In order to harness opportunities afforded by an inclusive green economy approach, UNDP supports an array of nationally-defined development activities, applying corporate best practices incorporating environmental, governance, poverty reduction, capacity development, and gender perspectives. UNDP looks at its operations which have as many as possible of the following characteristics:
• emphasize the efficient and sustainable use of natural resources in a low-carbon pathway
• decrease (or protect against) environmental risks, emissions and pollution
• lead to increased income opportunities and/or employment generation
• lead to greater social equity and inclusion.
The study is a review done by UNDP on some of its operations to examine the extent to which the above-mentioned criteria show up in its projects and programmes. The various UNDP operational activities have been broadly categorized under:
A. Planning, Strategies and Assessments
B. Regulations, Standards and Removal of Barriers
C. Market-based Approaches/Greening the Value Chain
D. Green jobs – Upgrading Skills and Generating Income
E. Mobilizing Financing
F. Knowledge Management and Capacity Development
This brief analysis starts with two illustrative examples of multi-sectoral cross-cutting approaches which also focus significantly on health issues. Then the analysis focuses on examples of the tools and instruments described above.
The final section titled Going Forward presents some concluding observations and challenges to ensure that sectoral policies and interventions become more than just the sum of their parts.