UN-Habitat warns Asia of urban slum problem
UN-Habitat warns Asia of urban slum problem
P. Parameswaran, Agence France-Presse, Manila
The United Nations warned Asian governments on Friday to swiftly
control the growth of urban slums as mega cities continue to
mushroom in the region.
"Unless you do something about this situation, it will get
worse," said Anna Tibaijuka, the executive director of the United
Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat).
UN-Habitat was elevated into a fully fledged UN program by the
world body's general assembly to tackle the explosive problem of
urban slums, particularly in developing countries.
Tibaijuka said in an interview with AFP here that slum
dwellers make up 30 to 40 percent of Asia's urban population,
warning that the problem was getting worse with the growth of
mega cities in the region.
Mega cities are those housing more than 10 million people.
"Asia at present has the world largest number of megacities
and the trend is, this seems to be on the increase, and when
cities have such kinds of (population) numbers, their management
becomes more difficult," Tibaijuka explained.
In 2000, 12 of the world's 19 mega cities were in Asia,
comprising Tokyo, Bombay, Calcutta, Shanghai, Dhaka, Karachi,
Delhi, Jakarta, Osaka, Metro Manila, Beijing and Cairo.
The UN-Habitat projects the region would have 15 of the 23
mega cities in 2015, with the inclusion of Bangkok, Hyderabad and
Tianjin.
Tibaijuka urged Asian governments to "redouble their efforts"
to cope with the rapid growth of urban slums fueled by rural-
urban migration and rising population, among other factors.
Governments could, for example, nip the problem in the bud by
decentralizing development to regulate the rural-urban migration.
"The good thing about Asia is the role of civil society, which
is picking up," Tibaijuka said.
Some city mayors are gradually empowering the poor by
providing them land, housing, education, water and sanitation and
other basic facilities, she said.
The UN-Habitat says in a report that households in cities of
Asia's developing countries need an average of eight times their
annual income to buy a house. Real estate costs are the highest
in Asia.
Even for water, Tibaijuka said, the urban poor paid much
higher prices than others because they were not connected to
municipal supplies, which were normally subsidized.
"We need to accept the urban poor as an asset rather than a
liability. By improving their lot, for example, we are indeed
increasing purchasing power and therefore increasing incomes in
central business districts," she said.
The UN-Habitat projects that by 2030, Asia and Africa will
both have higher numbers of urban dwellers that any other major
areas of the world.
Tibaijuka was in Manila to launch a so-called "secure tenure
campaign," in which efforts would be stepped up to involve the
urban poor in local governance and for them to have equal access
to socio-economic privileges.
There are nine million urban slum dwellers in the Philippines
amongst the country's 80 million population, of which 50 percent
live in cities.
The Philippines is urbanizing at an annual pace of four
percent, slightly higher than the regional urban growth rate of
3.7 percent, with its population growing at a relatively high
rate of 2.36 percent.