Yes you are right! Simultaneously, authorities and policy makers should be looking at ways of making it more attractive economically in rural areas.

To this date, sustainable rural economic development has been tackled by promoting micro-credit schemes, training and education especially the youth and development of infrastructure to attract investors. These are all very positive methods.However migration to urban areas is still on the rise. One of the reasons is because a lot of the policies are not put into practice.

Hopefully embracing aspects of ecological sanitation as business can help break the cycle, bridge the gap and merge issues related to economic development, poverty alleviation and environmental sustainability. Time will tell. I look forward to seeing how governments and the private sector will play a role in this!

Agree on the urgency of establishing adequate sanitation in a sustainable manner in the slums. But perhaps simultaneously at a macro level the authorities and policy makers should be looking at ways of making it more attractive economically to remain in the rural areas. This would at least, if successful, stop the rapid increase of slum dwellers.

Those are truly appalling conditions. No one deserves to live like this. You can only imagine the diseases that are spreading in that area
Urban slum dwellers have very limited access to water and sanitation yet migration to urban areas is on the rise due to economic prospects. There is an urgency to vigorously invest in sustainable approaches towards sanitation. I believe that to ensure sustainability, economic aspects of ecological sanitation should be at the forefront. People need incentives for sustainability to be achieved.

What do you think?

These are some photos we received recently showing examples of bad sanitation in the urban slum in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, which has problems with a quickly growing population.

Photos are also available on flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/gtzecosan/sets/721...483/with/5933720522/

More info please contact me or the photographer Jacob Hasle Nielsen. Contact me for Jacob's email address if you want.