Before independence open defecation was a common practice in many parts of India. Little has changed in the last 59 years. Communities belonging to tribal and semi-tribal area of Thane District still follow the unhygienic practice of relieving themselves in open, near the sources of water causing drinking water to be contaminated with human waste. As per details released by UNICEF, one gram of faeces can contain – 10,000,000 viruses, 1,000,000 bacteria, 1,000 parasite cysts, 100 parasite eggs. Protecting drinking water from faecal contamination by following home hygiene practices such as sanitary use of toilets and washing hands with soap or ash is the only means to fight the widespread menace of waterborne diseases.
“As a species we have lived in wild nature for hundreds of thousands of years, and now suddenly most of us live in cities—the ultimate escape from nature,” says Peter Kareiva, chief scientist at The Nature Conservancy and co-author of the report. “If we do not learn to build, expand and design our cities with a respect for nature, we will have no nature left anywhere.” The study, “The implications of current and future urbanization for global protected areas and biodiversity conservation,” was published in the current issue of Biological Conservation and is the first-ever global analysis of how urbanization will affect rare species, natural resources and protected areas in proximity to cities. In 2007, the United Nations revealed that at least 50 percent of the world’s population is living in cities. By 2030, that number will jump to 60 percent, with nearly 2 billion new city residents, many migrating from rural areas. According to the report, humans are building the equivalent of a
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