Sustainable Development in Practice: A Handbook for Integrating Environment, Climate and Poverty Reduction 

Almost every international agreement on sustainable development and the environment over the past half‒century, beginning with the 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment, has called for an integrated approach to environmental and poverty issues. The urgency of that call continues to resonate, when many decisions need to be made to tackle linked climate, nature and poverty emergencies following the COVID‒19 pandemic. The joint United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)‒United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Poverty‒Environment Action for Sustainable Development Goals project was designed to ensure that the environmental dimension is not left behind when addressing poverty and development. Building on the legacy of its predecessor, the Poverty‒Environment Initiative, the project has helped the integration and implementation of pro‒poor, environmental sustainability objectives into developing countries’ policies, plans, budgets and investment. These in turn have helped decision‒makers at national, subnational, and sectoral levels reduce poverty and grow inclusive, green economies.

Following the successes and lessons from the two projects, the Poverty‒Environment Action for the Sustainable Development Goals has developed the Sustainable Development in Practice: A Handbook for Integrating Environment, Climate and Poverty Reduction. The Handbook provides guidance of how to eradicate poverty through sustainable development while improving management of the environment and natural resources. Designed as guidance for policymakers and practitioners to integrate environment, climate, and poverty objectives into key development decision processes: participation, planning, budgeting, financing and monitoring.

The Handbook presents Poverty-Environment Action’s main lessons, and draws on other recent experiences around the world, to offer a new, interactive guide to integrating poverty, environment, and climate in decision-making.

The Sustainable Development in Practice Handbook offers readers:

• An improved understanding of the links between the poverty and environmental challenges that influence achievement of holistic goals such as the Sustainable Development Goals or an inclusive green economy
• Learning from the programmatic approach used by Poverty‒Environment Action for Sustainable Development Goals and its predecessor the Poverty‒Environment Initiative to tackle these challenges on four continents over 18 years, along with complementary lessons from other initiatives
• A practical framework for applying the various activities involved in an integrated approach, based around a typical policy/decision‒making cycle

Click here to download the Handbook.