Environmental and Social Standards are critical to the identification, preparation, development, and management of CMPs, and help public and private partners avoid adverse environmental, cultural, and social impacts. ESS are complex, varied, and country and site-specific to CMPs, and should be carefully assessed and incorporated into the life of a CMP project. This chapter provides an overview of ESS in CMPs and shares relevant resources so that partners take responsibility for the potential impact of conservation projectsEnvironmental and Social Standards are critical to the identification, preparation, development, and management of CMPs, and help public and private partners avoid adverse environmental, cultural, and social impacts. ESS are complex, varied, and country and site-specific to CMPs, and should be carefully assessed and incorporated into the life of a CMP project. This chapter provides an overview of ESS in CMPs and shares relevant resources so that partners take responsibility for the potential impact of conservation projects.

ESS Overview

ESS are a set of policies, guidelines, and operational procedures designed to first identify and then, following the standard mitigation hierarchy, try to avoid, minimize, restore, and compensate when necessary adverse environmental and social impacts that may arise in the implementation of a project. ESS should include a comprehensive framework that enables staff, project developers, managers, and partners to clearly identify and avoid social and environmental adverse impacts.

For example, the World Bank Environmental and Social Framework (see Box 6.1) is designed to ensure that the World Bank and borrowers better manage environmental and social risks of projects to improve development outcomes and is applied to the institution’s development work (WBG 2016).

African governments have committed to national and international ESS. At a continental level, for example, 51 countries (all except one) have ratified the African Charter on Peoples and Human Rights (ACPHR), which sets standards for the protection of human rights in Africa and formed the basis for individuals to claim rights in an international forum (African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights 1981). At a global level, 23 countries are signatories to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (Crawhall 2011). For example, the United Nations declaration includes the right to determine institutions for self-government (Articles 4, 5, 33(1), 34 and 350); the right to free, prior, and informed consent (Articles 18, 19, 29(2–3) and 30(2)); and the right to lands, territories, and resources (Articles 8(2), 10, 25, 26(1)-(3), 27, 31(1) and 32) (UN 2007). When engaging CMP partners, governments will want to ensure that partners can help it meet national and international standards, which means first understanding these requirements.

There are dozens of international laws, treaties, and protocols that have implications on conservation projects and human rights. For example, the International Institute for Environment Development and Natural Justice in 2016 produced a discussion paper on conservation standards. It reviewed international instruments with human rights implications in a conservation context and highlighted 25 of them (see Figure 6.1) (Jonas et al. 2016).

Figure 6.1 - International Instruments with Human Rights Implications in a Conservation Context

Source: Jonas et al. 2016.

Governments and management partners need to be aware of the legal ESS frameworks in the respective country to ensure that the life cycle of a CMP, from identification to management, complies with national policy, legislation/regulation, and international best practice. CMP partners should be able to demonstrate in the bidding process that they have relevant ESSs and an environmental and social management system (ESMS) that complies with the (applicable) ESS of the country.

Potential management partners seeking funding from international donors should also be aware of and able to comply with the various standards set by potential CMP donors. For example, the European Union’s European Parliament resolution of January 15, 2020, on human rights and democracy outlines a comprehensive ESS framework (European Parliament 2020).

CMPs and ESS

ESS cover both environmental and social impacts. While CMPs intend to be positive for the environment, there are inevitably environmental risks that must be considered, such as water and natural resource use, impacts from civil works such as roads and tourism facilities, waste management, sanitation, invasive species, visitor and vehicle impact, human-wildlife conflict, and pest management. Most CMPs strive to increase visitors to generate revenue for the PA. If not properly planned, increased visitation can result in a diversity of environmental impacts such as increased water use, vegetation impact from vehicles, waste management issues, introduction of invasive species, and wildlife harassment. These potential risks need to be identified and managed to avoid and minimize adverse environmental impacts.

In addition to potential environmental risks, the development of CMPs might directly and/or indirectly impact IPLCs in and around PAs. For example, a CMP may alter access to natural resources depended on by local communities. An ESS policy and management framework will help organizations involved in a CMP identify issues during the project design phase and minimize or avoid identified adverse impacts throughout the life of the project.

The World Bank’s Guidance Note on ESS7 (Indigenous Peoples/Sub-Saharan African Historically Traditional Local Communities) (WBG 2018) provides a useful example of an ESS framework for projects that is designed to:

• Ensure that the development process fosters full respect for the human rights, dignity, aspirations, identity, culture, and natural resource-based livelihoods.
• Avoid adverse impacts of projects on IPLCs, or when avoidance is not possible, to minimize, mitigate, and/or compensate for such impacts.
• Promote sustainable development benefits and opportunities for IPLCs in a manner that is accessible, culturally appropriate, and inclusive.
• Improve project design and promote local support by establishing and maintaining an ongoing relationship based on meaningful consultation with IPLCs affected by a project throughout the project’s life cycle.
• Obtain the free, prior, informed consent (FPIC) (see Box 6.3) of affected IPLCs.
• Recognize, respect, and preserve the culture, knowledge, and practices of IPLCs, and provide them with an opportunity to adapt to changing conditions in a manner and in a timeframe acceptable to them.

In most cases, CMPs will result in an increase in formal and informal employment (see Chapter 2). A majority of the employees in most CMPs come from the local area of the PA. ESS should protect the rights of employees and provide safeguards to ensure ethical treatment.

NGO ESS Standards and Policies

Many NGOs have developed internal ESS to guide project selection, management, and closure. These standards will be applied to the CMP. IUCN’s Environmental and Social Management System (ESMS) (2106) is guided by eight core principles (Appendix Q includes the full description of the principles):

1. Principle on Taking a Rights-based Approach to guide an organization to respect, protect, and promote the fulfillment of human rights.

2. Principles on Protecting the Needs of Vulnerable Groups to identify, avoid, and mitigate adverse impacts, and identify opportunities to enhance livelihood conditions.

3. Principle on Gender Equality and Women Empowerment is integral to realizing human rights and social justice.

4. Principle on Stakeholder Engagement calls for meaningful, effective, and informed participation of stakeholders in the development and implementation of projects.

5. Principle on Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (see Box 6.2).

6. Principle on Accountability to guarantee that the principles, standards, and review procedures are consistently followed.

7. Principle on the Precautionary Principle to ensure that if knowledge gaps or uncertainties exist, a project will be assigned a higher-risk level to allow for a rigorous and participatory assessment.

8. Principle on Precedence of the Most Stringent Standards to require adherence to the more stringent standards and procedures.

An NGO’s ESMS should result in a unified set of standards, policies, planning, and implementation mechanisms, as well as compliance systems that govern how activities are carried out in the design, implementation, and evaluation phase of a CMP. The ESMS should be adopted by the NGO governance board and all staff to ensure consistent, comprehensive application of safeguards across the CMP. Some of the key features of an ESS framework include:

Core principles that guide all behavior and activities.

ESS screening by equipped qualified staff with the ability to identify risks, including those related to community safety, access to natural resources, adverse conservation impact, and indigenous people. The screening will determine the level of risk (low, medium, or high) and recommendations for further assessment, such as an environmental and social impact assessment.

No-go activities are outlined to ensure that the organization does not engage in activities that cause harm or exacerbate risks to the conservation area and dependent communities.

Sound actions to address risk through the development of mitigation plans, implementation measures, and oversight systems.

Risk registry to catalogue and track risks, strategies, and actions to mitigate risks.

Community participation throughout project design, implementation, and monitoring where applicable.

Grievance mechanisms for communities, staff, and stakeholders to voice any project-related concerns they have so action can be taken (see Box 6.3).

An ESS unit/advisor within the organization that is implementing the CMP composed of qualified environmental and social specialist to oversee the screening, assessments, management of safeguard measures, implementation of mitigation measures, collection of the necessary monitoring information, quality assurance, and training, as well as other activities needed for effective implementation. The size and structure of the CMP and other organizational operations will dictate how best to meet requirements.

An independent ombudsperson/external advisor that oversees compliance with the safeguards framework across the organization and serves as a means for mediation when disputes cannot be settled locally. The structure depends on the size of the CMP and scale of organizational work.

Procedure for incident management to respond to reports of abuse. Where reports of abuse directly and indirectly relate to the organization’s work, including work implemented via partners that have received support from the organization, a process is needed to investigate, take appropriate actions, and take corrective measures and/or press the partner or the government where appropriate to take corrective action. This is linked to the grievance mechanism (see Box 6.3). The WBG’s Environment and Social Incident Response Toolkit outlines a process to address and report on incidents and provides tools for documenting and managing incidents.

Source: Conservation International-GEF 2017; WWF 2019.

Each partner in a CMP is responsible for ensuring its staff members understand ESS and are familiar with the standards, safeguards, and obligations around compliance. All staff members should sign a code of conduct, confirming their understanding. Staff training, on-boarding, and capacity building should include familiarization with ESS.

Particular attention needs to be afforded to high-risk situations such as the interaction between rangers and communities. During operations, rangers will encounter poaching and community members engaging in illegal wildlife activities. Equipping rangers with information on how to respond to any threats in a way that complies with ESS is the responsibility of the CMP partners. There are a number of training modules available for rangers on human rights. Examples include the International Ranger Federation’s “Anti-poaching in and around Protected Areas Training Guidelines for Field Rangers” and LEADRanger's training module on human rights specifically for rangers. This is just one aspect of the training and capacity building needs for staff. There are many aspects and required issues that should be covered in an on-going training program, which means having a clear understanding of the requirements, proper planning, expertise, adequate funding to conduct thorough training, and regular training modules.

If the CMP partner does not have in-house capacity, they should engage an ESS expert to help ensure that they are following proper procedures (Box 6.4 includes some key components for CMP partners to consider).