By Mr. Børge Brende, Norwegian Minister for Environment and Chairman of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD), Habitat Debate September 2003 ( www.unhabitat.org)

Commission on Sustainable Development

Focusing on Urban Slums

An important task for me as Chairman of the CSD is to increase the global focus on the problems facing urban slums worldwide, and to contribute to improving the conditions faced by slum dwellers on a daily basis.. Today, half the world’s population lives in towns and cities – of these, more than 1 billion people live in urban slums. During the next decade, we may be forced to add another 500 million to this figure. In the Urban Millennium, an incredibly large number of people – children, women and men – will live under extremely harsh conditions.

The global goal of, by 2020, substantially improving the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers may look far-fetched. However, this goal represents a strong signal that we should work together to translate our words into action. In order to achieve this goal, we need to address the urban water and sanitation crisis.

In many slums in developing country cities, 150 or more inhabitants daily queue up for one public toilet. The health and economic impacts of these service deficiencies can be very costly to a country in the long run – not to mention the personal detriment these deficiencies represent. Improving water supply and sanitation services is of crucial importance.

The Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) has, in my opinion, a special responsibility to address the water and sanitation problems of the urban slums. As Chairman of the CSD, I intend to put water, sanitation and human settlement issues high on the global agenda. I am pleased to note the leadership of UN Habitat in this respect.

Other prerequisites for improving urban slums are secure tenure and good urban governance, in particular as regards to the situation of women. These items are also high on the UN Habitat-agenda.

It is my hope that the CSD will contribute to releasing the vigorous potential for growth and development inherit in many slums. We must join forces in order to deliver on our promises.