Environment Sustainability

A detailed Strategic Environmental Assessment of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) program in Egypt has been undertaken in compliance with the Cabinet Directive on the Environmental Assessment of Policy, Plan and Program Proposals. The goal of CIDA's program in Egypt is to help the country generate economic growth by strengthening the enabling environment for small and medium-sized enterprises and providing employment skills to marginalized people.

Important positive effects – The program is expected to generate many positive environmental effects. Business development services can play a significant role in contributing to improved environmental performance and compliance with local and national regulations. By raising awareness surrounding the environment and private sector development issues, business services can support the adoption of more environmentally sustainable practices, sound health and safety practices, socially responsible principles, and the development of green business. They can facilitate better environmental management by providing training, linkages to knowledge and professional networks, facilitate certification, and provide access to environmental consulting services.

Likewise, supporting the development of environmental skills and integration of environment and natural resource issues into formal and informal education programs will increase awareness of beneficiaries and contribute to stabilizing the natural environment on which the populations livelihoods and the economy in general depend.

Important negative effects – Increased pressure on natural resources such as additional demands for water resources, materials and energy are generally associated with the development of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. This increased use of resources by industrial and agricultural processes generally translates into more pollution. The cumulative impacts of these firms can be significant when considering Egypt’s fragile environmental situation, which includes continued loss of environmental quality, increased risks to human health, and increased vulnerability of the population to environmental changes and natural disasters.

The Egypt program will optimize or minimize the expected positive and negative environmental effects through the following recommendations:

1. For projects requiring environmental guidance, ensure participation of environment specialists in project teams throughout the project cycle.

2. Optimize environmental opportunities in programming. Promote policy dialogue on environmental issues as appropriate.

3. Ensure that each individual project has its own environmental analysis identifying environmental effects, effects of the environment on the project, mitigation measures for potential negative impacts as well as environmental opportunities. Planned construction projects may require an environmental assessment according to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act.

4. Report on environmental results at both the project and program levels. Capture project level environmental results in the narrative section of the program’s Management Summary Report in CIDA’s reporting system. Review the program performance measurement framework to include relevant indicators related to the environment.
For each project, develop an environment strategy and, where relevant, include specific environmental sustainability results and indicators. Report on environmental sustainability progress and results in all monitoring and evaluation exercises.

5. Ensure that CIDA’s projects comply with internationally accepted norms and standards. Such norms should aim to prevent the contamination of the natural environment and promote adaptation to climate changes, including extreme climatic events.

6. Build and maintain environmental capacity of project stakeholders and CIDA staff, both at headquarters and in the field, to address environmental sustainability issues related to micro, small and mid-sized businesses and use appropriate environmental tools such as strategic environmental assessments and environmental impact assessments.

Given the potential for both adverse effects and environmental opportunities, ongoing monitoring and reporting of the environmental effects associated with the implementation of the Egypt program will be ensured.

Monitoring and reporting on positive and negative environmental effects will explicitly be integrated with the regular assessments and evaluations established at the program level. The program will gather project level information through annual reporting and consolidate this information in the narrative section of the Management Summary Report. The program’s performance measurement framework will be reviewed to include relevant indicators related to the environment.

Ongoing monitoring and reporting on environmental progress and results will help to ensure that potential and emerging problems related to adverse environmental effects are identified and addressed early on in the project design and implementation phase.

This Strategic Environmental Assessment was developed in consultation with the Egypt Program team at headquarters and in the field. CIDA's environment specialists, both in Egypt and in Canada, have been closely involved in the development of this document. All proposed mitigation measures and environmental opportunities have been reviewed as part of the consultation.