Minority groups are frequently vulnerable to the effects of environmental degradation, impacting negatively on their health, livelihoods, land security and poverty levels. The disproportionately high levels of poverty among minorities make them particularly vulnerable to environmental changes that can undermine their already precarious social and economic security.

There is a widespread problem of "environmental racism" (e.g. Bullard and UNRISD 2004), whereby higher levels of environmental pollution and degradation are commonly found in areas where minorities reside. This may be because lower standards for environmental health and safety are enforced in minority areas or because minorities involuntarily migrate to such regions because of poverty, discrimination or displacement. The result is that they can suffer much higher levels of environmentally-related illnesses and have less safe drinking water.

Minorities make up a significant proportion of slum dwellers, where they have been forcibly displaced from their regions, housing and land or where they have migrated to cities in search of improved economic opportunities not available in their regions. Minorities are less able to oppose such displacement, or to seek participation in resettlement decision-making or adequate compensation. Forced displacement has also been used as a means of improving access to basic services for minorities, including drinking water, because relocation is perceived to reduce the costs of delivering such services. In fact, displacement can cause harmful shifts in cultural, social and economic life that dramatically decrease human development prospects. Physical, economic and social security of minority groups declines because, inter alia, traditional livelihoods are no longer feasible, new housing breaks structures of communal support, and minorities feel alienated in new settlement regions where they may not be welcomed nor speak the language. The new environment might be less relevant to cultural and religious practice and could erode minority identities.

Strategies for economic growth that rely heavily on natural resource exploitation often have an adverse impact on minority communities living in affected areas. When wealth is extracted, the return for minorities is typically low and they are left with environmental degradation and low human development. This exclusion from the benefits of natural resource extraction may create tension among minority groups that can even lead to conflict.

Protection of minority rights can help achieve MDG 7 targets. Discrimination in access to justice for land and housing rights needs to be addressed in efforts to reduce displacement and slum living. MDG 7 could be more effectively achieved with legal recognition of property rights for minorities, and with full consultation and compensation for minority groups in situations where displacement is unavoidable. 'Environmental racism' may be tackled with such measures that strictly enforce environmental laws in minority areas and provide remedies to minorities harmed by environmental degradation.

Governments could reduce net migration to urban slums by adopting "special measures" for achieving greater equality in living conditions and employment opportunities in regions where minorities live. In Brazil, for example, the government responded to the fact that many Afro-Brazilians "live in areas with higher levels of inadequate housing and do not have access to credit for housing purposes" by adopting "several programmes and actions directed towards the diversification of the forms of access to housing, such as: […] building of houses for residents in land reform settlements, indigenous and quilombola (slave descendant) communities, in addition to the supply of direct subsidies to the poorer population" (IPEA 2004, p. 77).

The participation of minorities in devising sustainable development strategies is essential. Minorities have the right to participate in decision-making that affects them and the regions where they live. This participation can reveal also important access issues.

Protection of the cultural identity of minorities is often linked to environmental issues. Income security can be strengthened where support is given to traditional livelihoods of minorities, a measure that can also reduce net migration to urban slums for work. An understanding of how culture impacts on practices of health, food cultivation and housing can mitigate negative effects of displacement to new regions where necessary.