NEXUS Newsletter

The growing attention being paid to issues relating to poverty and the environment has included three important ministerial-level initiatives: the Malmo Ministerial Declaration which was adopted by the Global Ministerial Forum in May of 2000; the United Nations Millennium Declaration of September 2000; and, in February 2001, the UNEP Governing Council decision 21/15.

Since about 1997, we have seen a change in the way the links between poverty and the environment are perceived. There is an emerging realization that the belief that poverty causes environmental degradation is too simplistic and, in many cases, just wrong. The linkages are more complex and have been found to be site-dependent. Therefore, any generalization of the links or the duplication of lessons learned from best practices must always be approached cautiously.

By publishing Nexus, the International Institute for Sustainable Development aims to provide people working in the field of poverty and environment with information on the various initiatives carried out and the agencies executing them. Nexus will also lend clarity to the poverty-environment discussion with feature articles and interviews with practitioners in the field.