Millennium Development Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability
Target 7.A: Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources
- 7.1 Proportion of land area covered by forest
- 7.2 CO2 emissions, total, per capita and per $1 GDP (PPP)
- 7.3 Consumption of ozone-depleting substances
- 7.4 Proportion of fish stocks within safe biological limits
- 7.5 Proportion of total water resources used
- 7.6 Proportion of terrestrial and marine areas protected
- 7.7 Proportion of species threatened with extinction
Target 7.B: Reduce biodiversity loss, achieving, by 2010, a significant reduction in the rate of loss
- 7.8 Proportion of population using an improved drinking water source
- 7.9 Proportion of population using an improved sanitation facility
Target 7C: By 2015, halve the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation
Target 7.D: By 2020, to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers
7.10 Proportion of urban population living in slums
Ethan Nauman, Nicholas Berg, Megan Starry, Jeff Hessburg
Progress Regarding MDG7
Progress has been made regarding MDG 7 but it is a complex issue with many factors and facets. 7.1 comes into play largely regarding Latin America and the Caribbean. This region is home to the fastest rates of deforestation. To date there are almost no real incentives to protect the forests and essentially nobody is weighing the future costs of taking these forests down now. A recurring theme surrounding all the issues that the MDGs are addressing are people looking for immediate wealth without considering future costs. Each day more forests are being cut down and the region gets further and further away from achieving the 7.1 target.
7.2 can easily be linked back to 7.1 as it addresses CO2 emissions. A majority of the emissions released in the region can be linked to the massive amounts of deforestation occurring. If deforestation is decreased and 7.1 improves, so will 7.2
7.3 addresses the release of ozone depleting substances and this is an area where decent progress has been made. Much of the progress can be linked to the Montreal Protocol which phased out a lot of products that involved the release of ozone depleting substances. If the current trend continues the release of ozone depleting substances will eventually stop altogether, maintaining the current progress is a battle in itself however.
7.8 and 7.9 are issues that in many ways are being addressed together. In Latin America and the Caribbean the two goals have been for the most part achieved in urban areas but there is still room for improvement and focus is now being turned to rural areas where infrastructure is much more remote and harder to access. Maintaining clean and plentiful access to water requires a lot of financial backing with constant maintenance. This makes it rather difficult in areas with high rates of poverty.
Addressing 7.10 is a rather complex issue. The way the goals are written out makes the situation in LA&C seem better than it is. On paper the goal has been reached but when looked at more closely ⅙ of the population is still living in unacceptable conditions. On top of that the progress that was being made has been thrown off because of worldwide economic issues and often times it hurts the people who have the least the most. Reducing slums is not as easy as throwing money at people and hoping they lift themselves out of poverty. It involves education and specific policies in place to protect those who are trying to remove themselves from the slums and making sure they have the necessary tools to make sure they do not fall backwards back into the slums.
Relationship with Other Millennium Development Goals
The focus on ensuring environmental sustainability can be related to the previous three millennium development goals we discussed in our previous blogs: MDG 4 (reduce child mortality), MDG 5 (improve maternal health), and MDG 6 (combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases). According to water.org, an international nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide “safe water and the dignity of a toilet for all”, articulates “every 90 seconds a child dies from a water-related disease”. The lack of a sustainable living environment with clean drinking water is a leading cause towards the cessation of reducing child mortality in the Latin American and Caribbean region. A very common water-related disease is caused by Giardia intestinalis (“a parasite found in the fecal matter of an infected person or animal and can be spread when someone swallows water that has been contaminated with fecal matter of an infected person or animal”) (CDC.gov). Not only is there a high potential hazard to drink water within the region, but also retaining it can be a burden as water.org again states, “women and children [around the world] spend 125 million hours each day collecting water”. This journey of fetching water can be taxing on the women and children while having a concerning possible risk of disease from improper footwear. From use of improper footwear, those who get the water are at risk of wounding themselves on the foot that can further into a disease from stepping within the potentially contaminated water source, like hookworm. With initiatives to establish and maintain clean water and environment sanitation and hygiene, the Latin American and Caribbean region- and other regions for that matter- can lower the risks of getting waterborne and transmitted diseases and infections.
Decisions Affecting Progress
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| Deforestation occurring in Latin America |
With MDG 7 covering a multitude of issues many of the indicators have to be grouped and addressed in sections rather than all at once. The deforestation of the region is at such a massive scale it is almost impossible to reduce it all at once. Some steps have been taken to address illegal logging of forests but the legal logging is what is predominantly the issue. At this point leaders in the region are to scared of cutting off logging as it is such a huge operation and source of money for the region. Once again, short term gains are being focused on without too much thought put on long term harm. Eventually there will be no forests left with land and soil that is barren and unable to produce the cash some are used to.
Major emphasis was put on increasing water quality and that's important, clean water should be accessible by anyone and significant progress has been made in urban areas where the largest populations live. Governments and organizations now have to shift their focus to the rural areas that are often times forgotten.
Addressing the slum issues as mentioned before is a complex issue. Reducing the number of slums and people living in them is beneficial in many ways but mostly at a health level. Often times diseases like tuberculosis are spread in areas densely population with low sanitation. If slums can be cleaned up and people can be brought out of poverty, health levels will increase which allows people to focus on things such as education and growth as communities.  |
| People getting fresh drinking water. |
Intervention
WWF (World Wildlife Fund) is the world’s leading conservation organization working in 100 countries and is supported globally by 5 million people. They aim to conserve, protect, and improve; forests, oceans, freshwater, wildlife, food, and the climate. In relation to MDG 7.7 and 7.B, WWF has a program called the Forest Conservation Initiative (FCI) “with the goal of reducing conversion of high conservation value forests (HCVFs) and other non-forest areas to palm oil plantations and soy fields in key ecoregions“(WWF). The main determinant of health relating to this problem is economics. A drive for money is the main reason deforestation is occuring. In Latin America and the Caribbean they work in: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Paraguay. They engage companies that produce palm oil and soy aiming for them to adopt a landscape-level land use methodology and to not produce their products in high conservation value area (HCVA). They want to create a demand for sustainably produced commodities. This will create appropriate and better land management practice.
One major intervention that recently took place in March 2016 was Canada donating $20 million to IDB (Inter-American Development Bank) for research on safe practices for extraction of natural resources (gas, oil, mining). This project will focus on supporting regional public goods that promote long term prospects, reasonable investments, and good relations between actors in the sector. Not only will IDB look at safe practices, but they will also build institutions aimed at educating workers on proper techniques and practices to keep them safe and the surrounding communities safe. The IDB was established in 1959 and is the leading source of long term fianacing for economic, social and institutional development in Latin America and the Caribbean. IDP also provides training for the public and private sector to keep everyone aware of the safe practices that they have to offer.
Case Study
The jaguar is listed as endangered due to habitat loss and overhunting. Originally having a strong presence in southern U.S. and Mexico, they are nearly wiped out. They are still prevalent in South America, but they have a declining population. Their habitat loss is due to an increase in farms, ranches, mines, roads, towns, and residential subdivisions. They are also being poached in South America as their pelts drive a high price on the black market. This is due to an economic determinant that people will do illegal things in order to get money for their families. h.
Antibiotic use is a major concern when dealing with people in LAC. Antibiotics have drastically reduced deaths and illness from infectious diseases, but one problem in LAC is the overuse and misuse leading to a build up and antibiotic resistance. In LAC the misuse of antimicrobials without a doctor's prescription is due to loss laws implemented on the sales of antibiotics.
Benefiting Public Health
The intervention regarding antibiotics and controlling overuse is multifaceted. On one hand it is a huge deal that people are now starting to have access to antibiotics which unlocks a ton of potential for increasing health situations. On the other hand the control of antibiotics is also important because with overuse they lose their effectiveness. The control of antibiotics in Latin America is benefiting public health because it is insuring they remain effective and helpful to patients while making sure they aren’t being improperly used and misused.
Question: Why is clean water so important to reducing child mortality in Latin America?
References
file:///home/chronos/u-05b62a2d5581519dff57d56db844db67b6990d92/Downloads/ODMAchievingthemillennium%20(1).pdf
http://tcktcktck.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Indonesia-Rainforest-Deforestation-CC-Rainforest-Action-Network-2009.jpg
http://www.wwf.org.uk/wildlife/jaguars/
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