Planet of Slums

De BBC bericht: 'Report Reveals Global Slum Crisis.

Slum-dwellers who make up a third of the world's urban population often live no better - if not worse - than rural people, a United Nations report says.

Anna Tibaijuka, head of the UN Habitat agency, urged governments and donors to take more seriously the problems of at least a billion people.
Worst hit is Sub-Saharan Africa where 72% of urban inhabitants live in slums rising to nearly 100% in some states.
If no action is taken, the world's slum population could rise to 1.4bn by 2020.
Habitat - the UN's human settlements programme - is hosting an Urban Forum in Vancouver next week on how to stem the crisis.
Its report is billed as a ground-breaking survey of urban growth, making a clear distinction between slum and non-slum development for the first time in UN history.
According to Dr Tibaijuka, speaking to reporters in London, slum-dwellers suffer a double disadvantage: they both live in misery and their plight often goes unreported given the traditional focus on the rural poor in the developing world.
"The average aid worker is not aware of the extent of the problem - this report is the proof," UN Habitat's executive director added.
Some states, the report notes, have already taken significant action to improve conditions, notably in Latin America where about 31% of urban people are classified as living in slums (figures for 2005) - down from 35% in 1990.
Such progress is welcomed as part of the UN's Millennium Development Goal of achieving a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum-dwellers by 2020.' Lees verder:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/5078654.stm Of: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/061606F.shtml


In zijn boek Planet of Slums schrijft de Amerikaanse onderzoeker Mike Davis: 'In 1950 there were 86 cities in the world with a population of more than one million; today there are 400, and by 2015 there will be at least 550. Cities, indeed, have absorbed nearly two-thirds of the global population explosion since 1950, and are currently growing by a million babies and migrants each week. The world's urban labor force has more than doubled since 1980, and the present urban population - 3.2 billion - is larger than the population of the world when John F. Kennedy was inaugurated.' Daar komt bij dat de kloof tussen arm en rijk de afgelopen 40 jaar verdubbeld is. Voor een ieder met een beetje gezond verstand is duidelijk dat deze ontwikkeling desastreus is en hierin werkelijk verandering moet komen. Allereerst door de westerse rijkdom eerlijk te verdelen.