemical pollutants	Ambient air pollution from fires, stoves….; also perhaps from burning garbage if there is no regular garbage collection service. Air and water pollution and wastes from ‘cottage’ industries and from motor vehicles.
	Physical hazards	Site-related hazards, e.g. housing on slopes with risks of landslides; sites regularly flooded, sites at risk from earthquakes.
Workplace	Biological pathogens	Overcrowding/poor ventilation aids transmission of infectious diseases.
	Chemical pollutants	Toxic chemicals, dust……
	Physical hazards	Dangerous machinery, noise…..
City (or municipality within larger city)	Biological pathogens	Pathogens in the open water bodies (often from sewerage); also at municipal dumps; contaminated water in piped system.
	Chemical pollutants	Ambient air pollution (mostly from industry and motor vehicles; motor vehicles’ role generally growing); water pollution; hazardous wastes.
	Physical hazards	Traffic hazards. Violence. ‘Natural’ disasters and their ‘unnaturally large’ impact because of inadequate attention to prevention and mitigation.
	Citizens’ access to land for housing	Important influence on housing quality directly and indirectly (e.g. through insecure tenure discouraging households investing in improved housing, and discouraging water, electricity and other utilities from serving them).
	Heat island effect and thermal inversions	Raised temperatures a health risk, especially for vulnerable groups (e.g. elderly, very young). Air pollutants may become trapped, increasing their concentration and the length of people’s exposure to them.
City-region (or city periphery)	Resource degradation	Soil erosion from poor watershed management or land development or clearance; deforestation; water pollution; ecological damage from acid precipitation and ozone plumes; loss of biodiversity.
	Land or water pollution from waste dumping	Pollution of land from dumping of conventional household, industrial and commercial solid wastes and toxic/hazardous wastes. Leaching of toxic chemicals from waste dumps into water. Contaminated industrial sites. Pollution of surface water and groundwater from sewage and surface runoff.
	Pre-emption or loss of resources	Fresh water for city pre-empting its use for agriculture; expansion of paved area over good quality agricultural land.
Links between city and global issues	Non-renewable resource use	Fossil fuel use; use of other mineral resources; loss of biodiversity; loss of non-renewable resources in urban waste streams.
	Non-renewable sink use	Persistent chemicals in urban waste streams; greenhouse gas emissions, stratospheric ozone depleting chemicals.
	Overuse of ‘finite’ renewable Resources	Scale of consumption that is incompatible with global limits for soil, forests, freshwater….

 

 

SOURCE: Satterthwaite, David (1999), The Links between Poverty and the Environment in Urban Areas of Africa, Asia and Latin America, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the European Commission (EC), New York.

 

Environmental Problems

Environmental problems can be found in all areas of the world. Some affect the water, others affect the air, and still others affect the land and the animals. Many environmental problems can be reduced or eliminated through corrective actions or proactive measures. Several of the more severe and widespread environmental problems will be discussed below.

Water pollution is a prominent environmental problem witnessed across the globe. In some cases, water pollution occurs when pollutants drain into rivers, streams, lakes, and other bodies of water. Pollutants can be in the form of chemicals from fertilizers, pesticides, oil, gasoline, antifreeze, and even mulch or dirt. Sometimes rainwater washes the particles into the water bodies, as well. There are several preventative steps that can be taken to reduce water pollution:

• Avoid using excessive amounts of fertilizers and pesticides on lawns.
• Do not fertilize when it is going to rain.
• Do not dump dirt or mulch in the street – as it can easily wash down the drain into bodies of water.
• Pick up litter which can injure wildlife if it enters lakes, rivers and streams.
• Remove and properly dispose of pet waste. It contains dangerous bacteria and nutrients that can create public health concerns if it enters water bodies.
• Never dump chemicals or fluids from cars (i.e. oil, gasoline, antifreeze) down gutters, drains or sewers.

Air pollution is another environmental problem that is seen throughout the world. Air pollution can be created by factories or companies that release pollutants into the air. Oftentimes, the air pollutants may originate in one country and can easily blow across the border and pollute another country’s air.

Other times, air pollution is less caustic but equally harmful for those with respiratory conditions. For example, even building household fires for warmth or burning land to clear an area for farming can release particulate matter into the air. In some areas, there are wood burning restrictions during times of high air pollution.

Environmental problems can also include the well-being of threatened or endangered animals. For example, in the United States, logging of forest land was destroying the habitat of the Northern Spotted Owl, a threatened species. Consequently, after a lengthy lawsuit, logging was curtailed in those areas. In Central and South America, the rainforests are also destroyed to make room for farming. However, some unique and endangered species of plants and animals are also destroyed in the process.

Global warming is another environmental problem. Greenhouse gases, such as carbon, are emitted into the atmosphere and are destroying the ozone layer, causing the earth to reach higher temperatures. Taking steps, such as reducing carbon emissions, can lessen this problem – according to some scientists. Using electric or hydrogen powered vehicles, solar power and wind power can also work to greatly reduce carbon emissions, as well as reduce dependence on non-renewable resources and foreign oil.

Truth about swine flue

What is swine flu?

Like people, pigs can get influenza (flu), but swine flu viruses aren’t the same as human flu viruses. Swine flu doesn’t often infect people, and the rare human cases that have occurred in the past have mainly affected people who had direct contact with pigs. But the current swine flu outbreak is different. It’s caused by a new swine flu virus that has spread from person to person — and it’s happening among people who haven’t had any contact with pigs.  

 

 

 

What are swine flu symptoms?

Symptoms of swine flu are like regular flu symptoms and include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills, and fatigue. Some people have reported diarrhea and vomiting associated with swine flu. Those symptoms can also be caused by many other conditions, and that means that you and your doctor can’t know, just based on your symptoms, if you’ve got swine flu. It takes a lab test to tell whether it’s swine flu or some other condition.

If I think I have swine flu, what should I do? When should I see my doctor?

If you have flu symptoms, stay home, and when you cough or sneeze, cover your mouth and nose with a tissue. Afterward, throw the tissue in the trash and wash your hands. That will help prevent your flu from spreading.

If you’ve got flu symptoms, and you’ve recently been to a high-risk area like Mexico, CDC officials recommend that you see your doctor. If you have flu symptoms but you haven’t been in a high-risk area, you can still see a doctor — that’s your call.

Keep in mind that your doctor will not be able to determine whether you have swine flu, but he or she would take a sample from you and send it to a state health department lab for testing to see if it’s swine flu. If your doctor suspects swine flu, he or she would be able to write you a prescription for Tamiflu or Relenza. Those drugs may not be required; U.S. swine flu patients have made a full recovery without it.

WebMD Provides Answers to Your Questions About Swine Flu
(continued)

How does swine flu spread? Is it airborne?

The new swine flu virus apparently spreads just like regular flu. You could pick up germs directly from an infected person, or by touching an object they recently touched, and then touching your eyes, mouth, or nose, delivering their germs for your own infection. That’s why you should make washing your hands a habit, even when you’re not ill. Infected people can start spreading flu germs up to a day before symptoms start, and for up to seven days after getting sick, according to the CDC. 

The swine flu virus can become airborne if you cough or sneeze without covering your nose and mouth, sending germs into the air. The U.S. residents infected with swine flu virus had no direct contact with pigs. The CDC says it’s likely that the infections represent widely separated cycles of human-to-human infections.

How is swine flu treated?

The new swine flu virus is sensitive to the antiviral drugs Tamiflu and Relenza. The CDC recommends those drugs to prevent or treat swine flu; the drugs are most effective when taken within 48 hours of the start of flu symptoms. But not everyone needs those drugs; many of the first people in the U.S. with lab-confirmed swine flu recovered without treatment. The Department of Homeland Security has released 25% of its stockpile of Tamiflu and Relenza to states. Health officials have asked people not to hoard Tamiflu or Relenza.

 

Is there a vaccine against the new swine flu virus?

No. But the CDC and the World Health Organization are already taking the first steps toward making such a vaccine. That’s a lengthy process — it takes months. This year’s flu vaccine wasn’t made with this swine flu virus in mind; no one saw this virus coming ahead of time. If you got vaccinated against flu last fall or winter, that vaccination will go a long way toward protecting you against certain human flu virus strains. But the new swine flu virus is a whole other problem.

 

 

 

I had a flu vaccine this season. Am I protected against swine flu?

No. This season’s flu vaccine wasn’t made with the new swine flu virus in mind; no one saw this virus coming ahead of time. 

If you were vaccinated against flu last fall or winter, that vaccination will go a long way toward protecting you against certain human flu virus strains. But the new swine flu virus is a whole other problem.

How can I prevent swine flu infection?

The CDC recommends taking these steps:

• Wash your hands regularly with soap and water, especially after coughing or sneezing. Or use an alcohol-based hand cleaner.
• Avoid close contact with sick people.
• Avoid touching your mouth, nose, or eyes.

 

Can I still eat pork?

Yes. You can’t get swine flu by eating pork, bacon, or other foods that come from pigs.

What else should I be doing?

Keep informed of what’s going on in your community. Your state and local health departments may have important information if swine flu develops in your area. For instance, parents might want to consider what they would do if their child’s school temporarily closed because of flu. That happened in New York City, where St. Francis Preparatory School in Queens closed for a couple of days after eight students were found to have swine flu.  Don’t panic, but a little planning wouldn’t hurt.

How severe is swine flu?

The severity of cases in the current swine flu outbreak has varied widely, from mild cases to fatalities. Early cases in the U.S. were mild, but there has been at least one U.S. death from swine flu. And it’s impossible to know whether the virus will change, either becoming more or less dangerous. Scientists are watching closely to see which way the new swine flu virus is heading — but health experts warn that flu viruses are notoriously hard to predict, as far as how and when they’ll change.

Why has the swine flu infection been more severe in Mexico than in other countries?

That’s not clear yet. Researchers around the world are investigating the differences between the cases in Mexico and those elsewhere.

Have there been previous swine flu oubtreaks?

Yes. There was a swine flu outbreak at Fort Dix, N.J., in 1976 among military recruits. It lasted about a month and then went away as mysteriously as it appeared. As many as 240 people were infected; one died.

The swine flu that spread at Fort Dix was the H1N1 strain. That’s the same flu strain that caused the disastrous flu pandemic of 1918-1919, resulting in tens of millions of deaths.

Concern that a new H1N1 pandemic might return in winter 1976 led to a crash program to create a vaccine and vaccinate all Americans against swine flu. That vaccine program ran into all kinds of problems — not the least of which was public perception that the vaccine caused excessive rates of dangerous reactions. After more than 40 million people were vaccinated, the effort was abandoned.

As it turned out, there was no swine flu epidemic.

I was vaccinated against the 1976 swine flu virus. Am I still protected?

Probably not. The new swine flu virus is different from the 1976 virus. And it’s not clear whether a vaccine given more than 30 years ago would still be effective.

How many people have swine flu?

That’s a hard question to answer, because the figure is changing so quickly. If you want to keep track of U.S. cases that have been confirmed by lab tests and reported to the CDC, check the CDC’s web site. If you’re looking for cases in other countries, visit the World Health Organization’s web site. And when you hear about large numbers of people who are ill, remember that lab tests may not yet have been done to confirm that they have swine flu. And there may be a little lag time before confirmed cases make it into the official tally.

How serious is the public health threat of a swine flu epidemic?

The U.S. government has declared swine flu to be a public health emergency. 

It remains to be seen how severe swine flu will be in the U.S. and elsewhere, but countries worldwide are monitoring the situation closely and preparing for the possibility of a pandemic.

The World Health Organization has not declared swine flu to be a pandemic. The WHO wants to learn more about the virus first and see how severe it is and how deeply it takes root.

But it takes more than a new virus spreading among humans to make a pandemic. The virus has to be able to spread efficiently from one person to another, and transmission has to be sustained over time. In addition, the virus has to spread geographically.

http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/flu-guide/20061101/swine-flu-faq?page=1