ACHIEVEMENTS:
- The world, except sub-Saharan Africa, is on track to meet the target of halving the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water while at the current rate we will miss the MDG sanitation target by over 700 million people (DFID).
- From 1986 to 2007, the 195 countries that are currently party to the Montreal Protocol have achieved a 97 per cent reduction in the consumption of substances that deplete the Earth’s ozone layer. This extraordinary accomplishment is a prime example of both the integration of sustainable development principles into national policy frameworks (MDG 7).
- To date, 177 parties to the Montreal Protocol have put in place national regulations or legislation to promote effective protection of the ozone layer and sustainable compliance with the Protocol. In addition to funding these critical activities, the Montreal Protocol Multilateral Fund has, for the past 19 years, supported national capacity-building and networking of policy makers, customs officials and others. The Fund has also helped transfer essential technologies that have enabled developing countries to ‘leapfrog’ to new, energy-efficient technologies and export their wares to the global market (UN MDG Report 2009).
- From 1990 to 2006, 1.1 billion people in the developing world gained access to toilets, latrines and other forms of improved sanitation. In Southern Asia, the population that uses an improved sanitation facility more than doubled since 1990; in sub-Saharan Africa, it increased by over 80 per cent (UN MDG Report 2009).
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CHALLENGES:
- In 2006, global carbon dioxide emissions continued their upward trend, reaching 29 billion metric tons, an increase of 2.5 per cent from the previous year. Emissions in 2006 were 31 per cent above the 1990 level. The continued growth of global emissions confirms that combating climate change must remain a priority for the world community (UN MDG Report 2009).
- Even tough the world is ahead of schedule in meeting the 2015 drinking water target. number of countries face an uphill battle: 884 million people worldwide still rely on unimproved water sources for their drinking, cooking, bathing and other domestic activities. Of these, 84 per cent (746 million people) live in rural areas (UN MDG Report 2009).
- An additional 1.4 billion people will require access to toilets, latrines and other forms of improved sanitation f the 2015 target is to be met. In 2006, 2.5 billion people worldwide were still unserved. The greatest challenge is in Southern Asia, where 580 million people are without improved sanitation. From 2006 to 2015, the region will have to more than double the number of people currently using an improved facility (UN MDG Report 2009).
- Inequality in access to drinking water is very common. A person living in an urban area of the developing world is more than twice as likely to have a piped drinking water supply on premises than a person living in a rural area. Disparities are especially evident in Latin America and the Caribbean, the regionwith the second lowest coverage of improved drinking water in rural areas (UN MDG Report 2009).
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