ABSTRACT
Ilo is a port city in southern Peru, close to the Bolivian and Chilean borders, with around 70,000 inhabitants. Over the last 20 years, the quality of its environment has been much improved despite being an industrial town with rapid population growth and very limited external support. Progress includes much improved provision for water, sanitation, solid waste collection, electricity and public space (including the reclamation of beaches and the seafront for the population), reduced air pollution and extensive tree-planting and street paving programmes. A municipal programme has also ensured that land is available for housing that even low-income households can afford, and this has avoided problems of illegal settlements. Most of the public works were financed and executed through partnerships between municipal government and community-level management committees.
