INTEGRATING ENVIRONMENT INTO

HUMANITARIAN ACTION

Tom DelrueProgramme Manager, Environment, Humanitarian Action and Early Recovery

CONFLICTS AND DISASTERS

ENVIRONMENTDAMAGED, DEGRADED AND DESTROYED

Environment-crisis linkages

IMPACTS ON LIFE, HEALTH, LIVELIHOODS AND SECURITY

ENVIRONMENT

• CAN CONTRIBUTE TO, PERPETUATE AND FUEL CONFLICTS• INCREASES VULNERABILITY TO FUTURE NATURAL HAZARDS• HINDERS RELIEF OPERATIONS AND RECOVERY

Environment-crisis linkages

Environmental impacts of humanitarian action

Relief and recovery operations often exacerbate damage to the environment:

Short-term/ad hoc planning of humanitarian operations

Residual effects of large humanitarian presence

Unsustainable use of natural resources exploitation leads to dependency and can be a future conflict driver (fuel/construction wood, water, wildlife, etc.)

Why mainstream environment?1. Responding to the needs of humanitarian

actors• Humanitarian Reform: Environment as a cross-cutting

issue (XCI)• Feedback on ToRs Environment Reference Network

and Resource Centre• Requests from humanitarian actors for support

Why mainstream environment?2. Responding to donor concerns

• EU Humanitarian Consensus• Enhanced response capacity (ECHO)• Good Humanitarian Donorship Principle 9

Why mainstream environment?

3. Following standards and principles of humanitarian aid

• Principle 8 of the Code of Conduct of the Red Cross Movement

• Sphere Project• OECD/DAC Guidance for evaluating humanitarian

assistance in complex emergencies

Why mainstream environment?

4. Increased need for humanitarian assistance

• Demographic, political/security and environmental factors (including climate change)

• More assistance with the same or smaller amount of funding

• UN, World Bank Report on Economics of Disaster Prevention

Why mainstream environment?

5. Reduces vulnerability and supports disaster risk reduction

• Reduce the environmental drivers of conflicts and disasters

• Enhances capacity to avoid/reduce disaster impacts through environmental management

• Enables building back better: safer, greener and more sustainably

• Increases resilience and reduces disaster risks

Why mainstream environment?

Examples of successful integration of environment into humanitarian settings

HAITI Provision of technical environmental expertise to improve humanitarian project design and sustainability of operations (technical assistance facility)

Examples of successful integration of environment into humanitarian settings

SUDAN

• Integrated water resource management

• Environment marker• Soil stabilized blocks

Examples of successful integration of environment into humanitarian settings

DR CONGO/HAITI/SUDAN

• Fuel-efficient stoves • Alternative energy sources

Constraints faced by humanitarian actors

• Lack of awareness: the ‘green is expensive’ misconception

• Lack of capacity/expertise

• Short-term planning/response mode

• The ‘life-saving’ criteria

Constraints of cross-cutting issues

• Lack of sufficient capacity to respond to needs

• Despite global capacity-building and recommendations in several cluster evaluations, the Humanitarian Reform process has not succeeded in fully integrating XCI

• Not obvious to integrate coordination/staff costs (main ‘operational cost’ is providing support, capacity-building, expertise, coordination)

UNEP’s objectives

1. Influence humanitarian policies (actors and donors)

Participating in IASC subsidiary bodies/cluster policy and operations

Inter-cluster coordination Increasing accountability to ensure agencies integrate

environmental considerations

2. Information/knowledge-sharing

Environment Reference Network and Online Resource Centre on Mainstreaming Environment (toolkits, best practices, policy guidelines)

Improving awareness, understanding, standardization and use of existing tools

Cost-benefit analysis

3. Capacity-building for humanitarians to deliver more efficiently and sustainably

Training on integrating environment into humanitarian action at global/country level

Integrating environmental and risk reduction concerns in post-crisis assessments and recovery/development plans

Awareness-raising at policy/decision-making level

4. Real-time technical environmental assistance to the humanitarian community (e.g. Haiti, Sudan)

5. Contribute to linking relief, rehabilitation and development

Integration at any point in time

Integrating environment

Recovery DRR

PreparednessEmergency response

Integrating environment: a win-win• Shortens emergency timespan and enhances

restoration of livelihoods

• Preserves natural resources crucial to recovery

• Reduces vulnerability

• Avoids institutionalization of the emergency and a protracted state of dependency

• Impact on socio-economic recovery, gender, protection and poverty alleviation (e.g. improved stoves)

Life saving – time saving – cost saving= Increased return on investment

Thank you

Tom Delrue Environment, Humanitarian Action and Early Recovery Email: tom.delrue@unep.orgTel: +41 22 917 87 05Mob: +41 79 449 44 31

www.unep.org/conflictsanddisastershttp://postconflict.unep.ch/humanitarianaction/