Ensure environmental sustainability

Targets

1. Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs and reverse the loss of environmental resources.
2. Halve the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water by 2015.
3. To have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020.

Progress

Environment:
Growing greenhouse gas emissions continue to outpace advances in sustainable energy technologies. An increasing proportion of poor in the Asia Pacific region are poor because they are living in areas where the environment is under stress.

Water:
In 1990, 35% of the population of developing regions had access to basic sanitation and clean water. By 2004, that figure climbed to 50%. If the trend continues, the world is likely to miss the target by almost 600 million people.

Slums:
Urban dwellers are predicted to expand from 3.2 billion to 5 billion by 2030. In 2005, one out of three urban dwellers was living in slum conditions, lacking the basic conditions of decent housing such as adequate sanitation, improved water supply, durable housing or adequate living space.

The rapid expansion of urban areas will make it challenging to improve living conditions quickly enough to meet the target.

Business can contribute to MDG 7 by:

• Reducing environmental impact
  Make production processes as clean as possible by investing in product and process innovation.
• Improving living conditions
  Provide clean water and sanitation to slum dwellers.

Primer questions

• Can you support community-level environmental initiatives?
• Can you support efforts to develop renewable energy sources, especially in rural communities?