Environmental Health or Ecological Sustainability?

Reconciling the Brown and Green Agendas in Urban Development

Farhana.K

Sai Kirani

Sarthak Mohapatra

Navin Kumar

Mohammed Maaz Ali

INTRODUCTION:

Urban environment problems

Brown agenda (effects environmental health impacts)

Green agenda (effects on future generations )

The chapter talks about three main things:

Approaches to improve urban environmental healthApproaches on ecological sustainabilityApproaches and frameworks which improve environmental health

Brown and Green Agenda McGranahan & Satterthwaite have differentiated the two agendas in terms

of scope, scale, timeframes and attitudes, which not only help to understand the nature of the two agendas but also give access to integrate the two by having a multi-scalar perspective of issues relating to the current and future sustainability.Characteristics Green Agenda Brown Agenda

First order impact Ecosystem health Human health

Timing Delayed Immediate

Scale Regional and global Local

Worst affected Future generation Lower income group

Attitude to nature Protect and work with Manipulate to serve human needs

Attitude to people Educate Work with

Attitude to environmental services

Useless Provide more

Aspect emphasized in relation with water

Overuse-need to protect water resource

Inadequate access and poor quality

Aspect emphasized in relation with Solid waste

Excessive generation Inadequate provision for collection and removal

Characteristics Green Agenda Brown Agenda

Aspect emphasized in relation with Air

Acid precipitation and green house gas emissions

High human exposure to hazardous pollutants

Aspect emphasized in relation with Human Waste

Loss of nutrients in sewage and damage to water bodies from the release of sewage into waterways

Inadequate provision for safety removing faecal material and waste water from living environment

Aspect emphasized in relation with land

Loss of natural habitats and agricultural land to urban development

Inadequate access for low income groups to housing

Typical proponent Environmentalist Urbanists

EQUITY

Graham Haughton has identified five interconnect equity principles that can apply to environmental problems in urban areas (Haughton, 1999) and these help to clarify the different perspectives from which proponents of the brown and the green agendas work.

For the proponents of the brown agenda, the main priorities are:

Intergenerational equity

Procedural equity

For the proponents of the green agenda, the priorities are:

Intergeneration equity

Transfrontier equity

Interspecies equity

Working with the different aspects of equity progress on both agendas can be proceed and how conflicts can be minimized. It provides a common language for addressing both set of concerns and potentially a common goal.

Contrasting brown and green agenda

Both of this agendas are in direct opposition to each other

Brown agenda Green agenda

More water use Water conservation

More sewerage connections Less water-borne sewerage

More waste collection Less waste generation

More urban residential land Less urban residential land

Water In some of the wealthier cities like subsidized water supply systems have

brought major benefits.

Whereas the green agenda can rightly point to the emphasis on increasing supply and keeping the price of water “affordable” has resulted in major cities throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America overexploiting local water resources.

Overexploitation of underground water has also caused serious problems of subsidence for many buildings, sewage and drainage pipes in many cities.

At least 300 million urban dwellers in Africa,Asia,latin America remain without piped water supplies (WHO/UNICEF 1993) and other 10 million who are having access to piped water supplies but still face inadequate,irregular,unsafe supplies.

The international standard of 150 litres per capita per day is only a small fraction of typical usage in affluent cities in north and the reason behind this is not overtaxing their water supplies indeed encouraging water conservation ensuring the better management and repair of piped water system with no overall increase in water use

It is not necessary that intragenerational water inequities can be solved by creating intergenerational water inequities. It is politics and policy instruments, not physical imperatives that create a stark trade off between environmental health and ecological sustainability.

Sanitation Most of the small urban centers have no sewer system at all. Estimates suggests that

close to one half urban population of Africa, Asia and Latin America lack adequate provision for urban sanitation and tens of millions of urban dwellers have no access to any form of sanitation or having poor quality, overcrowded public facilities that they have to resort to defecation in the open.

Proponents of green agenda point to environmental cost that conventional sewer system can bring that larger volume of water used to flush toilets and problem of disposing of larger volumes of sewage.

In Latin America,Asia,Africa only a small amount of sewage is treated before disposal(WHO 1996).

Untreated sewage is the major contributor to the highly polluted water bodies,fisheries.which is leading to thousands of people losing their livelihood.

Proponents of brown agenda point to the hundreds of million of urban dwellers who currently rely on sanitation system that do not use water like pit latrines which bring serious health risk and often contaminate ground water.

Pit latrines are particularly hazardous in areas that regularly face floods as the pits become flooded and spread human excreta everywhere.

The unit cost of Installing the sewers was increased that the low income households were unable to pay.

Water borne sewerage can be reduced through decreasing the intragenerational inequities, but typically at the cost of intergenerational inequities.

OTHER ISSUES:Solid waste:

Waste generated from every household should be collected to reduce environmental health problems, as the uncollected waste brings very serious problems as acumilation of waste on road and bad smell.. Etc.

It leads to health diseases and pets gets attracted to waste and overflow of drainage as the waste is getting collated.

But the concern is to decrease the waste reduction and to reuse and to recycle it

Even when the waste is collected also , the waste is dumped in open areas which is leading to air pollution, ground and surface water contamination and methane production.

Many policies have been created but they are not applicable to the other places as the tax system has been introduced in affluent cities the waste production is reduced , in low income countries illicit burning and dumping of waste is done , which increases air pollution

Air pollution:

Air pollution in residential areas is mainly because of the usage of smoky materials to decrease it the use of clearer fuels is promoted but the green agenda proponents objects it as it increases the usage of fossil fuels but it brings benefit to the people who spend time more in the kitchen

Using chimney in household decreases the indoor air pollution and high chimney for industries reduces its impact in the city area but it is a burden for environment, in low income areas bio stoves should be used.

Land use management:

Green agenda proponents state that In urban centers for the development they encroach the agricultural land and spoiling the ecological balance

Brown agenda proponents state that highlights that the low income people need cheap and well located land to develop their livelihood , as they are allocated in the important part of city the value of land decreases

so often high and middle income groups follow green agenda to defend the maintains and improve of green belt around their homes.

DRAWING TOGETHER THE BROWN AND GREEN AGENDAS• Need to work on both brown and green agendas because both are

interrelated.

• It should be campaigns by the citizens, community, organizations and NGO’s.

• As a result industrial pollution can destruct or damage the fisheries or can cause air pollution, pollutes the ground water which can cause different diseases.

• Brown agenda concern for need of low income group of health, air quality and good public transport can overlap with green agenda concern to reduce fossil fuel use.

• A commitment to improve SWM i.e reduction, reuse, recycle materials form waste streams which generates jobs many jobs also.

• Volume of water can be treated in local treatment plant allowing nutrients in the waste water to be used for fishery and farming.

BEST WAY TO DO :HYGENE EDUCATION – Both health and water resources would be benefited if people know how to use water more efficiently to protect themselves from diseases.

INSTITUTIONAL PROCESSES THAT HELP TO RECONCILE BROWN AND GREEN AGENDAS

Reconciling the brown and green agendas in urban development requires institutions and prosses that:

Reduce the inequities that are of concern to both the brown and green agendas;

Enable collective and democratic responses to the public aspects of both brown and green environmental problems; and

Provide a better understanding of the environmental issues that different cities face.

There are at least three important areas where action is need:

Open and participatory process within each city that allow environmental problems to be discussed and agreements reached over priorities for action and investment.

National policies that encourage and support urban development that tacks accounts of ecological sustainability but within an understanding of potential conflicts with brown agenda priorities and other social and economic priorities.

A stronger basis for mutual understanding between the brown and green agenda proponents and this depends on a good knowledge of the environmental issues within and around each urban centre.