Rural communities depend for their survival on a symbiotic relationship with the natural environment - cultivating crops and rearing livestock while protecting ecosystems and biodiversity in order to ensure long-term sustainability.

National Environmental Action Plans and environmental sector studies

The Investment Centre is involved with environmental protection in many ways. It has, for example, contributed to formulation of a number of National Environmental Action Plans and environmental sector studies. It also formulates 'stand-alone' projects for environmental and natural resources management as well as specific environmental components for agricultural or rural development projects. As environmental concerns should influence the design of every investment project, the Investment Centre is involved with many kinds of environmental impact assessment to ensure that decision-makers are made aware of the potential consequences of a particular decision or investment.

Environmental policy, planning and management

To carry out this work the Investment Centre has strengthened its technical expertise in many relevant fields including environmental policy, planning and management, the conservation of natural resources and biodiversity and the management of watersheds, protected areas and coastal zones. Many of the Investment Centre's environmental activities are funded by the Global Environment Facility. Recent GEF-funded projects include:

• Brazil -Rio de Janeiro Sustainable Land Management in Productive Landscapes of North-western Fluminense
• China - Gansu and Xinjiang Pastoral Development
• Organization of Eastern Caribbean States - Protected Areas and Associated Livelihoods
• Kazakhstan - Drylands Management