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ten - Urban water supply, sanitation and social policy: lessons from Johannesburg, South Africa
- Edited by Peter Townsend, David Gordon
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- Book:
- World Poverty
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 20 January 2022
- Print publication:
- 25 September 2002, pp 251-270
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- Chapter
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Summary
Introduction
Although the inextricable relationship between ecology and society has long been understood (Yearly, 1991; Martell, 1994; Bruntland, 1997), the link between social policy and the environment in the industrialised countries, referred to here as ‘the North’, has only been drawn quite recently (Hill, 1993; Huby, 1998). That the environment is increasingly understood as a social policy issue derives in part from growing concern with the global commons (Yearly, 1996; Goldman, 1998), and in part from changes in social policy itself, related to the valuing of integrated approaches and the promotion of intersectoral partnerships. It is in this context and alongside a convergence of paradigmatic approaches to social development internationally, that greater attention is being paid to lessons from late developing countries. This chapter engages with these issues through a discussion of the urban environment and, more specifically, urban water supply and sanitation in cities of the developing world, referred to here as ‘the South’. We argue that social wellbeing is inextricably linked to secure access to an adequate and safe water supply, along with appropriate and affordable sanitation. As such, basic urban services constitute a critical area of concern for social policy in late developing countries. Through a case study of Johannesburg we consider the enormous challenges for urban governance that are presented by the dual requirement of addressing the pressing service needs of burgeoning numbers of historically disadvantaged urban dwellers, without compromising the standards of services and supply to better-off rate paying citizens. This chapter concludes by suggesting that while a policy focus on basic services might address urban poverty and indeed be environmentally sound, issues of inequality are not addressed.
Environmental health and the ‘brown agenda’
While the North has for a long time been urbanised, this is a more recent phenomenon for the South. Nevertheless, it will soon be the case that more than half the world's population will be living in urban centres. In absolute terms, by 2000 the urban population of late developing countries was more than twice the urban population of industrialised countries, and by 2025 the global urban population is expected to be five billion, almost equal to the entire world population at present (Buckley, 1996). Moreover, it is from cities and towns that the majority of people already derive their livelihoods, either directly or indirectly.
thirteen - ‘A new branch can be strengthened by an old branch’: livelihoods and challenges to inter-generational solidarity in South Africa
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- By Jo Beall
- Edited by Peter Townsend, David Gordon
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- Book:
- World Poverty
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 20 January 2022
- Print publication:
- 25 September 2002, pp 325-348
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- Chapter
- Export citation
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Summary
Introduction
The rapid growth in the numbers of older people is at the heart of the current global demographic transition. In the year 2000 there were about 550 million people over 60 years of age, a figure expected to reach 1.2 billion by 2025. The Ageing and development report (HelpAge International, 1999, p xii) dispels the assumption that older populations do not exist in the developing world as a myth – ageing populations everywhere are testimony to the fact that the development decades have seen some success. Improvements in hygiene, water supply and control of infectious diseases have greatly reduced the risk of premature death, so that older people no longer constitute a social policy issue associated primarily with the industrialised countries, referred to here as ‘the North’. Even in sub-Saharan Africa, a continent ravaged by complex emergencies and the devastating effects of HIV/AIDS, the proportion of people over 65 years is expected to increase by over 90% between 2000 and 2020 (Apt, 1997, p 4).
Nevertheless, the growth in life expectancy when accompanied by poverty is a mixed blessing, and the African experience of ageing is one associated with poor diet, ill health, inadequate housing, few material assets, and minimal incomes for the majority. As the HelpAge International Report goes on to point out:
Older people are often isolated, living on the margins of families and communities and deeply vulnerable. The extent to which they are reached by services and support is a litmus test of the development process.… Ageing is often perceived as a burden for countries and communities. But channelling resources to enable older people is an investment in society. (HelpAge International, 1999, pp xii-xiii)
The United Nations International Year of Older Persons (IYOP) in 1999 had as its theme, ‘Towards a society for all ages’, and its recipe for successful ageing was good health, work skills and self-knowledge. Importantly it acknowledged older people's contribution to development, and called for the creation of multi-generational social policies. The IYOP also pushed for a life course perspective, understanding older people within their wider communities (UNFPA, 1998). At one level this sat comfortably with the growing salience of a ‘sustainable livelihoods’ perspective (Chambers and Conway, 1992; Francis, 2000; Beall, 2002) which held prominence at the time in international development discourse (Carney, 1998, Carney et al, 1999; Rakodi and Lloyd-Jones, 2002).