NEW PUBLICATIONS The Challenge of Slums - UN-HABITAT's Global Report on Human Settlements 2003 HS/686/03E ISBN: 1-84407-037-9 paperback 1-84407-036-0 hardback Language: English Every two years, UN-HABITAT publishes its flagship Global Report onHuman Settlements. This year'sreport entitled, The Challenge of Slums, is packed with statistics and figures on our rapidly urbanizing world - a world in which the total number of people currently living in slums is estimated at 928 million. This figure will grow at an accelerated rate if no policy action is taken now. The report, to be launched on World Habitat Day on 6 October 2003, carries a series of sharp insights by such personalities as the former South African Prseeident Nelson Mandela, the Nobel Prize laureate Amartya Sen and the United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan. In a detailed review, the report addresses growing global concern about slums, in line with the recently adopted United Nations Millennium Declaration which aims, among other development priorities, to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger and to significantly improve the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by the year 2020. "To attain the goal of cities without slums, urban planning and management policies designed to prevent the emergence of slums should be implemented vigorously, alongside slum upgrading and within the strategic context of poverty reduction," it says. The Challenge of Slums presents the first global assessment of slums, emphasizing their problems and prospects. The report is written in clear language and supported by informative graphics, case studies and extensive statistical data. It also uses a newly formulated operational definition of slums. it presents estimates of the numbers of urban slum dwellers and examines the factors at all levels, from local to global, which underlie the formation of slums as well as their social, spatial and economic characteristics and dynamics. It goes on to evaluate the principal policy responses to the slum challenge of the last few decades. Almost 1 billion people live in slums, the majority in the developing world where over 40 per cent of the urban population are slum dwellers. The number is growing and will continue tob increase unless there is serious and concerted action by municipal authorities, governments and civil society and the international community. The report shows the way forward and identifies the most promising approaches to achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals for improving the lives of slum dwellers by scaling up participatory slum upgrading and poverty reduction programmes. This global report is an essential tool and reference work for researchers, academics, planners, public authorities and civil society organisations around the world. Water and Sanitation in the World's Cities: Local Action for Global Goals Earthscan, London, 2003 HS/682/03E ISBN: 1-84407-004-2 paperback 1-84407-003-4 hardback Languages: English, Spanish The report describes a water and sanitation situation in major cities of the developing world much worse than anyone had imagined. It is a problem compounded in part by skewed statistics. The report warns that it will not be possible to meet the UN Millennium Goal of halving the number of people without adequate water and sanitation by the year 2020 without a major review of urban sanitation. Current official national statistics often disguise the real problem of the poor in cities and towns because most surveys assume that the urban poor are better served than the rural poor with "improved" provision of water and sanitation. Packed with statistics, it examines in detail problem areas in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and is packed with personal accounts of distress from poor urban areas around the world and many case studies. It also makes useful suggestions for ways of resolving a problem that is growing daily. A Spanish edition of the report will be launched during the celebrations to mark World Habitat Day in Rio de Janeiro on 6 October 2003. Water for People, Water for Life, 2003 ISBN UNESCO: 92-3-103881-8 ISBN Berghahn: 1-57181-627-5 (cloth) 1-57181-628-3 (paperback) Language: English A new report by UNESCO, World Water Development Report - Water for people, Water for Life shows how peace and harmony between and within nations are threatened where, for whatever reason, there is insufficient water to meet human and environmental needs. And it shows how the value of fresh water exceeds narrow economic calculations by encompassing a whole range of social, cultural and ethical considerations. The report runs into over 500 pages looking at the world's fresh water resources. This body of work is the main outcome of the World Water Assessment Programme, a long-term project started in response to decisions of the United Nations General Assembly and the Commission on Sustainable Development. It is published in 2003 jointly by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and Berghahn Books.