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CHAPTER 8: GOAL 7—ENSURE ENVIRONMENTAL<br />

Introduction<br />

SUSTAINABILITY<br />

The 7 th Goal <strong>of</strong> the MDGs seeks <strong>to</strong> ensure<br />

environmental sustainability in development. This<br />

basically means that natural resources should be<br />

used for the benefit <strong>of</strong> the people while taking all<br />

measures <strong>to</strong> ensure that environmental pollution is<br />

reduced <strong>to</strong> acceptable limits.<br />

In pursuit <strong>of</strong> developmental objectives, nations<br />

engage in the depletion <strong>of</strong> natural resources, such<br />

as timber, solid minerals, oils and gas, either as<br />

industrial raw materials or for subsistence use.<br />

This depletion <strong>of</strong> natural resources comes at great<br />

costs as it has facilitated environmental<br />

degradation by increasing pollution <strong>of</strong> water<br />

sources, accelerating soil erosion and<br />

desertification (through removal <strong>of</strong> vegetation<br />

cover). The current cycle <strong>of</strong> global warming is<br />

largely attributable <strong>to</strong> human activities such as<br />

bush burning and the burning <strong>of</strong> fossil fuels.<br />

This Goal seeks <strong>to</strong> ensure that non-renewable<br />

resources are exploited with the needs <strong>of</strong> future<br />

generations in mind while renewable resources are<br />

exploited in such a way that the rates <strong>of</strong><br />

exploitation <strong>of</strong> these resources are not higher than<br />

their rates <strong>of</strong> regeneration. In both cases, the<br />

exploitations should be done with minimum<br />

damage <strong>to</strong> the environment.<br />

The Goal also seeks <strong>to</strong> ensure that man lives in an<br />

environmentally friendly habitat with access <strong>to</strong><br />

safe drinking water, adequate attention given <strong>to</strong><br />

basic sanitation and proper disposal <strong>of</strong> all wastes<br />

generated by human activities.<br />

Towards achieving this Goal, three broad targets,<br />

with specified benchmarks, have been set. These<br />

are: Target 9, integrating the principles <strong>of</strong><br />

sustainable development in<strong>to</strong> country’s policies<br />

and programmes and reversing the loss <strong>of</strong><br />

environmental resources; Target 10, which seeks<br />

<strong>to</strong> reduce <strong>to</strong> half, by 2015, the proportion <strong>of</strong> the<br />

population without sustainable access <strong>to</strong> safe<br />

drinking water and basic sanitation; and Target<br />

11, seeks <strong>to</strong> achieve a significant improvement in<br />

the lives <strong>of</strong> at least 100 million slum dwellers by<br />

the year 2020.<br />

Goal 7 Projects in 2009 Budget<br />

In an effort <strong>to</strong> improve the lives <strong>of</strong> slum dwellers<br />

(as enunciated under Target 11), Federal Ministry<br />

<strong>of</strong> Housing embarked on the construction <strong>of</strong> urban<br />

roads and drainages, market stalls, civic centres,<br />

<strong>to</strong>wn halls, water supply schemes and installation<br />

<strong>of</strong> solar-powered streetlights. In addition, both the<br />

Federal Ministries <strong>of</strong> Defence and Police Affairs<br />

have embarked on renovation <strong>of</strong> houses and other<br />

infrastructure in the barracks.<br />

As a complement <strong>to</strong> the various efforts being<br />

made by government MDAs as part <strong>of</strong> their<br />

statu<strong>to</strong>ry responsibilities, the OSSAP-MDGs has<br />

Page 42 <strong>of</strong> 150

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