A new feature series in »The Link taking each of Irish Aid’s thematic priorities in turn

Irish Aid’s policy on the environment is guided by its ‘Environmental Policy for Sustainable Development’ document which came into force in 2007.

The overall environmental policy goal is “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”.

Within Irish Aid’s development programme, the environment remains one of four priority policy issues and financial support to countering the adverse impacts of environmental degradation and climate change continues to strengthen.

The value of Irish Aid support to environment centred programmes was approximately €30 million in 2011 and it is planned that 2012 support to environment and climate change activities will be at a similar level. While most of the programmes supported have the environment as a substantive objective, an increasing number have the environment and climate change as specific objectives.

At a bi-lateral level, in 2011, Irish Aid provided financial support to programmes having specific or indirect environment and climate change objectives in Ethiopia, Lesotho, Vietnam, Mozambique, Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Uganda and Zambia.

Specific projects supported by Irish Aid include an award- winning watershed management intervention in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia, a livelihoods ‘Productive Safety Nets’ programme of public works, also in Ethiopia, support to a Clean Cook Stove project in Malawi that aims to increase fuel efficiency and provide small quantities of electricity to households and assistance to disaster prevention in Mozambique through support to the Disaster Risk Reduction agency (INGC).
At a multi-lateral level, in 2011, Irish Aid supported the work of a number of leading global environment and development agencies including the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the LDC Expert Group of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC-LEG).

Overall, Ireland is committed to assisting global efforts to address the adverse impacts of climate change. In late 2009 the Irish Government committed to the provision of up to €100 million to developing countries for climate actions in the period 2010-2012 as our contribution to the global commitment to provide US$30 billion in fast start finance over the period. Ireland’s support is provided through a mix of new and additional funding including €33 million provided by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government and through the climate relevant funding within Irish Aid’s development programmes.