Program area focus:  

• Ensuring secure sources of food and water for the poor in both rural and urban areas by focusing on institutional development, production technology, local resource management, and by appropriate policy choices;
• Improving human health and well-being by better managing ecosystems;
• Protecting local management and control of biodiversity in light of global initiatives and policies governing genetic resources.

Program initiatives:

• The Canadian International Food Security Research Fund (CIFSRF)
  A joint program of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

• Rural Poverty and Environment Program
  Supports research focusing on the needs of the rural poor who live in fragile or degraded ecosystems.

• Urban Poverty and Environment Program
  
  Supports research and capacity-building towards easing environmental burdens that exacerbate poverty and enhancing access by the urban poor to natural resources for food, water and income security.

• Ecosystem Approaches to Human Health Program
  Supports research on the relationship between all components of an ecosystem to define and assess priority problems that affect the health of people and the sustainability of their ecosystem.

• Office for Central and Eastern Europe Initiatives (OCEEI)
  IDRC no longer actively supports this project, but maintains this site to ensure that others have access to its research outputs

• Climate Change Adaptation in Africa
  A program to support African countries in their efforts to adapt to climate change through action research and capacity development.

• Environmental Economics
  This program aims to strengthen local capacity for the economic analysis of environmental problems so that researchers can provide sound advice to policymakers.

• WaDImena
  The Regional Water Demand Initiative for the Middle East and North Africa (WaDImena) promotes water demand management approaches and policies in the region.