These Guidelines highlight the linkages between global environmental issues, on the one hand, and sustainable development and poverty reduction, on the other. They demonstrate how development co-operation agencies can support developing countries’ efforts to integrate responses to the environmental threats addressed by the Climate Change, Biodiversity and Desertification Conventions (the "Rio Conventions") into their national poverty reduction and development plans. While focusing on the Rio Conventions, many of the findings outlined in these Guidelines apply equally to other global or regional environmental issues.