Introduction
A growing population will generally put pressure on the available resources. These resources include land, social infrastructure and even employment.
As a result the expansion of these resources and addition of new ones will be called for and this will in return have a negative impact on the environment as the natural ecosystem will be tampered with as people try to get land and building materials for these expansions.
The environmental impact is even worse when the population involved cannot afford the basic services that help minimize the effect of such human activities. This is the scenario when the rate of rural to urban migration is so high that the resources available in urban centers cannot cater for the fast-growing urban population.
In this essay, the causes and impact on the environment and the human population will be discussed. The question of who is vulnerable and why will also be answered.
Over the years, urban centers have played a major role in provision of employment, shelter and better social facilities such as heath care facilities, schools and cultural centers. Opportunities for income generation as well as centers for technological development are better founded in urban centers.
These together with other factors such as; the high rate of population growth, conflict, exhaustion of natural resources and land degradation particularly in the third world have led to an extremely high rate of rural to urban migration (UNEP 2000).
This migration exerts pressure on the available resources such as housing facilities, hospitals, schools and other social facilities, leading to increased unemployment, environmental degradation and lack of basic services (UNCHS 2001b).This calls for expansion to cater for the growing population which is a major challenge due to the high urban population growth rate.
A larger portion of the urban population lives in dire poverty. This group of people lacks the ability to compete for the limited resources and due to the state of living they cannot even protect themselves from natural or human climatic hazards.
The housing market fails to incorporate the poor in their housing plan (UNCHS 2001a); the provisions are mainly for the top and middle class earners hence making the situation even worse. The mismatch between income and cost of housing for the low-income earners has forced poverty to be localized in some locations where it is affordable.
Quite often these settlements are informal, situated in the outskirts of major towns and cities or in marginalized land within cities. In most cases these areas are at a higher risk of natural disasters such as floods, landslides and earthquakes. This means that the poor are more vulnerable to such calamities.
In the event that a natural disaster strikes, there is no way to escape because they lack the means. Hazards such as floods can be reduced by proper drainage systems which are not available in these settlements. These settlements lack basic services like sanitation and clean water supply and the effect is higher risk of infection and disease outbreaks.
Dense population pattern also increases these risks. The fact that they are poor makes the slum dwellers victims of other people’s mistakes. Garbage collectors use the environs of slums for dumping, industrial effluent, sometimes end up in rivers and the same water is used here for domestic chores.
As the economic and demographic growth goes upslope, negative environmental impact is recorded; trees are cut down to give room for more buildings and provide fuel, rivers are destroyed by dumping and building along the banks, quarrying on the large scale as more and more building materials are on demand each day, dumpsites emit poisonous gases into the atmosphere and greenhouse gas emission by cars and industries.
The outcome of these and many more is human health complications, global warming and destruction of the natural ecosystem. Air pollution causes respiratory illnesses, while water pollution leads to water borne disease outbreaks such as cholera, typhoid and diarrhea, intestinal worms and as a result, high mortality rates especially in children (Satterthwaite 1997).
These effects are particularly felt by the urban poor (Hardoy, Mitlin and Satterthwaite 1992) whose direct exposure to harsh conditions such as lack of access to clean water, poor waste disposal and dense population (Listorti 1999). Lack of compensatory resources such as money to buy water from clean water vendors increases the vulnerability among the poor.
The poor bear the lion’s share of the negative impact of urbanization; however, the scenario can be changed by employment of a few strategies; first to reduce the negative environmental impact and second to alleviate poverty among the urban population.
As a first step, Good urban planning techniques should be employed. These include planning of settlement areas to hold large populations yet offering the basic services effectively. This will greatly reduce the conversion of wetlands, agricultural and forest lands to settlement areas (Hardoy, Mitlin and Satterthwaite 2001).
Reuse of certain materials will be made possible and less costly, social infrastructure and other services can be provided more efficiently, thus cutting down the cost of distribution making them more affordable. Water resources should be conserved by introduction of strict legislation laws and proper waste management.
Secondly the poor should be supported in an effort to improve their living status and alleviate poverty. By encouraging micro financing and micro enterprise funding, credit services are made available to the poor who are otherwise excluded from credit financing programs.
This helps them to establish businesses that will earn them livelihoods and reduced the number of the unemployed. By subsidizing social services such as healthcare for the poor, the respective government ensure that a larger number of people get access to these services.
The informal sector should also be encouraged as this creates employment while raising the living standards of the people involved. Also by upgrading the informal settlements the government can provide quality and affordable housing to the slum dwellers thus improving their social placement and their welfare.
By developing infrastructure in the urban periphery, the cost of planned subdivision is reduced; minimum standards should be set to affordable requirements that can be afforded by the majority. A mortgage and housing market that recognizes the poor should be developed.
Good governance practices where the parties are actively involved are a key factor (Tuts and Cody 2000). Financing and expertise provision without proper planning and democratic participation by the key players is useless.
Conclusion
As the urban population continues to grow at a very high rate, sustainable development of these centers is critical. With proper planning, this can be achieved and it will greatly minimize the environmental impact and the disastrous outcomes associated with it.
Also if proper strategic measures are put in place, poverty will be reduced. This will lead to positive economic growth, environmental conservation and low mortality rates. Urbanization is here to stay and so the question should be how to manage it not how to eliminate it.
References
Hardoy, E., Mitlin, D. and Satterthwaite, D. (1992). Environmental Problems in Third World. London, Earthscan.
Hardoy, E., Mitlin, D. and Satterthwaite, D. (2001). Environmental Problems in an Urbanizing World. London, Earthscan.
Listorti, J. A. (1999). Is environmental health really a part of economic development – or only an afterthought? Environment and Urbanization, 11(1) 9-12
Satterthwaite, D. (1997). Sustainable cities or cities that contribute to sustainable development? Urban Studies, 34(10) 1667-1691.
Tuts, R. and Cody, E. (2000). Habitat’s experience in Local Agenda 21 worldwide over the last years: approaches and lessons learned. UNEP Industry and Environment, 23(2) 12-15.
UNCHS (2001a). Cities in a Globalizing World: Global Report on Human Settlements 2001. London: Earthscan.
UNCHS (2001b). State of the World’s Cities 2001. Nairobi: United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat).
UNEP (2000). The urban environment: facts and figures, UNEP Industry and Environment, 23(2): 4-11.