Coordination is a critical component of any WASH response. The state of the environment has a direct impact on the welfare of communities affected by crisis. Environmental considerations thus need to be taken into account in almost all aspects of the Coordination of humanitarian response. Due to their inherent links with other sectors, environmental issues cannot be dealt with on their own, nor by a single sector, therefore, environmental guidelines dealing with specific sectors must be used in conjunction with those developed for other sectors.

Coordinated planning allows for the formulation of strategic objectives, what needs to be done to meet them, how much it will cost, and information sharing and collaboration on their delivery. This project plan can address environmental impacts concerning natural and manufactured resources, staff, transport, waste, pollution, access to basic services, and more. During this phase, environmental considerations should be integrated by ensuring they are well adapted to the context, well understood, and shared with the whole humanitarian community

When planning an intervention, relevant stakeholders must be contacted in order to ensure a harmonized and needs-based response. Discussion points should generally include the team’s intentions, target beneficiaries, type of assistance being provided, and the timeframe for the intervention. Through this exercise, your organization should identify the environmental risks and begin to design mitigation and prevention strategies, taking into account its capacity and resources available.

In the planning phase of a WASH programme, you or your organization might be one of many working together. Establishing committees based on the subject area of the response sector can help to ensure a high level of participation in the management to deliver aid to those who are most in need and share the environment, financial, and resource burden. An effective committees system should provide access to local knowledge, facilitate the collection of accurate data for the provision of aid, foster community ownership, and empowerment, enable more efficient programme delivery, and ensure that programmes are tailored to local needs and circumstances.

Efficient coordination can also boost the protection against GBV, by identifying the priorities and most vulnerable areas, groups, and sectors of the response program.

Coordination is required to avoid duplication, resource and materials depletion, and unnecessary waste, but also to ensure consistency of response activities and attitudes.

Coordination with other sectors is also essential to ensure that the response meets a broader set of needs than just WASH.

You might want to consider developing a common set of vulnerability criteria for the selection of beneficiaries (taking into account assessment findings) for sector-related activities.

Encourage partners to make criteria and beneficiary selection processes public where possible.

These criteria should be as consistent as possible with the vulnerability criteria developed by other clusters.

Air pollution
Soil pollution
Water pollution
Deforestation
Desertification
Eutrophication
Climate Change
Loss of biodiversity and ecosystems
Natural Resource depletion
Soil erosion
Noise pollution
Visual Intrusion
Cultural acceptance
Impact on mental health

Lack of WASH coordination commonly leads to the following environmental impacts:

Poor site selection, exposing people to environmental hazards as well as harm to flora, fauna, and ecosystems and people’s health.

Inconsistent materials sourcing, leading to natural resource depletion and pollution. Lack of aligned designs and specifications leading to waste and inefficiencies and community confusion in use and maintenance.

Poor solid waste management, leading to pollution and disease spread. Poor site clearance, construction, infrastructure, services, operation, and maintenance leading to pollution. Missed opportunities to strengthen the local environment. Missed opportunities to strengthen communities.

Lack of WASH coordination regarding environmental sensitivities, potential impacts, and sustainability, between different humanitarian actors, commonly leads to the following environmental impacts:

Poor site selection, exposing people to environmental hazards such as drought, flood, landslide, disease spread and leading to harm to flora, fauna and ecosystems and people’s health, from damaging watercourses, destroying species, cutting trees, and pollution.

Inconsistent approaches to materials sourcing, leading to significant natural resource depletion, unnecessary pollution, and encouraging illegal or damaging sourcing by suppliers.

Lack of aligned designs and materials specifications leading to waste and inefficiencies between suppliers, contractors, responders, and communities and confusion regarding use and maintenance.

Share information and good practices on environmental sustainability and site selection with the WASH cluster. Include environment as an agenda point in cluster meetings.

Involve environmental actors in coordination mechanisms and coordinate to ensure agencies undertake environmental impact assessments and share findings for different types of sites.

Develop joint sustainable plans for materials sourcing. Align designs and materials specifications to reduce waste and inefficiencies. Promote consortia between humanitarian and environmental agencies. Develop a sector solid waste management plan, in coordination with the WASH cluster.

Assess and strengthen WASH infrastructure and the local environment against environmental hazards. Plan to prevent inconsistent and poor site clearance, construction, infrastructure, services, operation, and maintenance leading to air, water, and soil pollution. Build community resilience through increasing natural resources, reducing waste and pollution, increasing their knowledge and skills/

Advocate for environment as a key criterion in country-based pooled funds and ensure the integration of environment in every stage of the Humanitarian Programme Cycle and of the Humanitarian Response Plan

WASH coordination between different humanitarian actors, regarding environmental sensitivities, potential impacts, and sustainability can be strengthened through the following activities:

Engage with the WASH cluster and share information and action on environmental sustainability including good practice site selection; understanding environmental vulnerabilities and hazards. Include environment as an agenda point in meetings for other sectors to raise questions or concerns related to the environment – do not expect that the one environmental agency in the room to cover the entire issue; Involve environmental actors in coordination mechanisms and ensure that they understand coordination architecture and mechanisms and their roles and opportunities for engagement and influence.

Avoid poor site selection leading to harm to flora, fauna, and ecosystems, and people’s health, from damaging watercourses, destroying species, cutting trees, and pollution by coordinating to ensure agencies undertake environmental impact assessments and share findings for different types of sites. Identify and avoid inconsistent approaches to materials sourcing, natural resource depletion, unnecessary pollution, and illegal or damaging sourcing by suppliers. Request support from environmental field advisers (e.g. from agencies’ rosters or the Standby Partnership Programme) where specialist support is required. Align designs and materials specifications leading to waste and inefficiencies between suppliers, contractors, responders, and communities. Promote consortia between humanitarian and environmental agencies.

Natural disasters and man-made conflicts responsible for the displacement of groups of populations and communities likely require a multisectoral and complex response strategy. The set up of inter-sectoral cluster leads, for example in the 2006 Indonesia earthquake, proved to be overall successful and was able to address the plethora of vulnerabilities and weaknesses faced by the local communities concerning Shelter, WASH, Protection, Nutrition, and others.

Some of the weaknesses of this approach identified by the ERP Progress Review (Clusters “State of Affairs”) Report” OCHA Yogyakarta 27 September 2006 represent learning opportunities.

# of agencies having conducted environmental impact assessments to address WASH issues.

# of partnership developed between WASH sector agencies/NGO and local environmental recognised actors.

Prevention of environmental damage

Mitigation of environmental damage

Environmental enhancement

There’s a great need for involvement and partnerships with local NGOs and actors, with prior experience in sector responses in the areas;

Human capital and other resources should be designated for desk-based secondary data collection and research;

Humanitarian response leaders should make an effort to build a relationship with national and regional authorities.