Environmental and Social Safeguards ensure sustainability of FAO projects and programmes
FAO’s safeguard system helps to ensure resilient agriculture and food systems, protecting and promoting the sustainable use of natural resources, while meeting the needs of those living in poverty. FAO ensures measures are in place at each step of the project cycle to address potential risks arising from FAO supported activities.
Key aspects of environmental governance at FAO include not only our safeguards system but also our policies and practices to reduce the environmental and social impacts of FAO’s operations: procurement, buildings, human resources, travel and transport, and events. This is why FAO has developed and is today launching its Corporate Environmental Responsibility Strategy.
The Strategy’s key focus is to achieve a 45 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions associated with Organization’s facilities, fleet management and air-travel by 2030 compared to 2018, and to reduce water use, plastic and much more.
“The launch of this new strategy is evidence that we are ‘walking the talk’ stepping up procedures to reduce the climate and environmental footprint of our operations”, said Eduardo Mansur, Director of FAO’s Climate Change, Biodiversity and Environment Division.
“We are also upgrading our system of environmental and social safeguards to ensure that projects and programs in countries we serve, reduce their climate, biodiversity and environmental risks and contribute to building inclusive, resilient and sustainable agri-food systems” he added.
FAO’s safeguard system
FAO’s Environmental and Social Standards webpages present details and supporting documents related to the nine environmental and social standards it has established throughout its operations, as well as other processes to be followed.
Stories from three projects demonstrate the essential role that FAO’s safeguards system is already playing in countries.
Yemen
Yemen’s civil war , has left more than 24 million people - 80 per cent of the population - in need of humanitarian assistance. With agriculture severely affected, FAO and the World Bank approved the Smallholder Agricultural Production Restoration and Enhancement Project (SAPREP) in 2017.
The project focuses on two main areas, providing support to smallholders to improve agricultural production, income and nutrition, and helping conflict affected farmers to re-engage in crop and livestock sectors to restore their livelihoods and provide income for their basic needs. The SAPREP is classified as moderate risk according to FAO’s Environmental and Social Management Guidelines To ensure the project does not pose any negative environmental and social impacts, some mitigation actions are necessary. The proposal triggered Environmental and Social Safeguard 1 on Natural Resources Management and Environmental and Social Safeguard 5 on Pest and Pesticide Management.
It is, for example vital that the access of beneficiaries including returning refugees to natural resources are not affected by irrigation schemes rehabilitated through the project. Then there is the risk that enhancement of agricultural productivity and the introduction of high value crops and bee keeping could result in the use of pesticides so simple Pest Management Plans are in place that involve training in seed selection, bee keeping and more.
Mongolia
Increased livestock grazing on the Mongolian steppe almost tripled from 23 million to 66 million since 1990, leading to overgrazing and ecosystem degradation in many regions.
Mongolia has also been impacted by deforestation, climate change and desertification. Herders in Mongolia have seen the degradation of more than 70 percent of pastoral land. In 2020, FAO and the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) established the Promoting Dryland Sustainable Landscapes and Biodiversity Conservation in The Eastern Steppe of Mongolia project to support, among other things, the development of improved land and pasture management plans, to increase environmental protection and to improve livelihoods.
Among other risks, FAO’s safeguards system identified that the Eastern steppe aimags (provinces) of Dornod and Khentii would be potentially exposed to extreme environmental degradation without careful planning and the involvement of local farmers. Falling under FAO Environmental and Social Safeguard 2 related to Biodiversity, Ecosystems and Natural Habitats, the risk that potentially invasive plants might be transported with seeds was detected and as a result a monitoring system assessing seed quality was introduced.
The project also acknowledged the relevance of FAO Environmental and Social Safeguard 9 Indigenous Peoples and Cultural Heritage respecting indigenous territory, languages, laws and institutions. For the purpose of this safeguard the Free Prior and Informed Consent process was implemented. This mutually agreed feedback and complaints mechanism, fundamental for the operationalization of the indigenous peoples’ rights was established at community level.
Congo
The Preforest Congo project in the Republic of Congo was approved in 2021 and is the first project in the Congo basin financially supported by the Green Climate Fund.
In a country where deforestation and forest degradation generate around 81 percent of GHG emissions, the project is shifting local farmers away from slash-and-burn practices in agriculture and fuelwood procurement towards agroforestry approaches that combine the management of trees with that of crops and livestock, to mitigate 16.7 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions over 20 years.
A number of risks falling under six of FAO’s Environmental and Social Safeguards were identified when carrying out an assessment of Environmental and Social Standards and the project was classified as being Medium Risk. The main risks identified were related to land access; agroforestry interventions could lead to displacement, discrimination when selecting workers and child labour could be linked to the implementation of activities, and there was a risk that indigenous populations may not benefit from the Project due to their marginalization.
Risk identification and analysis included feasibility studies carried out by the French Agricultural Research Center for International Development (CIRAD); Interviews with individuals well-informed on the risks in Brazzaville, the Project areas and outside Congo, and interviews with the authorities in the districts; in particular, exchanges within communities with village chiefs, and indigenous and non-indigenous populations.
Tried and tested
FAO fully acknowledges how fundamental specific policies, standards and operational procedures are to first identify and then try to avoid, mitigate and minimize the adverse environmental and social impacts that may arise through the implementation of a project.
ESS also have a proactive dimension in that they increase chances that development projects deliver better outcomes for people and the environment.
Links
- Publication: FAO Corporate Environmental Responsibility Strategy 2020 | 2030
- Webpages: Environmental and Social Standards