The countryside which repels and towns which attract

Throughout the world, towns attract people. People in the country hope to have a better life over there, to increase their income, to have easier access to water, food, healthcare and, also, to offer their children a better education. ‘In developing countries, the standard of living in disadvantaged urban areas is often better than the standard of living of populations who remain in villages’ specifies Jean-Marie Halleux, Professor of Economic Geography and a specialist in spatial planning. ‘If, on the one hand, towns are attractive, we also have to take into account the fact that, on the other hand, the countryside repels people: given the demographic pressure, access to land is becoming increasingly difficult for farmers. This two-fold phenomenon of attraction/repulsion is at the heart of the urban transition and the development of periurban areas. The majority of these areas are not built-up and they are situated closely to a densely populated urban area, with which significant exchanges take place.’

In Africa more than elsewhere, periurban areas are marked by a particularly strong demographic pressure, as well as by hybrid governance methods. The co-existence of these two phenomena leads them to restrict the provision of basic services - the very thing which inhabitants of the countryside are seeking - and to place considerable pressure on natural resources. Examples? Among the contributions requested by Jan Bogaert and Jean-Marie Halleux, ways of dealing with this have been identified. ‘In the countryside, traditional healers continue to be key people to whom medical problems are addressed’ explains Jan Bogaert. ‘In contrast, in towns, people more often benefit from ‘classic’ health services (via hospitals, dispensaries, networks of healthcare professionals, the distribution of non-falsified medication, etc.). In periurban areas, traditional healers are also consulted, but with one major difference to the countryside: because social links are less developed (given the higher population density), less intense social control is exercised over them. The result is that so-called 'charlatans' can carry out their activities for significant lengths of time before being identified and rejected by the community. The quality of healthcare, obviously, suffers from this situation’.

The Virunga National Park: moving towards declassification?

Addressing healthcare issues involves addressing the delicate issue of governance. Periurban populations continue to turn to traditional healers (at the risk of seeing their health deteriorate) because healthcare structures are lacking and because corruption reigns ... The issue of governance also affects other topics such as the access to water and electricity. ‘In some parts of Kinshasa,’ states Jan Bogaert, ‘the inhabitants have no choice other than to connect themselves fraudulently to the electricity network, turning to improvised electricians. Quite legitimately, they want to put an end to continual power cuts, even if it means negotiating the amount of their bills with the staff of the local company. Local electricity companies are, effectively, incapable of fulfilling their obligations to provide electricity to all inhabitants of the city. Staff and technicians turn a blind eye to these practices (and even encourage them), because they don’t receive the salary they deserve and because they themselves need to meet their own families’ needs. The electricity network is thus informally privatised, a process which is tolerated by the State. This prevents the distribution company from increasing its income and investing it in improving the network, which would then benefit everyone rather than simply the most resourceful or best placed.’

Access to basic services is not the only phenomenon in question. In periurban areas, demographic pressure is such that it may threaten the preservation and specific management modes of natural resources. Africa, for example, is rich in natural parks and nature reserves, which have a high potential ecological value. In these areas, the influx of tourists - or hunters - generates a financial income, part of which is redirected towards local populations. These populations are thus encouraged to moderate the impact they have on the animal population (anti-poaching) and plant life (anti-deforestation), while being relatively sure of continuing their development. However, ‘several chapters in our book indicate that this model is crumbling under the effect of demographic pressure’, notes Jan Bogaert. ‘The most worrying example is that of the Virunga National Park (the oldest national park in Africa), in the east of the Congo, which faces a real risk of being declassified! Because of population movements, weakening of the State’s authority and a lack of political arrangements for the region, the development of urban and periurban areas in this region (which has been hit by serious conflicts) appears to be totally uncontrolled. This is reflected in the illegal exploitation of forest resources, the constant degradation of the natural landscape and a reduction in biodiversity’.