Why has the growing slum population become a global threat

 

Dharavi Slum near the Sewer

A UN report suggests the world’s rapidly growing slums are becoming a social “time bomb” ready to explode.

As the world's population continue to grow and urbanize, the slum population is expected to exceed more than three billion by 2050 - that’s more than 30% of the projected population of 9.7 billion in 2050 - according to the UN Habitat, the United Nations agency working for urban development.

Which means that as much as 40 percent of the world's urban expansion could be in slums, which of course could exacerbate serious economic, social, political, and physical insecurities that can spread outward.

UN Habitat also estimates that 50 percent of the increase in slum population will occur in just eight countries. These eight countries are: Nigeria, Philippines, Ethiopia, Tanzania, India, DR Congo, Egypt and Pakistan.

Causes that create and expand slums,

900 million people in the world live in slums this means almost 1 in every 7 people live in  a slum. That's a sobering fact. 

The growing slum population has become a global threat due to several reasons such as rapid rural-to-urban migration, economic stagnation and depression, high unemployment, poverty, ineffective planning, lack of affordable housing options for low-income households, dysfunctional urban, land and housing policies, dearth of housing finance, politics, natural disasters, social conflicts and current population growth outpacing the rate at which cities can respond to the need for housing. 

Another driver of slum population growth is the current unprecedented globalrefugee and displacement crisis. Globally, there are 40 million internallydisplaced persons and over 21 million refugees living in and outside of camps. The ongoing protracted refugee situations around the world have resulted in the creation of slum-like situations in the camps themselves, and those who flee to urban areas are known to once again end up in urban slums.

As more and more people migrate to cities for jobs and a better quality of life, it becomes practically impossible for them to achieve proper and orderly urbanization, forcing many to live in mega-slums around the world.

It is a fact that more than 800 million people live in slum areas because they cannot afford to pay the rent as per the market conditions.

A major factor for growth of slums is the use of rigid, often outdated urban planning regulations, which are typically bypassed by slum dwellers to meet their housing needs.

Another issue is the failure of governments to incorporate slum dwellers as part of the overall planning process. This is often due to the inability of many governments to keep pace with urbanization because of ill-designed policies, lack of resources and corruption.

Globalization, rapid urbanization, economic cycles and climate changes are all contributing factors for slum living. Slum areas have the highest concentrations of poor people and the worst shelter and physical environmental conditions.

Economic disparities and unhealthy conditions in slum,

These settlements are not planned and lack basic municipal services such as water, sanitation, waste collection, storm drainage, street lighting, paved sidewalks and roads for emergency access.

Slums invariably have extremely unhygienic conditions. There are no toilets and people defecate in the open. Slums have practically no drainage. Most of the slums are located near drains that contain filthy stagnant water.

These conditions make slums highly vulnerable to a plethora of diseases and infections, including cholera, typhoid, dengue, malaria, typhoid, jaundice and more. Children with bloated bellies or famished skeletons, many suffering from polio, are a common sight.

Most also do not have easy access to schools, hospitals or public places for the community to gather. Many slums have been unserviced and unrecognised for long periods, over 20 years in some cities.

One of the main causes for the spread of the Ebola epidemic in West African countries like Liberia was the conditions in urban slums- according to a Lancet report.

The presence of slums has regional and global implications, impacting areas such as education, health and child mortality, and political and social exclusion.

Slums: the biggest threat to national security,

Poverty, unhygienic conditions, diseases, illiteracy, epidemics – apart from all this, these slums are considered a good and safe haven for criminals, drug paddlers, terrorists and insurgents to flourish.

Slums are usually illegal settlements and make up the most population in a lot of cities. Slums are often categorized by overcrowding, poor infrastructure, poor sanitation, inadequate supply of clean water and electricity, and high crime rates.

One of the most prevalent crimes include illicit brew, general robbery, muggings, prostitution, and burglary. Most residents, particularly the youth resort to criminality as a way of making a living.

Now slums have become synonymous with violence, crime, criminalization of youth and ‘illicit’ income activities. Therefore, these settlements are considered a major threat to the national security of any country.

According to an article on ubc.ca, the condition of these slums poses national security challenges, As such ethnic rivalries, cultural grievances, religious-ideological extremism, environmental degradation, depletion of natural resources, drug trafficking and infectious spread are huge contributing factors. Disease. Today 1 billion people around the world live in slums and face extreme insecurity politically, socially and physically.

Another article on atlanticcouncil.org states that slum vulnerabilities become discrete security threats in more violent contexts . The social realities of mega-slums—high unemployment, endemic poverty and chronic if low-level violence and crime—allow for the relatively easy recruitment of foot soldiers and associates into criminal and terrorist networks.

In many slums, various gangs and criminal networks effectively replace the state, providing the only protection for the people living there. Such networks can spread outward, posing a threat to national and international security, similar to a public health pandemic.

The biggest features of slums are lawlessness, drug addiction, and abject poverty which gives rise to negative social and criminal incidents. Thus slums may become a major imminent threat to our planet in the near future.