UNDP-UNEP Poverty-Environment Initiative

December 2008
9 - 10 December 2008
UNDP-UNEP Poverty and Environment Initiative hosted the inception meeting for the launching of the UNDP-UNEP – PEI regional programme for Europe and and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
The joint UNDP-UNEP PEI Programme for Europe and CIS hosted an inception workshop with representatives from countries in the region that have expressed interest in the PEI. The workshop took place 9 -10 December 2008 in Bratislava, Slovakia.

The workshop’s overall objective was a comprehensive discussion of poverty-environment linkages and opportunities for mainstreaming and explored in detail the PEI concept, methodology and implementation modalities and its application potential in the Europe and CIS region.

The workshop featured panel discussions examining national experiences with regard to country-specific environment-poverty linkages from representatives from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Georgia, Kosovo and Moldova. The various contributions reflected in particular country-specific experiences looking at the integration of environmental concerns in non-environmental sectors and budgeting frameworks. In addition, with the objective to support and nourish cross-regional learning and knowledge-sharing, David Smith of the UNDP-UNEP Poverty-Environment Initiative presented lessons learnt from the regional PEI Africa programme and discussed relevant experiences for the Europe and CIS region. Workshop participants discussed the potential for addressing poverty-environment linkages and possible entry points for mainstreaming at local, regional and national levels and the application of mainstreaming guidelines in participating countries and developed practical recommendations for next steps and overall follow-up. [Workshop report, english], [Workshop report, russian]

Workshop presentations are available here...