Environmental mainstreaming is important because economic and social development and the environment are fundamentally interdependent. The way we manage the economy and political and social institutions has critical impacts on the environment, while environmental quality and sustainability, in turn, are vital for the performance of the economy and social well-being.
To put it simply, not taking the environment into account in our work can backfire and can cause more harm than good on the longer term.
So whether you are trying to improve health policy in your country or developing a project in your community that would improve transport infrastructure (allowing people to search for jobs further from their home, for example), not thinking about and addressing the impact you would have on the environment would be akin to ignoring the biggest elephant in the room. Our successful survival even on the mid-term will depend on more of us being able and willing to ‘wear’ an environmental filter in both our work and daily lives.
This is where our two webinars on environmental mainstreaming come in. And this is where you have an opportunity to improve your understanding of environmental issues, mainstreaming strategies and tools and reflect on how you could take these issues into account in your work.
Webinar 1: Environmental Mainstreaming in Policy Work / December 11, 2020 11:00 AM (Brussels time)
The first webinar on the 11th of December will be dedicated to participants who are working at the policy level and will consist of two parts:
- A general introduction of environmental issues, mainstreaming strategies and tools, covering various globally relevant policies and instruments such as Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals, Paris Agreement, EU Green Deal.
- A thematic section dedicated to participants who are working at the policy level. This part of the training will introduce several different environmental mainstreaming instruments used in policy development through a practical exercise. Based on a selected policy, participants will be guided by trainers to analyse the potential effects of this policy on the environment, assessing different aspects and proposing various instruments to mainstream environmental issues into the given policy.
Webinar 2: Environmental Mainstreaming in Project Development and Implementation / December 14, 2020 02:00 PM (Brussels time)
The second webinar on the 14th of December will be dedicated to participants who are working on project development and implementation and will consist of two parts:
- A general introduction of environmental issues, mainstreaming strategies and tools, covering various globally relevant policies and instruments such as Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals, Paris Agreement, EU Green Deal.
- A thematic section dedicated to participants who are working on project development and implementation. This part of the training will introduce participants to several environmental mainstreaming tools, such as Environmental Impact Assessment, Carbon Footprint tools, Green Procurements etc. The practical exercise will include the analysis of a given project and identifying options for environmental mainstreaming. This will allow participants to identify opportunities to integrate an environmental perspective in their work, in both at the phase of development and project implementation stage.
But as policy work and project work and strongly interconnected, we would like to encourage all of you to attend both webinars if you are able.
To addend the webinars please fill in this registration form before the end of the day, 10th of December 2020.
