people and planet

3
health, water, sanitation, energy, housing and transport.
In addition, assessing if social development is inclusive
requires statistics disaggregated by gender, ethnicity,
location, immigrant and refugee status and other
context-relevant types of marginality to understand
whether these services are available to all.
At the same time, inclusive social development requires
more than providing services. Social structures must be
changed to ensure that all women and girls, men and
boys have a measure of equality between them, and that
one’s gender does not adversely affect opportunities in
life and work. Gender equality remains elusive but is a
key requirement.
Inequality must be addressed. To achieve inclusive
social development, entrenched marginalization and
discriminatory attitudes towards women, people with
disabilities, indigenous populations, ethnic and linguistic
minorities, refugees and displaced people, among other
vulnerable groups, have to be challenged. Changing
discriminatory norms and empowering women and
men requires improving knowledge and influencing
values and attitudes.
Lack of clean water, sanitation and energy can have a
long-term impact on health. Water-related ailments,
such as diarrhoea, worm infestations and dehydration,
result from poor water, sanitation and hygiene, and are
well documented as key causes of under-5 mortality.
They also have long-term effects on neurological
development, lowering IQ and learning performance
(Joshi and Amadi, 2013). Extreme consequences of
malnutrition, such as stunting (low height for age), which
also severely affects brain development, are not just a
result of nutrition deficiency but also poor sanitation
and hygiene (Chambers and Von Medeazza, 2013). High
use of biomass, coal and kerosene has dramatic negative
health effects, especially for women and children; lower
respiratory infections are a leading cause of under-5
mortality (WHO, 2014).
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) emphasized
poverty reduction in poorer countries, so indicators
on education, health, water and sanitation, and energy
access have been systematically monitored. Data show
progress, with major improvements over 2000–2015 in
primary education enrolment, basic health delivery and
under-5 mortality rates.
THE WORLD IS FAR FROM UNIVERSAL
PROVISION OF MOST ESSENTIAL SERVICES
The essential services for a dignified life and healthy
environment can be defined widely. Income is not the
only necessity to escape poverty. World Development
Report 2004: Making Services Work for Poor People viewed
‘freedom from illiteracy’ and ‘freedom from illness’ as key
to escaping poverty, with water, sanitation, transport
and energy as important services for achieving good
education and health outcomes (World Bank, 2003).
Others have argued for water and sanitation, waste
collection and management, transport and energy as
fundamental needs; as one report notes, ‘Everyone needs
water, a toilet, energy, a way to dispose of household
waste and the ability to get from place to place’ (United
Cities and Local Governments, 2014 p. 13).
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) contain
ambitious goals and targets for universal access to
lifelong learning, health care, good nutrition, water
and sanitation, and energy (United Nations, 2015a). It is
important to make progress on all these complementary
outcomes at once, as they are interconnected and
neglecting any of them has compound negative effects.
However, below the global level, basic service provision
varies tremendously. Problems remain particularly
acute in low income countries (Figure 3.1), and
there is substantial inequality within countries. For
instance, water and energy scarcity, conservation
and management have become pressing global
environmental, social and economic problems, but lack
of access to clean energy and sanitation services is
particularly dire in low income countries in Southern
Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, in rural areas and among
the urban poor (International Energy Agency and World
Bank, 2015; WHO and UN Water, 2014).
The SDGs on service provision are more ambitious than
those of the MDGs and intend to be universally relevant,
not only focused on poorer countries. The vast majority
of the world’s people
lack access to the kinds
The vast majority of
of services implicit
in SDG targets. For
the world’s people lack
example, while access to
access to the kinds of primary education has
basic services implicit
increased tremendously,
the world is far from
in SDG targets
providing all girls and
boys free, high quality
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CHAPTER 3 | PEOPLE: INCLUSIVE SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT