Poverty-environment mainstreaming is the process that aims at integrating the linkages between the environment and poverty reduction processes and institutions. This handbook has been designed to provide step-by-step guidance on how governments and other national actors can mainstream poverty-environment linkages into national development planning.
The handbook lays out a programmatic approach, which aims to provide a flexible model which can be adapted to national circumstances and guide the choice of activities, tactics, methodologies and tools to address a particular country situation. Its comprised of the following components:
- finding entry points and making the case;
- mainstreaming poverty-environment linkages into policy processes;
- meeting the implementation challenge.
Stakeholder engagement occurs throughout, from inception through policy development, implementation and monitoring. While each successive components build on previous work, the chronology is not fixed.
Chapters in the handbook cover:
- key concepts such as the contribution of the environment to human well-being, pro-poor economic growth and achievement of the MDGs;
- an overview of the mainstreaming approach and includes experiences and initiatives from the UNDP and UNEP;
- step-by-step guidance covering the three components of the programmatic approach along with references and illustrative cases;
- proposals for UNDP-UNEP and its partners for future work in the area of poverty-environment mainstreaming.
