31 August 2017: The UN Development Programme (UNDP) – UN Environment (UNEP) Poverty-Environment Initiative has published its 2016 Annual Report titled, ‘Blossom Time.’ The publication outlines the Initiative’s achievements across the sustainable development spectrum, and gives a preview of a five-year global programme titled, ‘Poverty-Environment Action for Sustainable Development Goals,’ which will be launched in January 2018.

According to the report, in 2016, the Poverty-Environment Initiative supported 23 countries in Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Asia and the Pacific. It highlights the work of the joint Global Programme to improve climate resilience of the poorest and to effectively implement pro-poor environmental practices, along with a just transition to an inclusive green economy.

The ‘Poverty-Environment Action for Sustainable Development Goals’ programme, to be launched in January 2018, will help countries to strengthen and implement more coherent policies, plans, regulations and investments to support poverty-environment objectives.

The report also presents “the kernel of a more effective means to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.” The showcased initiatives include: Bhutan advancing Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13 (climate action) through instilling poverty-environment, and gender and climate objectives countrywide; Malawi contributing to SDG 15 (life on land) by enhancing policy coherence and sustainability in natural resources; Peru furthering implementation of SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation) by adopting a national solid waste management plan with key poverty-environment objectives; and Tajikistan promoting SDG 5 (gender equality) by integrating environmental sustainability and gender.

The soon-to-be-launched ‘Poverty-Environment Action for Sustainable Development Goals,’ the report explains, will help countries to: strengthen and implement more coherent policies, plans, regulations and investments to support poverty-environment objectives; promote quality investments that engender environmental sustainability, climate resilience and livelihoods, contributing to poverty elimination; and employ innovative approaches and tools adopted by regional and global institutions in support of the poverty-environment nexus for implementation of the SDGs. [Blossom Time] [Publication Landing Page]