hernick ag and environment for uvm (30 march 2015)
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Integrating Environment into Agricultural Development
Charles HernickPresentation to University of Vermont
PSS 195-Agriculture, Environment, and Development in Latin America
31 March 2015
Overview
• “Impact assessment” is a means for integrating environmental considerations into projects
• Managing environmental risk (i.e., due diligence) requires information, time, and money
– Case study: Coffee and horticulture in Guatemala
• Climate change poses new challenges, and new opportunities
2
About Cadmus
• Employee-owned company
• Staff have worked in over 100 countries including conflict, post-conflict, and transitional economies
• Employs over 400 full-time professional staff
• Leading provider of environmental compliance services to United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
34/2/2015
USAID’s Mission
• “We partner to end extreme poverty and to promote resilient, democratic societies while advancing our security and prosperity”
Impact assessment helps assure project success
IAIA defines Environmental Impact Assessment as “the process of identifying, predicting, evaluating and mitigating the biophysical, social, and other relevant effects of development proposals prior to major decisions being taken and commitments made”
5
Impact Assessment:
Putting Together Parts of the Puzzle
• Inform Design
– Current state
– Evaluate impacts
– Avoid significant impacts
• Better decisions
• Better projects
8
Aswan High Dam
daños a los
cultivos de sal
monumentos
dañados de sal
Sometimes environmental risks are difficult to
anticipate …
USAID’s EIA process• Must be applied to all activities before implementation• May result in environmental management conditions to mitigate
negative impacts• Requires monitoring over project life• Result:
– Avoid environmental failures– Maximize environmental benefits
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Social Impacts
• Affected people, compensation
• At risk populations
• Cultural heritage and resources
Ecosystem Services
Provisioning Regulating Cultural
Food Air Quality Regulation Spiritual and Religious Values
Crops Climate Regulation Aesthetic Values
Livestock Global Recreation and Ecotourism
Capture Fisheries Regional and Local
Aquaculture Water Regulation
Wild Foods Erosion Regulation
FiberWater Purification and Waste Treatment
Timber Disease Regulation
Cotton, Hemp, Silk Pest Regulation
Wood Fuel Pollination
Genetic Resources Natural Hazard Regulation
Biochemicals, Natural Medicines, Pharmaceuticals
Freshwater
Source: MEA 2005
Guatemala Environmental Audit for the Rural Value Chain
Fall 2014
Photo credit: Kathleen Hurley 2014
Environmental compliance audit
• Confirm environmental considerations in projects design
• Confirm that considerations are applied, monitored, and documented
• Generate recommendations
Photo credit: Kathleen Hurley 2014
Challenges
• Two implementing partners with different styles of management
• Representative sample
• Rainy season, poor infrastructure
• Language barriers with farmers (indigenous lang. vs. Spanish)
Photo credit: Kathleen Hurley 2014
Principal Themes of the Audit
• Waste management
• Pesticide and fertilizer use
• Water management
• Soil management
Photo credit: Kathleen Hurley 2014
Observations
A spectrum of soil and cultivation techniques – from abandoned eroded coffee terraces to shade-grown coffee with effective soil conservation techniques
Photo credit: Kathleen Hurley 2014
Climate Smart Agriculture
24Photo credit: http://eecampaign.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/1685_elguabo_transport.jpg
Climate Smart Agriculture
• 3 Wins
– Improve productivity, nutrition, and incomes (equity)
– Adapt and build resilience to climate change
– Reducing and/or removing greenhouse gas emissions, where appropriate to reduce impacts on ecosystems and support conservation goals
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Climate Smart Agriculture
• Not a single specific agricultural technology or practice (or combination of both) that can be universally applied
• Not single endpoint or objective: continuous process
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• Country-specific contexts (i.e., site specific)
• Identifies barriers
• Aligns policies and financial investments, and identifies strategies for leveraging financing
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Environmental Considerations
in Decision-making
Adaptation
Mitigation
Disaster Risk
Reduction
Improved Agricultural Productivity & Incomes
CSA and impact assessment have complimentary Goals
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