Links between Poverty and Environment in UNEPs Work

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Links between Poverty and Environment in UNEPs
Work
Mr. Sanath Ranawana, UNEP Regional Office for
Asia Pacific International Environmental
Governance (IEG) Forum and Regional Consultation
Meeting for Asia Pacific 27-30 November 2008,
Sydney
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• OUTLINE
• Poverty and environment linkages - big picture
• Poverty and environment links in UNEPs work
• Poverty Environment Initiative

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Environment Development Linkages - Historical

• Environment or Development (pre 1987)
• Environment and Development (Our Common
  Future, Agenda 21)
• Environment for Development (MDGs)

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Poverty Environment Linkages
GEO-4, UNEP, et al, 2007
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Poverty Environment Linkages at the Macro-level
World Bank (2007), Poverty and Environment
Understanding linkages at the household level,
World development indicators
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Poverty Environment Linkages at the
Household-level
Households engaged in natural-resource-dependent
activities by consumption quintiles in rural
areas in Cambodia (2004)
World Bank (2007), Poverty and Environment
Understanding linkages at the household level,
World development indicators
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Poverty Environment Linkages at the
Household-level
World Bank (2007), Poverty and Environment
Understanding linkages at the household level,
World development indicators
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Poverty Environment Linkages
Source ADB (2008), Environments of Poverty
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Linking Poverty to UNEPs 6 Thematic Areas
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Poverty and Climate Change
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Poverty and Disasters and Conflicts
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Poverty and Ecosystem Management
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Poverty and Environmental Governance
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Poverty and Harmful Substances and Hazardous
Waste
Poverty and Resource Efficiency Sustainable
Consumption and Production
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Poverty Environment Initiative in Asia-Pacific
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• A global programme to mainstream
  poverty-environment concerns within country-level
  development processes (plans, policies and
  programmes)
• A partnership between UNDP and UNEP - The first
  partnership between UN agencies to develop
  specific Joint Programme Management arrangements
• Country-level PEI programmes are developed in the
  context of the Delivering as One and UN Country
  Team processes and in collaboration with
  existing donor harmonisation arrangements
• Expected Outcome
• To improve capacity of governments and other
  stakeholders to integrate environment into
  policies, plans and programmes aimed at poverty
  reduction, pro-poor growth and achievement of the
  MDGs.

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(No Transcript)
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Regional PEI Framework for Asia-Pacific Targeting
government processes for planning, budgeting,
sector implementation and local level
implementation

• Phase 2
• Building implementation capacity
• Indicators and data collection to monitor
  poverty-environment outcomes
• Budgeting and financing for environmental
  management
• Sectoral and local-level policy and programme
  implementation
• Long-term implementation capacity building

• Preparatory Phase
• Finding entry points and making the case
• Preliminary assessments institutional and policy
  context, P-E linkages
• Awareness-raising and partnership building
• Institutional and capacity development Needs
  Assessment

• Phase 1
• Integrating env. into national development
  processes
• Integrating P-E linkages into national, sectoral
  and local policy processes
• Country-specific evidence through ecosystem
  assessment and economic analysis
• Local-level pilot project development
• Targeted institutional and capacity development

Asia-Pacific Regional PEI Support ? Advisory
Services ? Knowledge Management Networking ?
Advocacy ? Partnerships
? Resource Mobilization
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• PEI Asia-Pacific at a glance
• 9 countries across three stages ( scoping
  studies)
• 10 million
• UNEP-UNDP partnership
• Expanding programme with interest from countries
  across A-P region

CHINA
PAKISTAN
BHUTAN
NEPAL
LAO PDR
LAO PDR
BANGLADESH
VIETNAM

CAMBODIA
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
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Bhutan Complimenting Gross National Happiness
Development Philosophy

• Links between economy, environment and poverty
• 1/3 of its GDP from the Renewable Natural
  Resources (RNR)
• About 69 people depend on an integrated RNR
  system (crop, livestock and forest)
• More than 270 industries depend on forests for
  their raw materials

• PEI Objective in Bhutan
• Build the long-term capacity of the government to
  integrate environmental concerns into the design
  and implementation of development plans
• Increase national budget allocations towards the
  environment

• Implementing Partners
• Gross National Happiness Commission (GNHC)
• Local government
• Civil Society Organizations

• Key activities
• Guidelines for mainstreaming poverty-environment
  issues in national and local plans
• Participatory assessment of sustainable
  livelihood options in 10 targeted villages
• Socio-economic data analysis to assess how
  poverty environment indicators are monitored and
  reported

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• Links between environment and poverty
• Biodiversity contributes 75 of per capita GDP,
  more than 90 of employment and just under 60 of
  exports and foreign exchange earnings
• Heavy losses in biodiversity resources mainly due
  to unsustainable use of resources and increasing
  population and industrial development pressure
• Upland areas, where the poverty incidence is
  high, have not been compensated for providing
  vital ecological services

• Implementing partners
• Ministry of Planning and Investment
• National Committee for Rural Development and
  Poverty Eradication
• UNDP/UNEP Joint Environment Unit

• Activities undertaken for developing the Country
  Programme
• Participatory analysis of environmental gaps in
  poverty reduction plans and strategies at
  national and provincial levels
• South-south lessons learning through a study tour
  of planning and finance ministries to Viet Nam
  where the UNDP has implemented a Poverty
  Environment Programme since 2005

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• South-south knowledge sharing (e.g., scaling-up
  best practices of P-E mainstreaming at local
  levels)
• Raising awareness amongst political leaders,
  government officials, private sector and
  communities
• Promoting pro poor environmental planning,
  implementation and monitoring (e.g. participatory
  poverty assessment, participating in
  multi-stakeholder poverty and environmental
  forums)
• Implementing community-based environmental
  management initiatives (e.g., capacity building
  in sustainable natural resource management,
  empowering communities)
• Supporting pro-poor environmental governance
  (e.g., ownership, participation, transparency and
  accountability in decision makings processes)