Sustainable Development and Climate Change
Sanitation was even more important than independence - Gandhi
MDG Goal 7 is about sustainable development for the environment and for the world’s people. The two of course go together. Goal 7 sets targets for providing clean water and basic sanitation together with improving the lives of slum dwellers. At this time it looks as if the access to water and sanitation target for 2015 will be missed by 600 million people. What can be done? Irrigation is a problem in Africa, the answer rainwater harvesting and micro-irrigation–requiring only small amounts of aid money from the rich world.
2008 is the UN International year of Sanitation which is vital for human health, it contributes to dignity and social development - yet over half the population of developing countries have no access to any form of basic sanitation. That's over two-fifths of the world's population, including 980 million children.
The 2007 UN Human Development Report pinpointed unsafe water and inadequate sanitation as “two of the great drivers of poverty and inequality”. The results are plain: children suffering and dying from diarrhoea , typhoid, skin diseases, malaria… the list goes on. It's hard for people to clean themselves, their clothes and their cooking utensils, so the vicious cycle of infection and illness deepens. This is a pattern that's repeated across the globe. The result? Every day 5,000 children die a lingering death..
If six jumbo jets carrying children crashed on the same day, no one would be able to ignore the headlines. And these are the numbers we are talking about.
There are 5 excellent short fact sheets on:
