Despite global development progress, some 1.3 billion people are living on less than US $1.25 per day, with 900 million facing hunger. Efforts to tackle poverty are being compounded by the continued degradation of ecosystems and the effects of climate change, to which poor communities are often most vulnerable.

A new report from the Poverty-Environment Partnership, a network of bilateral aid agencies, development banks, UN agencies and international NGOs, will set out the major opportunities for reducing poverty, promoting economic growth and ensuring environmental sustainability through the transition to a green economy.

Using case studies primarily from developing countries, Building an Inclusive Green Economy for All, will outline the key building blocks towards creating a shared agenda for more inclusive and sustainable human development.

Developing and middle-income countries are home to many growth industries such as ecotourism and organic agriculture. The report will demonstrate how strategic investments in these sectors, and in the ecosystem services that account for up to 89 percent of the so-called ‘GDP of the poor’, can reduce social inequity, boost employment and promote environmental sustainability.

Members of the Poverty-Environment Partnership, including the World Resources Institute and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), will present the main findings of the report.

For more information on the Poverty-Environment Partnership, visit: http://www.povertyenvironment.net/pep

WHAT
Report launch on green economy at Rio+20

WHO
Achim Steiner, Executive Director, UNEP
Kitty van der Heijden, Ambassador for Sustainable Development, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Netherlands
Peter Hazlewood, Director of Ecosystems & Development, World Resources Institute, and a lead author of the report

DATE
Thursday, June 14, 2012

TIME
1:00 - 1:30 p.m. BRT (12:00 - 12:30 p.m. EDT)

WHERE
UN Media Centre, Pavilion 3, Rio Centro
Rio de Janeiro

For more information, contact:

Nick Nuttall, UNEP Spokesperson; Tel: +55 11 6593 8058 or +254 733 632755, E-mail: nick.nuttall@unep.org

Michael Oko, Media Director, World Resources Institute; Tel: +(202) 246-9269, E-mail: moko@wri.org