Citizens at Risk

Two distinct environmental agendas are now shaping policy and pitting poor against wealthy in the new global arena: the 'brown' agenda, of particular interest to poor city dwellers, places a priority on environmental health through issues such as water and sanitation, air quality and solid waste disposal. Meanwhile, the 'green' agenda, emphasizing future generations and natural systems, places a priority on sustainability through issues such as resource degradation and the global environmental burden. This study lays out the case for an environmental justice perspective as a basis for reconciling the two. It discusses how a city's most pressing environmental problems change as it become more wealthy, with a focus on a decade of research in Accra, Jakarta, and Sao Paolo.