Environment and Natural Resources Management – ENRM-

Overview Course Panama City

June 23 to 27, 2008

¡Welcome, Bienvenidos! Victor Bullen

Bureau Environmental Officer USAID/LAC

Introductions

Please share with us: •  Your name and where you are

from •  Brief description of your current

role •  One reason to be in this course •  One fun/interesting thing about

you

Start up activity

Individually •  Think about your role as an Environment Officer in

USAID. •  What are the most exciting aspects of your job? •  What are the least exciting aspects of your job? •  Make some notes

Start up activity

At your tables •  Share your responses at your table and identify

common themes •  Write a slogan than represents the role of an

Environment Officer at USAID •  Chart your slogan and be ready to share it with the

rest of the group. •  You have 10 min.

Environment Officer Competencies Technical: 1.  Has sound understanding of relevant ENRM issues

and approaches and understands their implications. 2.  Considers sustainability issues and challenges when

proposing, designing and/or managing ENRM activities

3.  Ensures environmental compliance for ENRM activities

4.  Considers linkages with all other development sectors when proposing, designing or managing ENRM activities

Environment Officer Competencies Professional: 5.  Develops effective working relationships in the design and

management of ENRM programs 6.  Knows how to work in and/or manage an effective team 7.  Monitors, evaluates and reports on projects 8.  Understands USAID structure, policies, priorities, and culture

and knows how to navigate the bureaucracy 9.  Exhibits genuine curiosity and is a permanent learner 10.  Exhibits ethics and conviction about the environment and

development and acts with integrity when addressing ENRM issues.

Objectives •  Make a compelling case for ENRM’s

role in international development as a platform for accomplishing multiple development objectives.

•  Apply integrated ENRM models, approaches and techniques to Agency programming – examples include IWRM, Nature, Wealth and Power, Landscape Conservation, value chain strategies.

•  Apply cross-sectoral thinking, program design and tools.

Objectives Cont. •  Apply principles of

sustainability.

•  Understand and work with USAID's Foreign Assistance Framework, Congressional earmarks, and other USAID Policies and Regulations related to ENRM.

•  Identify, access and use information resources relevant to ENRM activities.

Agenda

Day One: The Basics •  Welcome •  Start up Activity •  Objectives, Agenda,

Guidelines •  Framing Current State and

Trends of Environment •  Systems Thinking and

Development •  Introduction to Integrated

Approaches •  Journal •  Day Feedback •  Reception/dinner

Day Two: An Integrated Approach to Earmarks and the FAF

•  Institutional and Legislative Frameworks Impacting USAID Programming in the Environment Sector –  Institutional and Legislative

Frameworks relevant to ERNM sector

–  Earmarks Relevant to ENRM Sector

•  Applying Agency Indicators, Earmarks and Reg 216.

•  Journal •  Day Feedback

Agenda

Day Three: Field Trip

•  Setting up •  Visit to Chagres National Park •  Visit to SERVIR – CATHALAC

Day Four: Sustainability

•  Sustainability: –  World Café –  Case Study Sustainability

Perspectives •  Tools for an Integrated

Approach •  Journal •  Feedback •  Focus group: Competencies

Agenda

Day Five: Bringing it all together

•  Start up the day •  Bringing it all together •  Additional Resources •  Bringing it all together-

current/future work – networking

•  Feedback / Training evaluation

•  Closing

Guidelines for Working Together

At your tables •  What are 2 important guidelines or behaviors we

want to embrace to make this week successful? •  You have 3 minutes •  Be ready to report out

Housekeeping

Environmental trends: Causes & consequences

What is the state of the Environment in your country?

“ Over the past 50 years, humans have changed ecosystems more rapidly and extensively than in any comparable period of time in human history.” Millennium Ecosystem

Assessment 2005

•  Land use change •  Habitat fragmentation •  Increasing energy use •  Plant & animal

introductions •  Plant & animal

overexploitation •  Pollution •  Global climate change

Trends

•  Demographic changes •  Economic growth •  Sociopolitical factors •  Science & technology •  Culture & religion •  Global climate change

Drivers of trends

Loss of forest cover

Affected by: –  Basic livelihood needs –  Expansion of populations –  Development of markets

Results in: - Biodiversity loss - Reduced carbon sequestration - Soil degradation - Reduction in air & water

quality

Increasing energy use (Million tons of oil equivalent)

Affected by: –  Population growth –  Economic growth –  Technology development –  Cultural values about

consumption

Results in: –  Global climate change –  Pollution –  Environmental degradation

Affected by: –  Population growth and location –  Food and diet choices –  Urbanization –  Water pollution –  Inadequate infrastructure –  Global climate change

Results in: –  Food shortages –  Resource conflicts –  Reduced environmental flows

Freshwater scarcity

INSERT GRAPHIC TO ADD PHOTO

Global climate change

Affected by: –  Greenhouse gas emissions

•  Burning of fossil fuels •  Deforestation

Results in: –  Impacts on all regions and

sectors!!

In Bolivia.. –  Fresh water stress –  More flooding and

avalanches –  Negative impact on tourism

At your tables discuss:

•  How are these environmental trends impacting our development work?

•  What are one or two concrete ways to address these environmental trends and drivers through our work?

•  After 15 minutes, be ready to share your ideas.

Trends Strategy

Increased resource conflicts Conflict mitigation; enhancing livelihood options

More disasters and extreme events

Early warning systems; disaster response planning

Increased need for efficient use of water and other resources

Demand management; efficiency incentives

Increased urbanization Urban planning/management; programs supporting rural livelihoods

Program development in a changing environment

•  The environment is changing rapidly

•  Environmental conditions affect the success of development programs

•  Development activities affect the environment

BREAK

Systems Thinking

Table Exercise: Creating a conceptual model

•  Each table has a set of 12 cards with words on them, a flip chart and markers

•  Working as a group, organize the cards on a flip chart using symbols to show relationships and flow

•  You have five minutes!!!

Key concepts

•  There are inherent connections across environment and development sectors

•  There are many different ways to organize a system and to understand these interactions

•  Systems thinking in development might be chunked into sectors: environment, governance, economic and social… but these are related and integral to the system

Systems Thinking

System… a set of inter-related elements that change over time

Why are systems important? Why should we consider them?

Malaria in Borneo - 1950s

Malaria outbreak

Eaten by cats

Eaten by lizards

Roofs fall down

Increase thatch-eating caterpillars

Kill parasitic wasps

Reduce malaria

Kill mosquitoes Spray DDT

Cats die

Rats increase

WHO parachutes live cats

Threat of plague

Systems are complex inter-connections separated by time and space

A system approach matters because….

•  Presents the big picture – the forest and the trees! •  Helps us manage for the long term, optimizing

benefits over generations not years •  Identifies multiple entry points for effective

interventions •  Identifies trade-offs and choices so costs can be

shared equitably •  Identifies stakeholders/partners and a platform for

joint action

Reductionist Approach Sum of parts defines system

Systems Approach System properties emerge from interaction among parts

Focuses on parts Focuses on wholes

Context narrow, limited Context broad, represents nature/reality

One ‘truth’ or best answer Multiple truths and answers

Linear causality, additive effects A causes B

Circular causality, A causes B causes C causes A

Nature

Wealth

Power

People

Applying Systems Thinking: Map the Context

Protected

ecosystems

Cash crops

A Systems Approach in Practice Community-managed forests

Credit

Private sector investment

Communal Development Plans

Civil Society and Advocacy

Forestry permits

Systems Exercise

1.  Stand in a circle with other participants. 2.  Get a nametag and card from the box and read your

nametag out loud. 3.  Put on your nametag and silently read your card.

4.  Listen to a story from the perspective of your assigned role.

5.  Retaining your end of the yarn, explain your issue while illustrating your connection to another stakeholder by tossing them the ball of yarn.

•  What happened here? What do you notice about these connections?

•  Did everyone receive the ball of yarn? Which stakeholders are not in the web? Why?

•  Which stakeholders have more connections? •  Did you hear social, economic, environment,

governance dimensions? What are they? •  What are the implications of these inter-relationships

and interdependencies for development activities? •  Are there any obvious points of intervention that would

help address the development goal?

De-brief

Systems Summary

•  Identifying issues and stakeholders identifies leverage points

•  More leverage points = more success

•  Systems are complex •  Connections across

sectors •  Multiple options for

influencing change within a system