We are committed to reducing poverty through environmentally sustainable development. 

-White Paper on Irish Aid, 2006

Irish Aid is committed to sustainable development and to safeguarding the role of the environment as the basis for the livelihoods and well-being of the majority of the world’s poor men and women. Irish Aid recognises the risks to human development if environmental considerations are not taken into account.  The poorest people rely most heavily on their immediate environment for their livelihoods and they suffer most from environmental degradation, climate change and biodiversity loss.

The Government White Paper on Irish Aid highlights the environment as one of four priority issues that inform all aspects of Ireland’s development cooperation (the others are gender equality, HIV and AIDS & good governance). This means that environmental sustainability will be mainstreamed into the planning, implementation and evaluation of all Irish Aid activities.

The Irish Aid Environment Policy for Sustainable Development provides the framework for addressing the environment throughout the programme.  The policy draws on experience to date and addresses the challenges of delivering on environmental objectives in the context of changing aid modalities.

The Policy outlines goals and objectives for addressing the environment as a policy priority.  It strives to promote environmentally sustainable development that is consistent with the economic, social and environmental needs and priorities of people in developing countries and contributes to poverty reduction.

The four key objectives of the policy are;
1.To raise awareness of the links between environmental sustainability and poverty reduction and to inform development policy

2.To integrate the principles of sustainable development into Irish Aid's policies and programmes in order to ensure environmental sustainability

3.To continue to engage with key multilateral environmental agreements and agencies, and to demonstrate commitment to resolving global environmental problems

4.To assist developing countries to prepare for and adapt to changing environmental conditions while taking action to reduce negative impacts on the most vulnerable members of society

The strategy for delivering these objectives is mainstreaming, whereby the environment is recognised as a critical part of sustainable development. Irish Aid’s Mainstreaming Strategy sets out a framework to support staff to more effectively address the environment and other priority issues in their work.

In addition, a programme of strategic partnerships to contribute to environmentally sustainable development, supports the implementation of the Environment Policy.  The programme provides support to partners working in the areas of environment and development, such as the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and builds Irish Aid’s capacity to engage with the environment as a key factor in poverty reduction.

Irish Aid has a series of thirteen key sheets designed to raise awareness of the links between the environment and different aspects of poverty reduction, including health, education, agriculture, trade, water and sanitation, governance, gender, humanitarian emergencies etc..  These and other materials and information are available on this website

Click here to download these documents.

Last updated: October 2008