| AUTHOR | Poverty Environment Partnership |
| ORGANIZATION | United Nations Development Programme |
| TYPE | Working Paper |
| DATE | 2005 |
| TOPIC | Child poverty and disparities |
| LANGUAGE | English |
Speeding progress toward the MDGs will require stepping up attention to and investment in the environment. Investing in sound and equitable environmental management makes good economic sense, and a major scaling-up of world-wide investment in the environment is essential for creating the opportunities that people need to lift themselves out of poverty. Increased investment alone is not enough, however. To be effective, investment must be accompanied by the empowerment of communities, local governments and the private sector to lead local development efforts. Of particular importance is the need for governance and policy reforms that extend to poor people secure property and user rights over the environmental assets that provide their livelihoods and that ensure a greater voice in decisions affecting how these assets are managed.
