Examples of the green economy in practice show great potential for delivering a “triple bottom line” of job–creating economic growth coupled with environmental protection and social inclusion. However, there are significant barriers to realizing this potential on a large scale. To build an inclusive green economy that is equitable and sustainable will require carefully designed policies and targeted investments that enable low and middle-income countries and the poor to contribute to and benefit from the transition.

Of particular importance is the need for governance and policy reforms that extend to poor people secure rights over the environmental assets that underpin their livelihoods and well-being, and that ensure a greater voice in decisions affecting how these assets are managed. At the same time, policies and measures such as green protectionism and aid conditionality that could adversely impact low and middle-income countries and people living in poverty must be avoided if the benefits of an inclusive green economy are to be realized.

- From the foreword of "Building an Inclusive Green Economy for All: Opportunities and Challenges for Overcoming Poverty and Inequality," a Poverty-Environment Partnership joint paper

Climate change impacts are affecting the developing member countries of the Asian Development Bank. For COP16, ADB is featuring the work being done to respond to their challenges. 

Visit the ADB COP16 feature

Session 1.1 Welcome and Introductions to themes and objectives

Session 1.2 Climate Change Challenges and the African Response: Learning from Recent Experience

• Botswana's Experience with Mainstreaming (UNDP/UNEP, PDF)
• Responding to Climate Change in Malawi (PDF)
• Climate Change Challenges in Malawi (PDF)
• Economics of Climate Change in Kenya (Stacey Noel, SEI Africa, PDF)

Session 1.3 National Government’s role in Climate and Environment Mainstreaming

• What is Environmental Mainstreaming and the Role of National Government (John Horberry, UNDP/UNEP, PDF)
• Mainstreaming Tools and Approaches (PDF)
• Malawi's Experiences in Mainstreaming (Ministry of Development Planning and Cooperation, PDF)

Session 1.4 Local Solutions for Environment, Climate Change and the MDGs – Towards a PEP proposal

• Local Solutions for Environment, Climate Change and the MDGs – Towards a PEP Initiative (IIED, UNDP, WRI, PDF)
• Lessons & experiences of the Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme (Abu-Baker S. Wandera, GEF SGP Uganda, PDF)

Session 1.5 Break-out Groups

Session 2.1 Report back from break out groups

• Mainstreaming Climate and Environment (PDF)
• Upscaling Local Solutions (PDF)

Session 2.2 Development Agencies’ Strategies and World Bank Strategy: introduction

• A New Environment Strategy for the World Bank Group (Kulsum Ahmed, World Bank, via Slideshare)

Session 2.3 Discussion of the World Bank’s Environment Strategy concept note

Session 2.4 Environment and natural resources management for growth and poverty alleviation: Emerging priorities for World Bank assistance in Sub-Saharan Africa?

• Environment and Natural Resources for Growth and Poverty Alleviation: Emerging Priorities for World Bank Assistance (PDF)

Session 2.5 Concluding session on World Bank strategy

Session 3.1 Diverse approaches to Green Economy – initiatives, their drivers, and approaches in different countries

• Green Economy – a way to accelerate MDG achievement? (Steve Bass, IIED, PDF)
• Natural Capital: from resource curse to resource blessing (Glenn-Marie Lange, World Bank, PDF)
• Natural resource based economic development: Translating economic valuation into local economic opportunity (IUCN, PDF)
• Towards a Green Economy: A Kenyan Perspective (Wilfred Nyangena, EfD-K/KIPPRA, PDF)
• Moving Towards Green Economies and Green Jobs (Vijay Chaturvedi, Development Alternatives, via Slideshare)

Session 3.2 Putting the ‘green’ back into Green Economy: going beyond climate change/low-carbon to making use of ecosystem services and natural resources

Session 3.3 Green Economy Market Place

Session 3.4 Areas where PEP network can add value: break out groups

Session 4.1 Country Systems and the Environment

• Capacity Development, Environment and Climate Change and The Use of Country Systems (John Horberry, OECD, PDF)

Session 4.2 Capacities for Integrating Environment in National Budgetary Processes And Capacities for Integrating Environment in National Planning Processes

• Capacities for integrating environment into national budgetary processes (Nelly Petkova, OECD, PDF)
• Importance of Integrating Environment into PFM (Tithokoze Samuael, PDF)

Session 4.3 The Role of Donors in Supporting Capacity for the Environment

• Mainstreaming climate change in aid cooperation projects (EuropeAid, PDF)
• Climate risk screening and EIA (EuropeAid, PDF)
• Joint Integrated Environmental Assessment at Country Level - Pilot Action (PDF)
• UNDP StrategicPlan 2008 - 2011 (PDF)
• Integration of environment and climate change in development cooperation (PDF)

Session 4.4 The challenges and opportunities of climate adapation finance for the strengthening and use of country systems

• Country Systems and financing for climate change adaptation: Perspective from Ghana (Veronica Sackey and Franklin Ashiadey,
  Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, PDF)

Session 5.1 Experiences of new PEI country programmes

• UNDP-UNEP Poverty-Environment Initiative (PDF)
• PEI Africa: Progress and Lessons PEP Malawi (PDF)
• The UNDP-UNEP Poverty-Environment Initiative In Botswana (PDF)
• The UNDP-UNEP Poverty-Environment Initiative In Malawi (PDF)
• The UNDP-UNEP Poverty-Environment Initiative In Burkina Faso (PDF)

Session 5.2 Synthesis of PEI Lessons

Session 5.3 How to use economic analysis to make a case for poverty environment mainstreaming (using Malawi as a case study) and experiences from other countries

• Malawi Poverty and Environment Initiative: Economic Study (Gil Yaron, GY Associates Ltd, PDF)

Session 5.4 Conclusions on themes of 5 days and next steps for PEP

Generations of human dependence on the world's forests, about 57% of which are in developing countries, have led to the alarming depletion of these resources. In these cases, affected communities experience losses in shelter, food, livelihoods, and protection against natural hazards, among other necessities.

Sustainable forest management projects are currently ongoing in various parts of the world, using various approaches to ensure that the benefits people derive from forest-related industries do not come at the expense of the forests themselves.

Find out more about the subject by reading these documents:

• Sustainable Forest Management in Indigenous Communities (WWF)
• Decentralization of Forest Management in Bolivia: Who Benefits and Why? (CIFOR)
• Forestry’s Contribution to Poverty Reduction: Final Report and Resolutions (Commonwealth Forestry Association)
• Counting on the Environment: Forest Incomes and the Rural Poor (World Bank)
• USAID’s Enduring Legacy in Natural Forests: Livelihoods, Landscapes, and Governance
• Action Research on the Poverty Impacts of Participatory Forest Management (ODI)
• Participatory Forest Management Policy and Practice in South Africa
• Payments for Environmental Services - An equitable approach for reducing poverty and conserving nature (WWF)

In the world's poorest countries, pollution is responsible for a significant percentage of illness and death. In a single province in India, 80% of morbidity and mortality can be attributed to unsafe drinking water. Meanwhile, indoor air pollution caused by burning solid fuels (in kitchens, for example) is estimated to claim over 1 million lives each year.

Poverty Environment Net currently has over 40 articles on Pollution and Health in its index. These articles explore the pollution and health link: how better air quality, water sanitation and solid waste management practices are critical not only because of their environmental value, but also because of the anticipated positive effects on the health of the poor. The following links are a sample of the subjects covered in this focal area.

• Championing 100% Sanitation Coverage in Rural Communities in India (ADB)
  
• Health, Environment and The Burden Of Disease: A Guidance Note (DFID)
  
• Guide to Monitoring Target 11: Improving the Lives of 100 Million Slum Dwellers 2003 (UN-HABITAT)
  
• Smoke in the Kitchen: Health impacts of indoor air pollution in developing countries (UNDP)
  
• Brief Report on South Asia Regional Workshop on Indoor Air Pollution, Health and Household Energy
  
• Environment Matters: Annual Review 2005 (World Bank)
  
• Air and Noise Pollution Reduction from Tricycles (ADB)
  
• WHO Climate and Health Fact Sheet

5 June 2006 is World Environment Day, and this year's theme is Deserts and Desertification.

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) defines desertification as “land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas, resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activity.”

A third of the earth's surface is at risk of desertification. This is a global problem that threatens the lives and livelihoods of 1 billion people, most of them in developing nations. In connection with this, 2006 has been declared the international year of deserts and desertification.

Combating desertification involves a focus on natural resource management, environmental vulnerability, and sustainable livelihoods for those affected. Read more about what development agencies are doing for this cause:

• United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Fact Sheet
• Down to Earth: A simplified guide to the Convention to Combat Desertification
• Facts and Figures: Desertification and Drought
• Desertification as a global problem
• Desertification is Both a Cause and a Consequence of Poverty
• Combating desertification and poverty in drylands
• Desertification, Drought, Poverty and Agriculture: Building Livelihoods, Saving Lands
• Desertification in Africa
• Land Resource Stresses and Desertification in Africa
• Technical Assistance for Combating Desertification in Asia
• PRC-GEF Partnership: Capacity Building to Combat Land Degradation
• CACILM: Central Asian Countries Initiative for Land Management
• Prevention and Control of Dust and Sandstorms in Northeast Asia

Asian Development Bank's Poverty and Environment Program (PEP) is a regional technical assistance project/activity financed by the Poverty and Environment Fund, which is cofinanced by ADB and the Governments of Norway and Sweden.

The program aims to accelerate learning about poverty-environment linkages and effective approaches for poverty reduction. It focuses particularly on the areas of natural resources management, pollution's effects on health, and reduction of vulnerability to natural hazards.

PEP continuously captures knowledge on poverty reduction and environmental concerns in two significant ways:

1. By supporting initiatives through small grants for targeted analytical studies, pilot interventions, and information dissemination. These grants offer opportunities for better livelihoods for the poor through the improvement of environmental conditions. Knowledge capture activities for these projects are ongoing.

2. By developing a knowledge base of project documentation, lessons learned, and best practices from poverty-environment initiatives worldwide.

All information PEP has collected thus far has been shared online and can be accessed through Poverty Environment Net.

ADB is a member of the Poverty Environment Partnership.

Related reading:

• PEP Projects
• PEP brochure (180 KB, PDF)

In September 2000, the world's countries and leading development organizations agreed to try to achieve eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. These goals are:

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. Achieve universal primary education
3. Promote gender equality and empower women
4. Reduce child mortality
5. Improve maternal health
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Develop a global partnership for development

The relationship between the environment and human well-being goes beyond the environmental sustainability goal. Dealing with extreme hunger, health, and gender equality, for example, relies also on effective allocation and management of natural resources.

Since the UN Millennium Declaration in 2000, various institutions and organizations have initiated efforts to educate the public about the role of the environment in not one but all of the MDGs.

To read more about this feature, visit the following articles:

• The Energy Challenge for Achieving the Millennium Development Goals
• Sustainable Pathways to Attain the Millennium Development Goals: Assessing the Key Role of Water, Energy and Sanitation
• The Millennium Development Goals and Conservation

Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) has been an emerging topic in discussions about forests and climate change. Poor forest-dependent communities figure significantly in various REDD proposals, which, as a recent Poverty Environment Partnership (PEP) paper explains, "are all based on the idea that developed countries would pay developing countries to reduce rates of deforestation or degradation by implementing a range of policies and projects.""

The PEP paper, "Making REDD work for the poor," (authored by ODI and IUCN) presents the links between REDD and poverty, and discusses the poverty implications. "The potential contribution to rural poverty reduction could be immense, but REDD mechanisms may also entail new risks."

"REDD and Poverty: The social implications of reducing emissions from deforestation in developing countries" contains more discussion on some of the possible new risks -- "...weak governance and poor institutional capacity could compromise the delivery of these benefits at the local level."

Also a main issue in REDD is the health of forests. WRI's "REDD Flags: What We Need to Know about the Options" talks of the different strategies that need to be considered in maintaining the world's forests. "If REDD is to achieve a large reduction of global greenhouse gas emissions, major industrial practices in the forestry, energy, and agricultural sectors, which are at the heart of many countries’ economic and political structures, need to be fully involved."

Once the investment has been made in reducing deforestation, what is the guarantee that forest health can be maintained? "Risk and responsibility in Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation" (ODI) "...looks at how REDD transaction mechanisms between buyers and sellers might be established and the implications that risk reduction mechanisms might have for different stakeholders in developing countries."

More REDD on PE Net:

• 13th PEP Meeting (June 10 presentations)
• Pro-poor REDD Working Group

Photos from the ADB Poverty and Environment Program

Given that men and women have different roles in using and managing natural resources in their community, gender issues do affect environmental strategy. Despite performing active roles in its use (such as collecting water and fuelwood), women in developing countries are seen to have less control over the resources. Case studies have also shown that women have less decision-making power to mitigate natural disasters and hazards.

These papers explore gender equality in poverty and environment interventions, studying how the greater involvement of women impacts environment conservation and improves livelihoods.

• Poverty-Environment Gender Linkage (OECD)
  
• Social and Gender Analysis in Natural Resource Management (IDRC)
• Gender and Desertification: Expanding Roles for Women to Restore Drylands (IFAD)
• Dry Taps… Gender and Poverty in Water Resource Management (FAO)
• Gender and Climate Change: Giving the “Latecomer” a Head Start (IDS)
• Gender: The Missing Component of the Response to Climate Change (FAO)
• Gender, Class and Access to Water: Three Cases in a Poor and Crowded Delta
• Integrating Indigenous and Gender Aspects in Natural Resource Management (WWF)
• Climate Change and Disaster Mitigation: Gender Makes the Difference (IUCN)
• Bangladesh: Gender Mainstreaming Processes in Community-based Flood Risk Management (Gender and Water Alliance)
• Gender Perspectives on the Conventions on Biodiversity, Climate Change and Desertification (FAO)
• Everything Counts! Valuing Environmental Initiatives with a Gender Equity Perspective in Latin America (IUCN)