environmentally-sound design & management. ea training course 2 environmentally sound design...

Environmentally-Sound Design&

Management

EA Training Course

2Environmentally Sound Design

Introduction

This session covers:

Principles of Sound Environmental Design and Management

An Introduction to Sources of Information on Environmentally Sound Design and Management

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Sound Environmental Design and Management: "Ten Principles"

1. Integrate environmental considerations early in program and activity designs (often saves time and money later and enhances sustainability)

2. Ensure local and community participation in identifying potential environmental problems both in design and throughout implementation

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“Ten Principles” Cont.

3. Take into account potential effects of increased income and population growth

4. Assess effects on the environment associated with the varying scales and intensities of activities

5. Understand effects of environment/resource constraints on "long-term" environmental and economic sustainability

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6. Anticipate potential "critical events" - drought, famine or civil strife and related emergency assistance, including food aid and the environmental impacts associated with them

7. Provide training in environmental and natural resource management, where appropriate

8. Develop cost-effective environmental mitigation and monitoring plans

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9. Safeguard the long-term viability of implemented activities with sound natural resource management and mitigation of identified environmental problems; and

10. Weigh long-term economic costs and benefits of environmental management among 'pristine' and a range of 'less than perfect' scenarios

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Elements of Sound Environmental Design

Know and follow host country environmental policies, programs, and regulations

Incorporate people’s knowledge and concerns. Take into account: Participation Equity and Gender Environmental Justice

Take into account Financial/economic criteria Appropriate technical/engineering practices Environmental training Adaptive programming Learning from each other

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Understand the Policy Context and Enabling Conditions

Know your host countries environmental policies and programs:

(1) Is there a legal and policy framework enabling sustainable private-sector and public initiatives?

(2) Are there clearly defined national objectives related to environmental design and management?

(3) What is the HC capacity (institutions, human resources, etc.) to apply laws, policies, and information?

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Resource tenure and property rights often influence natural resource management.

Tenure rights vary among cultures and are frequently gender-specific

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Ensure Community Participation

Local participants/stakeholders should be involved from the beginning of the design process because:

they must live with the environmental impacts of activities

by participating in design, implementation and monitoring, they gain ownership and responsibility, and a clear understanding of objectives and anticipated outcomes

their full participation serves as an incentive to identify and mitigate adverse impacts

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they need the understanding and capacity to adapt activities to future change after donor support ceases

their detailed knowledge of local conditions is often critical in anticipating and identifying potential impacts

they may have knowledge, gained (either traditionally or through past development projects), allowing them to foresee possible negative impacts; and

they're in the best position to monitor long-term environmental effects of project activities. Local communities are the long-term residents of the area, and are best able to identify and address adverse impacts after donor assistance ends.

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Consider Gender and Equity Perspectives

Women, are often key to food production, NRM and developing country economic systems.

Often farmers and smallholders are synonymous terms for the women in a community

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In many rural communities women and children constitute over 3/4ths of the total population

Women have extensive knowledge of the environment and natural resource base, including: subsistence agriculture, wood fuel utilization,

water availability and quality, gathered foods, and certain medicines.

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Tap this knowledge during program and project planning sessions, as well as for input into design and implementation of activities, such as developing the scope of environmental assessment work.

Use socio-cultural expertise to obtain women's input, since in many cultures respect for traditional male authority prevents women from making their opinions known directly to project designers.

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Implications of Income Generation

Development activities can increase income-earning opportunities for some members of a community.

However, greater income generation may have adverse social and environmental impacts. Examples:

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Increased community wealth may lead to rise in market prices. Some can pay higher prices by using new income, but poorest of poor may be further marginalized;

Increased income may result in purchase of land & cattle without regard to environmental carrying capacity;

Increased income may result in greater solid waste production & increased accumulation of unrecycled materials;

Groups benefiting from income-generating schemes may not be the target groups, e.g. district councils rather than farmer associations.

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Financial and Economic Criteria

Does activity budget incorporate those mitigative measures to reduce environmental impacts?

Is activity financially sustainable without continuous external support?

Do benefits of activity outweigh costs? (How are labor costs calculated in FFW?) The hardest economic test: Would a

commercial bank loan money to do this activity?

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Technical and Engineering Criteria

What is the land suitable for? Is the use the most economically productive and sustainable?

Appropriate choices of crops or trees?

Appropriate to climate and soils?

Appropriate building materials?

Appropriate technology?

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Sound engineering practices/What is the project life?

Design based on knowledge of variation in rainfall, temperature, potential for natural catastrophes (earthquakes, cyclones, floods, etc.)?

Construction methods and materials suitable to the intensity of use and natural forces?

Operators trained?

Maintenance accounted for?

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Food Aid and Natural Resource Management

Examine links between food aid and sustainable natural resource management.

Flow of food resources into a regions and mechanisms to support that flow can improve the food security and economic strength of the beneficiaries/customers.

However, the arrival of food aid into a community can potentially alter the relationship between people and how they use the natural resource base.

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Potential Effects

cause changes in crop and livestock production strategies;

alter land tenure arrangements, grazing regulations, etc;

alter changes in seasonal and long-term migration patterns;

alter wood gathering patterns reduce local seed production and

utilization, this in turn can result in loss of genetic resources and biodiversity

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Consider Environmental Training

Environmental education and training can be important parts of projects in all sectors.

Train stakeholders to see how: project activities can affect the

environment in order to foresee their adverse impacts.

sound environmental management and sustainable development are reinforcing

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Training Activities

Environmental education in schools, teacher awareness training, extension worker training, extension worker training, workshops for journalists.

Government agency awareness and capacity building

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Monitor and Evaluate: In Support of Adaptive Program

Implementation and Mitigation

Project budgets should identify funding sources and responsibility for monitoring and evaluation from the onset of project design.

Anticipate the costs to do it right and include a strategy and budget for environmental mitigation and monitoring, if needed.

Managers need to be flexible and open to change, in order to make adjustments and take mitigative steps to deal with unanticipated adverse impacts.

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Identify Regional Lessons: Learning from Each Other

Facilitate sharing lessons learned about environmental impacts through regional coordination and use of consistent field methodologies

Create mechanisms for inter-country exchanges, especially NGOs, PVOs and collaborators.

Access the work of colleagues tackling similar problems, and share experiences at the ground level.

Standardize methods among NGOs.

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Summary

Environmental & sustainable development are inseparable.

Consistent policies in environment, health, economics, etc., require donor, PVOs/NGOs, host government and other coordination.

Biological, social, and political criteria considered together early in design and throughout the implementation process enhance success

environmentally-sound design & management. ea training course 2 environmentally sound design...

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