Poverty Environment Partnership meeting focuses on Sustainable Development Goals

This year's Poverty Environment Partnership (PEP) meeting will focus on learning from the South, climate resilient poverty reduction and inclusive green economies.

News, 26 February 2016
A farmer in Bangladesh (Photo: ranakmartin/CIMMYT, Creative Commons via Flickr)

A farmer in Bangladesh (Photo: ranakmartin/CIMMYT, Creative Commons via Flickr)

What does sustainable development look like in action? This will be the focus of the next meeting of the Poverty Environment Partnership (PEP), which takes place from 30 May to 1 June, 2016 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Bangladesh has been one of the first countries to embrace the new sustainable development agenda, following a commitment from the country's prime minister. 

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agreed in New York last year are being hard-wired into the machinery of government, with the prime minister's office and planning ministry playing leading roles.

This year's PEP meeting will provide an opportunity to learn about the Bangladeshi experience at close hand, as well as learning from the broader experience of organisations in the South.

Participants from governments, international organisations and civil society are invited to join the meeting, which is the latest in a series organised by this global network of organisations working towards climate-resilient poverty reduction and inclusive green economies.

PEP is an informal network that seeks to mainstream environment issues in development aid. PEP members include donor agencies, international NGOs and multilateral organisations. The network aims to build a consensus on the critical links between poverty and the environment, and the importance of environmental management as an essential path to lasting poverty reduction.

The agenda in Bangladesh will provide a chance to identify new partnerships and find new ways of sharing experience to move forward on the sustainable development agenda.

Organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD), with support from the Asian Development Bank and the UK Department for International Development (UKAid), this year's event will be held at the BRAC conference centre.

IIED chief economist Paul Steele said: "This is an important first meeting to assess the progress of implementation of the SDGs. IIED and our PEP partners will be urging governments in the northern and southern hemispheres to place environment and climate change at the centre of SDG implementation.

"2015 was the year of global policy-setting. 2016 is the year of SDG implementation, and the Bangladesh government and civil society are clearly committed to translating the SDGs into action. IIED and our partners are keen to hear and share that experience with others."

Government participation is being sponsored by the United Nations. Non-sponsored participants must cover their own costs of travel and accommodation.

Last year's 20th PEP meeting, held in Edinburgh, Scotland, focused on the opportunities for an integrated approach to development as embraced by the SDGs, but recognised that key challenges still remain to make implementation a reality.

Contact

For more information, contact PEP facilitator Paul Steele (paul.steele@iied.org). Steele is also the chief economist in IIED's Sustainable Markets Group