Margaret Thatcher, the late prime minister of England, once stated, “In Southern Africa- Namibia and Angola- the United Nations has succeeded in holding out better prospects for an end to war and for the beginning of prosperity.” Thatcher highlighted the progress of development the UN has made in developing nations. However, Thatcher did not address the impact of urbanization on the environment. This becomes important because two-thirds of the developing world is likely to live in urban areas by the year 2050.

Climate change will have a big impact in the 21st century, but continued development in third world countries is necessary. Both Clean Energy and No Poverty were goals set by the UN’s development plan. The problem becomes discussing the development of developing countries. Lack of development often leads to rapid, unregulated economic growth in these nations, which then drastically harms the environment of those regions.



Urbanization in developing countries causes high populations in large cities, harming the environment. This high population concentration is often called an urban heat island. Large concentrations of people in developing nations can come from new infrastructure, more specifically, the construction of new buildings that are really close together. Due to the lack of many resources and building houses closer together is cheaper, housing is often scrunched up together in these nations. This ultimately worsens the impacts on the environment as urban heat islands in the area increases.

Developing countries prioritize development, even if the development does not occur in a cleaner, sustainable method. For instance, the exploitation of oil and the activities of multinational oil companies in the Niger Delta region. Which has caused air pollution, water, and valuable land to be harmed. For Nigeria to maintain its current economic path of growth, abuse of resources and production will continue to be a dominant economic activity. “The environmental impacts of the exploitation of oil in the region include a loss of biodiversity and wildlife, degradation of farmland, and destruction of aquatic ecosystems.” The destruction of aquatic systems in the region is seen by the many oil spills, which results in socio-economic impacts. Food insecurity in the region is occurring because of increasing numbers in dead fish and crops.



Urbanization in cities leads to an increase in demand for housing and drives up infrastructure. Ishwar Patel, assistant professor at the Institute of Management Studies and Research, states “Whether it is in the form of air and water pollution, deforestation and soil erosion or the extraction of natural resources itself, the fact is that developing countries are currently accounting for remarkable depletion of natural resources.” The urgency to develop economically causes pressure domestically and internationally. All while the thought of adopting cleaner ways to develop does not develop.

Due to growing rural populations and subsistence demand, many aspects of the environment have been negatively impacted. This comes as a direct result of the growing population. As more urbanization is causing more land and resources to be used, taking the habitats of many species away and lowering biodiversity and the number of trees. “Urbanization alters the biological, chemical and physical properties of soil and thereby degrading its quality in a way that it leads to loss of vegetation, poor water infiltration, accumulation of heavy metal, excess water runoff and soil erosion,” UT Assistant Professor Gehendra Kharel states. In developing nations, development threatens wildlife in the area through the destruction of the environment. Whenever the population increases, more resources are needed. In developed countries, alternative methods to mitigate the exploitation of resources usually exists in forms of cleaner energy, however the same does not apply in developing countries.

In an article written by Guanghua Wan, a writer for the Asian Development Bank, she argues that urbanization spurs innovation and encourages certain styles of living while also improving the standards of living for those. Wan later states, “Countries need to introduce regulations and standards in a timely manner.” She later says this is because it can help battle urban sprawl. Even though urban sprawl could be fought with more regulations, with more environmental regulations, and with economic growth decreasing. A significant portion of the economic growth in these nations is from growing industries that harm the environment through their business practices. And Niger is an example of this. If regulations were put on the oil companies, the fast economic growth in the country could be harder to sustain, as many of these business practices are not regulated. If we want a solution to this problem, we must find something that maintains spurs environmentally-friendly economic growth.



Today, two of the biggest international priorities are global development and protecting the environment. In developing countries, it can be very hard to do both at the same time due to their lack of infrastructure and resources. The policies exist in many countries to address environmental problems, but few have actually had positive results. Which has lead policymakers to look for alternative methods. One proposal that has been made is to provide economic incentives for developing-country environmental management. The incentives would go to create a healthy mix of environmental quality and economic growth. It’s important for all countries to recognize that a healthy balance between the environment and economy is possible. But, only when countries want to work towards it.

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