Classical solutions for the management of modern urban services have failed due to a lack of means and adjustment to the context. This has encouraged many grassroots actors in developing countries to experiment (with the participation of the population) new means of organisation and practices suited to their particular context, as well as simple environmentally sound technologies which preserve the environment, make better use of domestic waste and generate income.

There is need for support to these grassroots actors, who witness in their daily activities the commitment of communities to improving their living conditions.

We also need to encourage the capitalisation of relevant experiences and the dissemination of their teachings towards all major actors in the field so as to improve their action at the local level and to feed, at a wider level, a thought process on environmental policies to advocate in cities of the South.

Towards this end, the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements, Habitat II, which took place in June 1996 in Istanbul, Turkey, was of critical importance in reinforcing the exchange of information and ideas. The Habitat Agenda emphasises the important role community organisations and the inhabitants of poor neighbourhoods in cities of the South can play in managing their own environmental problems.

But Habitat II was not an end in itself. It is now up to the actors in the city, especially NGOs and CBOs, to ensure that the recommendations and proposals which were adopted at the conference be converted into real changes at the local level.

Presentation of Preceup