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Summary of Roundtable on Microfinance and the Environment: Setting the Research and Policy Agenda
Proceedings from the roundtable "Microfinance and the Environment: Setting the Research and Policy"
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This document reports on the Green Microfinance-Wharton Roundtable that aimed to explore the ways in which the microfinance industry can continue to grow as an agent for the end of poverty and a healed environment.The report states that:
- The dramatic growth in microfinance can either be a growing problem, or a growing opportunity for environmental change;
- Environmental depletion leads to reduced availability of resources and increased costs of inputs, which reduces sustainability of resources;
- Environmental education would help MFI leaders see that lending for environmentally friendly technologies would provide new markets for MFIs facing increased competition.
The report contains:
- A list of environment guiding principles that microenterprises should follow;
- A summary of the Opening Keynote Address, in which Robert Christen, Director, Boulder Microfinance Training Program, identifies opportunities to fortify the link between microfinance and the environment;
- Summaries of three case studies of microenterprises with environment-friendly designs and policies;
- Summaries of Roundtables 1, 2 and 3, that respectively discussed:
- Whether microenterprise should be in the business of environmental protection;
- Ways by which MFIs could promote both environmental sustainability and poverty reduction;
- Whether donors and investors in microfinance have a responsibility to ensure that their support to microfinance does no harm to the environment.
- Summary remarks on the three roundtables.
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