Water and Sanitation in the World's Cities: Local Action for Global Goals

Description

'This is surely the most impressive and important publication to come out of the UN system for many years.' Peter Adamson, founder, New Internationalist, and author and researcher of UNICEF's The State of the World's Children from 1980 to 1995 The world's governments agreed at the Millennium Summit to halve, by 2015, the number of people who lack access to safe water. With rapidly growing urban populations the challenge is immense. Water and Sanitation in the World's Cities is a comprehensive and authoritative assessment of the problems and how they can be addressed. This influential publication by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) sets out in detail the scale of inadequate provision of water and sanitation. It describes the impacts on health and economic performance, showing the potential gains of remedial action; it analyses the proximate and underlying causes of poor provision and identifies information gaps affecting resource allocation; it outlines the consequences of further deterioration; and it explains how resources and institutional capacities - public, private and community - can be used to deliver proper services through integrated water resource management.

Un-Habitat is the UN programme responsible for cities and settlements, and the world's leading research organization in the field

'Surely the most impressive and important publication to come out of the UN system for many years.' Peter Adamson, founder, New Internationalist, and author and researcher of UNICEF's The State of the World's Children from 1980 to 1995 'A comprehensive assessment of the problems faced and how they can be addressed.' Oxfam 'This is an excellent review of the current status of water and sanitation in the world's urban areas.' The Environmentalist 'This important book addresses all of the main policy questions facing the water supply and sanitation sector, and debunks most of the myths and misconceptions which have beset it in recent years. It should be prescribed reading for anyone interested in water and sanitation policy.' Sandy Cairncross, Professor of Environmental Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine