By Vinithra Sudhakar, MS student in Geography, George Washington University

Informal urban settlements – often colloquially known by a variety of terms like slums, favelas, and kampungs – house 30-50% of the population of cities in the developing world. Informal urban settlements face unique challenges when dealing with the impacts of climate change. Poor land, low-quality housing materials, and overcrowding make informal settlements more susceptible to climate disasters like flooding, infectious disease outbreaks, and extreme heat.

Residents are often politically disenfranchised, and governments make little effort to upgrade these areas out of fear of legitimizing illegal settlements. As a result, government policy towards informal urban settlements generally falls into two categories: indifference or hostility, such as evictions and land seizures.

Participatory solutions to develop climate resiliency in informal urban settlements are vital to keep residents and their communities safe in the face of government neglect. In Kibera, a slum in Nairobi, Kenya, and the largest urban slum in Africa, residents contribute to the Community Cooker, an initiative that converts community waste into energy using an industrial cooker. The Community Cooker incinerates “no-value” waste in an environmentally responsible manner, providing residents with energy to cook and boil water while producing minimal pollutants. The cooker also provides jobs for waste pickers in much safer and sanitary conditions, and reduces contamination of local water supplies. The Community Cooker initiative supports SDGs 7 and 8 by creating affordable and clean energy and opportunities for decent work.

Community-led efforts to construct green spaces in informal urban settlements can make precarious areas more resilient against climate events. In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where 19% of the population lives in informal settlements, slums lack ample tree cover, creating heat islands. In the Arará slum of Rio de Janeiro, residents planted succulents, herbs, and small shrubs to offset excess heating in the area. Green roofs had several other benefits, including absorbing rainwater and preventing runoff, strengthening community relations by operating as public spaces, and improving the health of residents.

Flooding is a particularly pressing issue for informal urban developments. Rapid growth and development of cities in the developing world have caused the destruction of green spaces that would otherwise mitigate the effects of flooding. Programmes led by the Gorakhpur Environmental Action Group (GEAG) engaged community members in the slums of Gorakhpur, a mid-size city in India, to offset the severe impact of floods in the city. CEAG and local residents unclogged wastewater drains and upgraded waste management systems to prevent future drainage. CEAG also implemented “no development” zones in Gorakhpur’s slums to ensure the protection of green spaces to distribute stormwater and prevent flooding. Other programmes to increase flood resiliency have also been implemented in informal settlements in Indonesia, Viet Nam, and Thailand, focusing on the creation of green spaces, reinforcing wetlands, and planting trees and waterfront vegetation.

These programmes show that community-driven adaptations help promote impactful sustainable development by engaging community members to create bottom-up change. Community programmes for sustainable development also empower residents of informal urban settlements by providing them with jobs that support their local communities. As a result, participatory programmes play a vital role in making neglected, informal urban settlements more climate-resilient and, ultimately, putting us on a path to achieve the SDGs, including Goals 11 (sustainable cities and communities) and 13 (climate action).