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Since the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami in December 2004, the Disasters Journal has published a series of articles on the impact of the disaster, preparedness for it and the efforts of the affected people, civil society, governments and international agencies to provide immediate relief and gradually rebuild.
Between 2000 and 2002, the Zimbabwean government implemented a series of ‘fast-track’ land reforms. They transferred 9.3 million hectares of farmland owned by white farmers to state ownership for use by black farmers. This was done to end unequal land ownership between black and white people. But what effect have these reforms had on poverty?
Inadequate infrastructure and services, lack of access to financial resources and weak social networks are just some of the difficulties facing urban households in Kenya. These factors make it even more difficult for them to cope with economic difficulties and ill-health.
Most urban households in the developing world live in informal settlements. Up to 85 percent of new housing is produced informally, a trend that is especially pronounced in sub-Saharan Africa. Land delivery processes in Uganda’s informal settlements are regulated by both formal and informal institutions.
Informal settlements are home to many of the world’s most disadvantaged people. As the growth of these settlements leads to the urbanisation of poverty and pollution, it is important to find ways of managing them. In Botswana, informal settlements result because authorities fail to address the needs of the whole community.
xinhuanet.com
BBC News Article
