USAID Sector Environmental Guidelines & Resources - SEG

USAID SEG Housing

Shelter is a basic human need. Thus, providing adequate housing is a fundamental development objective but it is also highly complex. Successful housing activities can rarely be isolated from the development of associated infrastructure—e.g., water, sanitation, transport—and social services.

The Housing Sector Environmental Guideline focus on housing reconstruction after natural disasters that must be carried out in highly difficult circumstances and there are expectations to be operational very quickly. The Guideline does not address technical standards for construction of housing units, water supply and treatment, etc. Instead, its purpose is (1) to convey the full range of environmental and environmental health issues associated with housing construction, and (2) to provide a guided framework for considering these issues in the siting, design and implementation of housing projects, particularly in post-disaster reconstruction and in risk-prone areas.

Note: It is highly recommended that readers review additional Sector Environmental Guidelines in this series as much of their content has implications for housing activities: Water and Sanitation, Solid Waste, Rural Roads, and Construction.

USAID SEG Residuos Sanitarios

Las actividades sanitarias a pequeña escala (como los puestos sanitarios rurales, puestos de vacunación, puestos de salud reproductiva, clínicas sanitarias móviles, programas de atención sanitaria de emergencia, clínicas urbanas y pequeños hospitales) proporcionan importantes y a menudo críticos servicios de atención sanitaria a individuos y comunidades que de otra forma tienen poco o ningún acceso a dichos servicios. Los servicios médicos y sanitarios que proporcionan mejoran la planificación familiar, fomentan la salud infantil y adulta, previenen enfermedades, curan enfermedades debilitadoras y alivian el sufrimiento de los enfermos terminales. Sin embargo, la gestión adecuada de los residuos asociados con estos servicios e instalaciones es limitada, especialmente en las instalaciones en pequeña escala en de los países en desarrollo.

En los países en desarrollo, es una práctica común eliminar los residuos sanitarios (HCW, por sus siglas en inglés) junto con los desechos sólidos generales y enterrar HCW sin un tratamiento previo. Algunos generadores de HCW queman los residuos en incineradores dedicados a ello en sus instalaciones, pero a menudo no los operan en la forma correcta. Otros utilizan incineradores en pequeña escala o formas menos efectivas de tratamiento, como fosas de quema descubiertas o barriles de quema, generando emisiones tóxicas al aire y humo. Fármacos y productos químicos no deseados/vencidos pueden mezclarse con residuos generales o desecharse incorrectamente, algunas veces en los sistemas locales de aguas residuales, incluidos los sistemas de alcantarillado, los tanques sépticos o las letrinas.

USAID SEG Small Healthcare Facilities

Small-scale healthcare facilities play a vital role in public health and are a key part of integrated community development. The staff at rural health posts (including immunization and reproductive health posts), mobile and emergency healthcare programs, urban clinics and small hospitals are not only tasked with treating the sick. They are also responsible for disease prevention, and health communication and education and serve as the front line of defense against epidemics such as AIDS, malaria, and cholera. Health service professionals at these facilities provide family planning, nurture child and adult health, prevent disease, cure debilitating illnesses, and alleviate the suffering of the dying.

However, environmentally poor design and management of these facilities can adversely affect patient and community health countering the very benefits they are intended to deliver. This Small Healthcare Facilities Sector Environmental Guideline describe the mechanisms by which environmental and health risks arise and recommends mitigation and monitoring measures to reduce them and otherwise strengthen project outcomes. It also includes a number of checklists for environmentally sound design and management (ESDM) of small health facilities.

USAID SEG Dasonomia

La dasonomía es la ciencia y práctica de la gestión de árboles y bosques para proporcionar una gama diversa de bienes y servicios de ecosistemas. La Pauta Ambiental del Sector Forestal de la USAID proporciona información sobre los tipos de proyectos normalmente financiados por la Agencia. 1 Ofrece una visión general amplia de las actividades forestales con un enfoque particular en los impactos ambientales y sociales, las medidas de mitigación y las mejores prácticas de Diseño y Gestión Ambientalmente Sensato (ESDM) para los proyectos de la USAID. Este documento fue preparado para ayudar a las misiones a cumplir con la Sección 117 de la Ley de Asistencia Exterior (FAA, por sus siglas en inglés) y la Regulación 216, las cuales requieren que se realicen evaluaciones de impacto ambiental y que se implementen medidas de mitigación en todos los proyectos de la USAID. Busca asegurar el conocimiento de la Sección 118 de la FAA y otras leyes pertinentes a bosques tropicales. La pauta también tiene como objetivo ayudar a los socios y personal de la USAID a diseñar actividades forestales que reduzcan las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero y que minimicen la vulnerabilidad de las personas, los ecosistemas y el propio proyecto al cambio climático, todos éstos son aspectos importantes de la Regulación 216. La sección de referencias del documento incluye los documentos citados y recursos adicionales sobre los temas discutidos en el texto. Las secciones adicionales en el anexo abordan los acuerdos internacionales y las políticas comerciales relevantes a la dasonomía, los tipos de bosques, los servicios de ecosistemas, así como las herramientas de otros donantes y organizaciones internacionales.

USAID SEG La energía

El agotamiento de los recursos naturales (como los combustibles fósiles), los impactos globales de la producción de energía en los sistemas naturales, los crecientes costos de la energía convencional (especialmente del petróleo), y la demanda de seguridad energética, están impulsando las inversiones en eficiencia energética, energía renovable y tecnología de energía limpia. La forma en que suministramos y utilizamos la energía no sólo afecta el ambiente biofísico, sino también la salud humana y el bienestar económico. De acuerdo al Escenario de Nuevas Políticas de las Perspectivas de la Energía en el Mundo del 2012, se prevé que la demanda global de energía crecerá más de un tercio hasta el año 2035, y que estará por encima del doble en unos 40 años (ver las gráficas siguientes)

USAID SEG Ecotourism

Ecotourism can contribute to economic development and the conservation of protected areas by generating revenues that can be used to sustainably manage protected areas, and by providing local employment and a sense of community ownership. However, without careful planning and management that balances ecological, social, and economic objectives, ecotourism can easily cause environmental damage.

The Ecotourism chapter of the EGSSAA describes how to anticipate and mitigate adverse environmental impacts so that ecotourism projects:

• increase socioeconomic benefits to communities and landowners;
• sustainably manage the environment;
• raise awareness of and support for conservation, and
• increase a community’s capacity to conserve and manage natural resources outside protected areas.

USAID SEG - Dryland Agriculture

The world’s drylands include hyperarid, arid, semi-arid and dry subhumid areas where rainfall is highly variable, droughts are common and water is the principal limiting factor for agriculture. Dryland soils, which are characterized by low levels of moisture, organic matter, and biological activity, often display poor fertility. When inappropriately utilized for agriculture, dryland soils are susceptible to rapid fertility loss, erosion, desertification, and salinization.

Sustainable land management (SLM) practices aim to prevent and mitigate the impacts associated with inappropriate agriculture in drylands by managing agro-ecosystems for sustained productivity, increased profits, and improved food security whilst reversing and preventing water stress, soil erosion and desertification.

This guideline details how conservation agriculture, rain water harvesting, agroforestry (especially with indigenous trees), the use of cross-slope barriers, integrated soil fertility management, integrated crop and livestock management, sustainable forest management, and improved irrigation design can all be employed. When these strategies are effectively implemented, in combination or alone, they can help conserve water, enhance soil fertility, improve crop water-use efficiency, and boost rangeland health, while preventing the unintended negative consequences associated with dryland farming.

USAID SEG Pauta Ambiental Sectorial: Producción de Cultivos

USAID seeks to facilitate inclusive and sustainable agricultural productivity growth to lift people out of extreme poverty and hunger, giving them the ability to move beyond subsistence and engage in their local, national, and/or global economies.

Best achieving these critical development objectives requires that the potential adverse environmental and social impacts of crop production and activities across the agricultural value chain be anticipated and mitigated in program design and implementation. Such potential impacts include but are not limited to land and water degradation to occupational health and safety, child labor, and social displacement.

This Crop Production Sector Environmental Guideline supports identification and mitigation of these impacts.

USAID SEG Construcción (2017 - Español)

Virtually all small-scale development activities—including aspects of housing, sanitation, water supply, roads, schools, community centers, storage silos healthcare, energy—involve construction. USAID’s global construction and rehabilitation portfolio includes small projects (e.g., individual water wells, clinics, latrines);large projects (e.g., roads, hospitals); projects in which construction is the primary activity (e.g., buildings, water infrastructure, transportation, energy, solid waste management, communication, recreation); and projects in which construction is a minor component in support of other project components (e.g., rehabilitation in health and education).

Construction projects may generate many types of environmental and social impacts. Considering environmental and social issues across the life cycle is essential, including during planning, engineering design, the use or operational phase, and the decommissioning phase. Addressing these phases during engineering design and in the environmental impact assessment is the most effective approach to managing potential impacts.

The construction SEG aims provide guidance on impact assessment and mitigation for the design, siting, building, maintenance, occupation, and use of infrastructure developed as part of USAID’s global construction portfolio. This guidance provides an equal emphasis on the management of environmental and social aspects for a successful and sustainable project.

USAID SEG Community-based natural resources management (CBNRM)

Community-based natural resources management (CBNRM) attempts to address the problems of poverty and natural resource degradation simultaneously, even though their solutions are often seen as being in direct conflict. CBNRM is premised on the idea that communities will sustainably manage local resources if they:

• are assured of their ownership of the natural resource;
• are allowed to use the resources themselves and/or benefit directly from others’ use of them; and
• are given a reasonable amount of control over management of the resources.

The CBNRM chapter of the EGSSAA describe promising approaches to mitigating or preventing environmental damage to commonly managed or owned resources. Under CBNRM, local communities benefit from the sustainable use of natural resources. Although core principles and elements of CBNRM have been identified, they are still new and evolving. There are many adaptations, depending on variations in locations and legal, social, political and economic contexts. USAID, along with many other international NGOs, has sponsored, facilitated, and catalyzed many current CBNRM projects.