Sida Helpdesk for Environmental Economics
The Sida Helpdesk for Environmental Economics supports the skills of the EfD centers and their exposure to various international initiatives.
The Sida Helpdesk for Environmental Economics, at the Environmental Economics Unit, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, collaborates closely with the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).
The main role of the Helpdesk is:
- to assist Sida with the integration of environment and natural resources management in Country Strategy Processes;
- to give general advice on key policy documents being developed by Sida;
- to follow the international development within the field of Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEA), sustainability indicators, and other areas aiming at incorporating best practice into Sida operations and to support capacity development of the EfD centers.
The work is conducted by a team of environmental economic specialists at EEU and, when appropriate, the six EfD centers.
For further information please contact Anders Ekbom, Daniel Slunge or Olof Drakenberg.
Webpage at the EEU: www.handels.gu.se/eehelpdesk/
International cooperation
Donor agencies, institutions, and other organizations are pooling resources to generate better analytical tools and understanding of the links between poverty and the environment. Likewise they strive to generate better practical advice on how to address the challenges. On behalf of Sida, the Helpdesk for Environmental Economics actively participates in a number of international working groups:
OECD/DAC EPOC on Natural Resources Governance and Capacity Development: This working group brings together expertise from Ministries of International Development and Ministries of Environment to improve capacity development.
OECD/DAC Task Team on Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA): SEAs is a tool to improve decision making for policies, plans, or programs. A task team has come up with a guidance document to promote the practical use of SEAs in development cooperation such as sector support, mega projects, budget support, etc.
Sustaining pro-poor growth or boom and bust: The focus of this working group is to analyze the positive contribution of natural resources to pro-poor growth.
Poverty-Environment Partnership (PEP): PEP is a network of bilateral aid agencies, multilateral development banks, UN agencies, and international NGOs that aims to address key poverty-environment issues.
Webpage at the EEU: www.handels.gu.se/eehelpdesk/
