Guidance for Assessments in Protracted Crises

How to assess environmental consequences in protracted crises response and recovery

• Include an assessment of the state of the environment when updating the overall humanitarian needs assessment. Natural resource depletion and environmental degradation are drivers of subsequent disaster risk, can severely add to the vulnerability of affected people, increase the overall complexity of crisis and complicate recovery efforts.
  • To assess environmental sensitivities and potential impacts of specific humanitarian project interventions, conduct a NEAT+ environmental screening.
  • To assess environmental issues affecting the disaster wide context conduct a Rapid Environmental Impact Assessment (REA).
  • If operating in a refugee setting, see Module II and III of UNHCR’s FRAME for environmental assessments in refugee-related operations.
• In case of a sudden-onset event during the protracted crisis like military strikes damaging industrial facilities causing severe environmental pollution, conduct a (rapid) environmental assessment to quickly screen for environmental issues.
  • Include the findings of the assessments into a Flash Appeal, that will be issued after a sudden onset event during protracted crisis at the planning stage.
• Invite environmental actors to support with carrying out (parts of) the environmental assessment.
  • For environmental actors: Proactively engage with humanitarian country teams or cluster coordinators to offer expertise on environmental assessments.
• Know how and where to request additional environmental expertise if necessary – consider the host government and national organizations for expertise. For details on how to request international assistance see the Environmental Emergencies Guidelines.
• As the state of the environment continues to change throughout the crisis, pay close attention to the communities’ perceptions of environmental issues and concerns.
  • Are livelihood activities impaired by changing environmental conditions?
  • Which environmental risks are communities facing?
  • The REA and FRAME contain a community assessment to capture the environmental concerns and needs of disaster affected people.
• For donors: Make environmental assessments a donor requirement to ensure their systematic integrating in humanitarian programming. Consider the use of environmental markers.
• Keep in mind that during protracted crises, the depth and volume of information needed increases as the crisis evolves. This often translates into specific thematic assessments, which necessitate a harmonized assessment approach with joint needs analysis. Thematic assessments may take a recovery or resilience perspective, making environmental elements particularly important.
  • Strong engagement with humanitarian actors during the preparedness and assessment planning phases is an opportunity for integrating environmental elements into the coordinated assessment process and the subsequent joint analysis.