The Negative Impact of rural to urban Migration and on the environment.

Introduction

According to different scholars and authors, this phenomenon continues to attract attention across the world due to its rising concern. The rapid rate of urbanization is mostly being experienced in developed countries. This shift in population has significantly affected the landscapes therein putting pressure on the environment. With the rising population moving from the rural setup to the urban setup, more and more resources are needed to sustain the quality of life and its environs.

According to (Abwao, 1992), for the last two decades, Kenya has experienced a rapid population rise in cities growing from 6 to 8 percent per annum. This shift is attributed to considerable aesthetic appeal to better and promising opportunities in this panorama. Urban dwelling has continued to gain greater economic growth, posing challenges, new opportunities, and immense impact on the larger environment. As also stated (Montgomery, 2008) environmental risks, natural resource degradation, multiple health hazards, and rapid overall environmental changes are the major contributing factors that impact urban dwellings.

Subsequently, because of the increasing migration to the urban setup, several areas of the environment have been undesirably impacted.

• Waste collection and Disposal- with increasing shifts and movement, natural population growth is experienced, and this results in increased generation of solid wastes in our city environment therefore straining our waste management systems and leading to challenges in disposal causing environmental degradation and health hazards to the urban dwellers.

• Rise in development of slums and informal settlements- The steady growth of people in urban dwellings considerably affects the infrastructural planning of the human ecosystem thus leading to congestion and the development of dilapidated structures with no toilets or tap water. This leads to the rise of slum settlements that contribute to environmental degradation.

• Noise Pollution- Major Cities face extensive problems with noise pollution. With the growing numbers of population and vehicles in our urban centers, clogging and congestion is experienced within that environment. This is considered a health hazard since it negatively impacts the human physical and psychological environment.

• Water stress- urban areas are prone to scarcity of water and this kind of migration can exacerbate the problem. The increase in demand for water can lead to the degradation of water quality and the over-extraction of groundwater in rivers and lakes.

Strategies and Mitigation Factors

To address this phenomenon requires an inclusive and comprehensive approach both from the public and private stakeholders, this will go a long in supporting environmental sustainability through encouraging and enabling synergistic and integrative pathways for urban sustainability. This can be supported through the following ways,

Enforcing laws and legislations that would address environmental protection. Through specific arms and bodies charged with environmental protection, they should work to ensure adherence and implementation of the laws especially in urban areas to resolve migration stress. Additionally, the government should create jobs in industries and services sectors while at the same time reducing the gap between rural and urban personal incomes (Zhang and Song Citation2003, Long and Woods Citation2011, Long et al. Citation2012).

Kenya serves as an example, when the creation of county governments was implemented, it built a foundation for developing small towns that were considered rural set up to growth. Visibility to capacity building has now helped reduce the influx in the urban setting therefore addressing part of the reasons why people move to cities or urban areas.

According to Warner (Citation2010) recommended improving the education and training that facilitate access of rural communities affected by environmental change to alternative non-agriculture-based livelihoods. Technical measures that complement better resource and land management alongside improved access to risk management tools such as risk sharing and risk transfer tools like (micro) insurance can also be implemented.

Conclusion

As the world continues to urbanize, poor air and water quality, insufficient water availability, waste-disposal problems, and high energy consumption continue to intensify because of the increasing population density and demands of urban environments. Although this might be the fact, the que to resolve is also being addressed therein building a firm foundation that will essentially manage these challenges and ultimately create a sustainable environment.

References

• Ahmed, K.U. (1996), “Causes and Measurement of Environmental Damage: The Case of Dhaka City”, Journal of Administration and Diplomacy, Vol. 4.

• Abwao, P. 1992, “The determination of Water Quality Characteristic of Runoff for consecutive storms within Nairobi’s city with a view to Planning for its Proper Management.’’ Unpublished Msc. Thesis. Geography Department Nairobi University.

• Rural-Urban Migration of the Slums of Dhaka City”, Malaysian Journal of Society and space, Vol. 7 No. 4.

• World Bank (1999), Towards an Urban Strategy for Bangladesh, Infrastructure Unit, South Asia Region, World Bank, Washington DC.

• Simon, J. (1999), Social and Economic Differentiation in the Dhaka Slum: Marital Affairs, Migratory moments and Family Matters, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston.

• Long, H. and Woods, M., 2011. Rural restructuring under globalization in Eastern Coastal China: what can be learned from Wales? Journal of Rural and Community Development, 6 (1), 70–94. [Google Scholar]

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• Warner, K., 2010. Global environmental change and migration: governance challenges. GlobalEnvironmentalChange, 20 (3),402413.doi:10.1016/j.gloenvch 2009.