Environmental Policy

An organisation running a climate resilience programme has an obligation to manage its own environmental impact. This policy covers our operations, procurement and programme design, and aligns with SDG 13.

• Minimise printing, and reuse and recycle materials where facilities exist.
• Plan field travel to combine visits and reduce journeys.
• Prefer suppliers who source locally, reducing transport impact and supporting local economies.
• Avoid single-use plastics at events and in field activities.
• Manage waste from our own activities responsibly rather than leaving it in communities.

• Assess environmental impact at design stage, including water source sustainability before installing or rehabilitating a water point.
• Ensure tree planting includes agreed aftercare responsibility, since survival rates rather than planting numbers determine outcomes.
• Promote renewable alternatives that reduce dependence on firewood.
• Avoid interventions that shift an environmental burden from one community to another.

Environmental considerations form part of procurement decisions alongside cost and quality. Where a marginally more expensive option has materially lower environmental impact, that is a legitimate basis for selection and is recorded as such.

Community events generate waste, and an organisation running clean-up campaigns cannot credibly leave a mess behind after its own gatherings.

• Catering and refreshments at events avoid single-use plastics where any alternative exists.
• Waste generated by our activities is collected and disposed of responsibly by us, not left with the host community.
• Printed materials are produced in the quantity actually needed rather than in bulk for convenience.
• Vehicles are shared between staff travelling to the same location.

The WASH and Environment Officer holds responsibility for this policy and reports to the President. Every member of staff and every volunteer is expected to apply it in their own work, and to raise it where a planned activity would breach it.

The policy is reviewed annually alongside our other policies, and sooner where our own environmental programming produces evidence that our internal practice falls short of what we ask of communities.

If you believe an activity of ours is causing environmental harm, or that our own practice contradicts what we advocate publicly, raise it through our Community Accountability and Reporting Mechanism. You do not have to give your name, and the concern will be assessed by someone independent of the activity.