Mainstreaming the Environment Across DFID’s Work

1. Mainstreaming the Environment Across DFID’sWork John Warburton Senior Environment Adviser, DFID China j-warburton@dfid.gov.uk

2. Contents • What is environmental mainstreaming? • DFID’s approach, particularly in regards to: • Public sector governance • Assets for the poor • Quality of economic growth • Environmental opportunities in other sectors • How is this captured in our screening procedures? • Sustainability appraisal in action in Yunnan (YEDP presentation)

3. Defining Environmental Mainstreaming • Integrating environmental sustainability (wherever appropriate) into development policy, planning and programmes for long term poverty eradication.

4. Is this important from the perspective of poor people? • Livelihoods • poor people tend to be most dependent upon the environment and the direct use of natural resources • Health • poor people suffer most when water, land, and the air are polluted. Environmental risk factors are a major source of health problems • Vulnerability • the poor are often exposed to environmental hazards and environment-related conflict and are least capable of coping when they occur

5. Policy and Institutional Options • Key principles for DFID’s approach • Poor people as part of the solution rather than part of the problem • Environmental quality of growth is important • Environmental management cannot be separated from other development issues • Themes identified - • Improve Governance • Enhance assets of the poor • Improve the quality of growth • Identify environmental linkages in all sectors • Use environmental screening as an opportunity to “look for good”, not simply to “do no harm”

6. Governance • E.g. Integrate Poverty-Environment into Development frameworks, and develop incentives for environment to be seen as a cross-departmental issue Poor People’s control of assets • E.g. Strengthen resource rights of the poor and enhance capacity to manage assets Quality of Growth • E.g. Understand environmental drivers of growth…and drivers of degradation, and address environmental market failures

7. Environmental opportunities with other sectoral programmes • Health, e.g. environmental health; • Education, e.g. environmental education promoted in curricula; • Trade, privatisation, financial services, e.g. build capacity for environmental due diligence; • Rural development, e.g. promote sustainable use of resources; improve spatial planning • Infrastructure provision, e.g. “climate proofing”, capacity building in EIA

8. DFID’s environmental screening procedures… …attempt to capture this approach • It is mandatory to screen all DFID interventions over £1 million for environmental issues • Screening should still be undertaken for projects below £1 million where there are potential environmental impacts

9. DFID’s Environment Guide • DFID’s Environment Guide provides advice on: • The importance of the environment to the poor • Step-by-step guide to completing a screening note • Checklists, arranged by development theme, of opportunities and risks • Advice on screening across sectors • Sources of further information

10. The Guide Online

11. Environment Guide online www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/environment-guide-2003.pdf

12. Web VersionEasy to navigateExamplesChecklistsStep-by-step guideFurther sources of information

14. Making it real • Sustainability appraisal in Yunnan Province – putting the themes just outlined into practice….