Bangladesh

Poverty, growth and environmental sustainability are inextricably bound together in Bangladesh. A large percentage of the poor depend on an over-exploited and degrading natural resource base, and although industrial and urban growth offers improvements in economic livelihoods, they also pose clear and serious threats to environmental and human health. Furthermore, the vulnerability of the poor is compounded by a changing climate. Addressing the poverty-environment-climate nexus is critical in assisting Bangladesh to meet it human development and environmental sustainability goals.

The Poverty, Environment and Climate Mainstreaming (PECM) project aims to reverse the environmental degradation and climate change impacts in ways that will benefit the poor, particularly destitute women, and enable growth that is consistent with a better environment. It aims to provide natural resource management and good environmental outcomes for poor people through the integration and mainstreaming of pro-poor and gender sensitive environment and climate change issues into the design and implementation of national development processes, budgets, and economic decision-making. This integration will promote more sustainable economic development in Bangladesh and seek to ensure that livelihoods of the poor in Bangladesh are not undermined by the unsustainable use of natural resources and a lack of consideration of the current and future impacts of climate change.