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Energy & Environment
The role of energy and the importance of maintaining the environment are deemed essential for achieving sustainable development and reducing poverty, with the poor more severely affected by environmental degradation and lack of access to food and affordable energy services.
Issues such as this are truly global, as climate change, loss of biodiversity and depletion of the ozone layer cannot be addressed by individual countries. These challenges need to be met at global, national and community levels, seeking out and sharing best practices, providing innovative best policy advice and linking partners through key projects addressing all aspects of development.
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Relevant areas include livelihoods, access to water, agricultural productivity, health, population levels, education and gender issues. Crucially, none of the Millenium Development Goals (improving gender equality, tackling poverty, creating employment and environmental protection) can be met without major improvement in the quality and quantity of energy services in developing countries. |
Sustainable energy
The World Energy Assessment has defined ‘sustainable energy’ as energy produced and used in methods that support human development over the long term in all its social, economic and environmental dimensions. It has concluded that the adoption of new policies encouraging the delivery of energy services in cleaner and more efficient ways is a prerequisite for addressing current development problems.
The view is that by acting now to embrace these policies, a more equitable, economically prosperous and environmentally sound world is within reach.
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The activities of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have focused on policies to support energy options for sustainable development. A number of priorities have been identified:
• Strengthening national policy frameworks
• Promoting rural energy services
• Promoting clean energy technology
• Increasing access to financing for energy
In addition to these four priority areas, the UNDP conducts advocacy and analysis on energy trends and linkages with development and the promotion of knowledge exchange to maintain its “cutting edge presence” on the principle issues.
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Environmental issues
The protection of national resources is of the greatest importance in countries with large rural populations dependent on local agriculture for survival. Droughts and flooding, intensified by climate change, can lead to famine and loss or contamination of water supplies. Deforestation due to population pressure accelerates land degradation, increasing the vulnerability of the poorest communities.
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Initiatives
There have been many initiatives organised to promote the sustainable management of natural resources – land, water and biological assets – on which poor communities rely for their livelihoods.
One such initiative is the UNDP Trust Fund to Combat Desertification and Drought (UNSO) - now known as the UNDP's Drylands Development Centre - which provides resources and technical training for countries undertaking national actions plans regarding water management, drought preparation and mitigation. Additionally, the UNDP is involved in work to assist countries with assessments to address the issue of the predicted effects of climate change.
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