Looking through an Environmental Lens: Implications and opportunities for Cash Transfer Programming in humanitarian responseis a report by the UN Environment/OCHA Joint Unit, working in partnership with the London School of Economics and Political Science and the Global Shelter Cluster. It explores how the expansion of cash-based humanitarian responses introduces new opportunities and issues in the interaction between humanitarianism and environment.

Few humanitarian donors or practitioners today would contest the relevance of the environment in humanitarian response, or its inherent linkages to disaster, climate and conflict risk and vulnerability. But does this broad consensus translate to humanitarian policy and practice? In this report, the UN Environment/OCHA Joint Unit, working in partnership with the London School of Economics and Political Science and the Global Shelter Cluster, explores this question in light of the rise in cash-based assistance and the changing landscape of humanitarian modalities. Looking through an environmental lens, the expansion of cash-based responses introduces both new opportunities and additional complexity in the interaction between humanitarian action and the environment. Ultimately, this points to a critical gap in humanitarian practice in budgets, evaluations, and the Humanitarian Programme Cycle (HPC) itself.

Read the report here.