The Poverty Environment Partnership (PEP), an informal network of development agencies working on coordinating poverty reduction and environmental efforts, held its annual meeting in Washington DC from 19- 21 November, 2007.

Representatives from international financial institutions, bilateral and multilateral donor organizations, and development agencies from around the world attended the meeting, the theme of which was, “Infrastructure, Growth, and Poverty Reduction: The Role of Ecosystems and Natural Resources”.

During the three-day meeting, experts gave presentations on various topics, and participants then met in break-out sessions to discuss how to apply these issues. Discussion topics included, “Infrastructure development and regional economic integration: Poverty-Environment Tradeoffs”, “Private sector views and experiences on ecosystem services, environment and poverty”, and “The poverty impacts of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and land degradation”, among others. The meeting concluded with reports on ongoing Poverty Environment Partnership work, and plans for continuing action in the coming year.

The 2007 PEP meeting was a carbon-neutral event. The Inter-American Development Bank calculated all emissions, from flights and conference activities, and purchased emission reduction credits from a micro-hydro offset project, which will provide a renewable source of energy to geographically isolated indigenous communities in Guatemala.

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