MDG Report 2012 - United Nations in Bangladesh

Table 8.6: Percentage of Urban Population Living in SlumsYear Share of urban population living in slums (%)1990 87.301995 84.702000 77.852005 70.802007 66.202009 61.60Source: mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/[Note: The actual proportion of people living in slums is measured by a proxy, represented by theurban population living in households with at least one of the four characteristics: (i) lack of access toimproved water supply; (ii) lack of access to improved sanitation; (iii) overcrowding (3 or morepersons per room); and (iv) dwellings made of non-durable material.]8.3 Challenges to Achieving the TargetsDespite substantial efforts made by the government, development partners and the NGOstowards the achievement of targets of MDG7, efforts to scale up and institutionalize thesesuccesses have been inadequate. Moreover, donor support for environmental issues has beendecreasing alarmingly since the beginning of the new millennium due to the cross-cuttingnature of the environmental issues which means that individual environment programmes nolonger receive priority. Instead environmental considerations have become an integralcomponent of all programming initiatives. Environmental issues are further overshadowed byfocus on climate change without adequate recognition that climate change impacts are oftenintricately connected with underlying environmental quality.Challenges to expand the tree cover include the absence of comprehensive mechanismfor the production and distribution of quality planting materials and efficient use offorest resources.Although there are major opportunities for intervention to reduce greenhouse gasemissions in power generation, transportation, industrial production, agriculture,forestry and other sectors, there is a lack of facilitating technology, institutionalsupport and dedicated financing.To ensure that the fisheries sector develops in a sustainable manner that is sensitive tosocio-economic, ecological, trans-boundary ecosystems, climate change andconservation issues, proper regulation that addresses present gaps such as the presentnon-coverage of aquaculture, is needed. Degradation of fish stocks is largely due toserious pollution in the wetlands, conversion, and poorly planned urbanization. Theuse of harmful chemicals and medicines in aquaculture systems also needs to beregulated in order to avoid fish diseases, retarded growth, and human health hazards.In general, open water ecosystems have been seriously degraded because of pollution,land use changes, poorly planned development programmes and already visibleimpacts of climate change such as prolonged droughts and salinity intrusion. Anothertrans-boundary issue is upstream withdrawal of water that has greatly affecteddownstream water systems. Not just water quality, but water quantity has now90