Poverty-Environment Initiative Stories of Change

Publication Date: February 2013

The Poverty Environment Iniative (PEI) is a global UN programme that helps countries to integrate poverty-environment linkages into national and sub-national development planning, from policymaking to budgeting, implementation and monitoring. It is a joint programme between UNEP and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

With both financial and technical support, UNDP and UNEP assist government decision-makers and a wide range of other stakeholders to manage the environment in a way that improves livelihoods and leads to sustainable growth. The PEI works with key government partners to raise awareness, influence policy making and strengthen the mainstreaming of poverty-environment into budget processes, sector programmes and sub-national planning. The overall aim is to bring about lasting institutional change and to catalyse key actors to increase investment in pro-poor environmental and natural resource management.

The PEI Stories of Change is a small booklet capturing the PEI experiences of various stakeholders ranging from the government to vulnerable groups in  Laos, Malawi, Bangladesh, Tajikistan and Uruguay. The booklet includes the chapters:

1. Lao's new rulebook for foreign investment in natural resources boosts local benefits
2. Malawi changes course after analysing the real costs and benefits of policy choices
3. Bangladesh pioneers new 'climate change accounts' to reveal the real cost of adaptation
4. Tajikistan overhauls their whole planning process with the 'triple bottom line'
5. Sharing the waste, sharing the wealth: Uruguay uses the law to catalyse the transition to an inclusive green economy