This Environmental and Social Policy is a multilateral document about Nile Basin countries’ efforts to sustain the Nile and its associated resource base for future generations, and judiciously utilize them, particularly to tackle endemic and persistent poverty that characterizes most of the basin countries. The document forms an integral part of the existing landscape of NBI policies, strategies, and guidelines, complements the national efforts of NBI member states, and is in line with international standards. The Policy's primary goal is to cover the environmental and social dimensions concerning the NBI’s activities with the aim of (i) achieving sustainable socio-economic development through the equitable utilization of the common Nile Basin water resources; (ii) creating better conditions for the millions of people who depend on Nile waters; (iii) respecting the needs of the Nile system so that it can continue to nurture generations to come. To achieve the goal, the Policy has set out the following objectives, based on NBI’s recognized mandate (i) provide a set of principles and fields of action for the integration of environmental and social concerns in NBI programs; (ii) guide the managing transboundary environmental and social impacts of national activities; (iii) provide support to Nile Basin countries for the protection and conservation of critical Nile Basin environmental resources; (iv) demonstrate the commitment of the Nile countries to international best practices about the environmental and social management of development activities. Among the guiding principles of the Policy there are (i) the precautionary principle; (ii) accountability and transparency; (iii) the social equality and gender equity. The Policy takes in high consideration the protection of the environment and proposes a number of interventions in this sense, such as (i) undertake a systematic process of assessing environmental and social risks and impacts to avoid heightening existing environmental and social challenges and to avoid, minimize and mitigate adverse impacts to the environment or to the citizens of the Nile Basin; (ii) protect the Nile Basin water resources from pollution in accordance with international best standards in a manner that sustains the ecosystem services from the Nile Basin water resources; (iii) undertake an evaluation of climate change risks, impacts, and vulnerability either as a stand-alone evaluation or as part of the environmental and social impact assessment; (iv) include climate-proofing in all investment projects to ensure their adequacy regarding future climate variability and extreme events and to make sure that the adaptive capacities and resilience in the basin are not adversely affected by the intervention; (v) avoid significant loss or degradation of biodiversity ecosystems by including an evaluation of biodiversity as part of the environmental assessment and by developing plans to deal with risks to natural habitats; (vi) avoid further harm to Nile Basin wetlands, evaluate any possible risk to them as part of the environmental and social assessment and include plans to deal with these risks. To promote a more inclusive economic and social growth, the document envisages (i) create a basin-wide up-to-date and accessible information and reporting of the environmental and socio-economic state and trends as a necessary foundation for advocacy and awareness-raising, for the assessment of environmental risks and impacts, and capacity building; (ii) build consciousness in Nile Basin countries around the key identified environmental and social issues and provide recommendations upon review of relevant national policies to support the dialogue among riparian countries; (iii) protect the population's health in the Nile Region by ensuring that its projects offer protection and do not lead to increased exposure to diseases and health hazards (including malaria, schistosomiasis, HIV, water pollution, and emissions); (iv) ensure that when there are displaced persons, either due to land acquisition or restriction of access to resources, the affected persons are adequately resettled and compensated, as well as design additional activities aiming at the restoration of their livelihoods when resettlement has taken place.
2013-06-01