The link between development and environmental degradation is well-established, even in Ireland as Galway's water crisis shows. Internationally, it has been recognised at least since the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, more properly called the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED).
However, it has taken the Department of Foreign Affairs a long time to incorporate environmental concerns into the Irish Aid programme - an obvious lacuna which has only now been put right with the publication yesterday of Environment Policy for Sustainable Development, a new policy document which has the backing of former president Mary Robinson.
This followed the launch earlier this week of the Stop Climate Chaos coalition bringing together overseas development agencies, including Concern and Trócaire, and environmental groups such as An Taisce and Friends of the Earth, in seeking to tackle the most urgent issue of our era, global climate change. The coalition is pressing for legislative limits on our greenhouse gas emissions which are among the highest in the world. The idea of setting an annual carbon budget is a good one because it would bring home to everyone that we all have a personal responsibility to take care of the planet.
Of equal importance is the coalition's other key demands: an international agreement in succession to the Kyoto Protocol to limit the rise in average global surface temperatures to a maximum of 2 degrees Celsius; and to provide more assistance to poorer countries that will bear the burden of climate change.
Ireland has a moral responsibility in this regard. Although we are the sixth most generous country on a per capita basis in terms of overseas aid, we also have the dubious distinction of being the fifth highest emitter of greenhouse gases per capita. Yet, as we know, the largest single element of the Government's response consists of purchasing carbon credits from developing countries to offset our profligate emissions.
The policy document published by Minister of State for Irish Aid, Conor Lenihan, sets out objectives for environmental sustainability in the context of Ireland's overseas aid budget, and examines ways and means by which Irish Aid will strive to address global environmental issues such as climate change. It remains to be seen how this will be done, but Mr Lenihan would do well to ensure that there is some form of certification process under the Kyoto Protocol's "clean development mechanism" to ensure that the money is wisely invested in projects that will make a measurable difference.