Given the urgency and seriousness of the climate and environment crises, the REH aims to improve understanding and awareness of these issues among French-speaking humanitarian and development actors, and help them adopt more environmentally sustainable practices.
The Réseau Environnement Humanitaire (REH) was created in 2012 due to a collective need to discuss environmental issues and improve the way these are addressed in humanitarian action.
Led by Groupe URD since its creation, it initially brought together individuals working in the humanitarian sector who were keen to see their
environmental concerns taken into account by their organizations and partners.
The REH’s foundations were laid during an initial period of development (2012-2014). This involved assessing the progress made by each organisation, as well as their needs and difficulties. Thematic meetings were held, which gave rise to technical briefing notes and articles. The members of the network during this launch phase were: Action contre la Faim, the French Red Cross, ICRC, Médecins du Monde, Médecins Sans Frontières Suisse, UNDP, Solidarités International, Terre des Hommes Lausanne, Triangle Génération Humanitaire, the UNEP/OCHA Joint Environment Unit and Groupe URD.
Over the period 2015-2020, the network grew and its members became more diversified. A Groupe URD member of staff was given the role of facilitating the network. These developments took place as environmental issues, and particularly climate change, began to receive increased attention internationally, and NGOs started to join the conversation. Increasingly aware of the issue, a large number of NGOs have made commitments to reduce their environmental footprint and take greater account of these aspects in their programs, notably through the declaration of commitment by humanitarian organizations on climate signed at the National Humanitarian Conference in December 2020.
2021 marked the beginning of a new period for the REH, which now provides its member NGOs with operational support. Members want the network to be able to help them concretely to reduce their environmental footprint, starting with their carbon footprint. As a result, the organisation of the network has had to be revised and it has adopted a more formal form of governance so that it can facilitate concrete initiatives by its members while maintaining its initial activities of sharing and disseminating knowledge. With input from several members of the network, a form of governance based on consensus decision-making was adopted in February 2022. This establishes the new way that the network is organised, as explained in the ‘Organisation’ section.
Launched in April 2012, the Humanitarian Environment Network aims to advance environmental mainstreaming among member organizations but also more broadly in the international aid sector. To ensure that environmental issues are better taken into account, it has set itself three objectives:
Taking environmental issues into account in humanitarian action helps to reduce conflict factors and risks, and increase resilience. Humanitarian crises, but also humanitarian responses, can have a significant negative impact on the environment. A degraded environment can compromise the chances of recovery and reconstruction, and can create future risks. It is therefore necessary to take this component into account as part of a “Do No Harm” approach, to enable populations to regain a preserved environment – a factor of stability, a condition of health and a source of livelihoods – and to avoid the tensions that accompany environmental degradation in situations of resource scarcity.
In the context of climate change, it is crucial to understand the distinctions between two fundamental approaches: mitigation and adaptation.
Mitigation aims to limit climate change by acting on its causes, i.e. by reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.), or by strengthening carbon sinks*. In the international aid sector, reducing GHG emissions is the main lever for action, as aid organizations have no control over carbon sinks. REH members are actively working to reduce the carbon footprint of humanitarian operations by promoting these activities. For example, the Sustainable and Responsible Purchasing WG has developed a database of sustainable purchasing criteria to reduce the environmental footprint of the supply chain. Finally, while mitigation is often used in the context of climate change, it can also be applied to other environmental issues (for example, reducing plastic pollution by banning the use of single-use plastics).
“Fighting climate change means both avoiding the unmanageable (mitigation) and managing the unavoidable (adaptation)”.
Adaptation, on the other hand, focuses on measures taken to cope with the consequences of climate change that are already underway or unavoidable.. Il s’agit de réduire les vulnérabilités des systèmes naturels et humains et de renforcer leur résilience . Cela peut comprendre la construction d’infrastructures résilientes, le développement de systèmes d’alerte précoce pour les catastrophes naturelles, ou encore l’amélioration de la gestion des ressources en eau. Certaines mesures d’adaptation peuvent contribuer à l’atténuation et inversement.
Although these efforts are crucial and must be carried out in parallel, REH is currently focusing on mitigation. Aware of the importance of linking mitigation and adaptation (particularly in order to avoid cases of maladaptation), we are striving to create a lasting and positive impact. of maladaptation), we are striving to create a lasting and positive impact, not only for the populations affected today, but also for future generations. Our commitment is to reduce the ecological footprint of humanitarian interventions and to promote a culture of sustainability in the humanitarian sector.
*Carbon sinks are reservoirs which absorb CO2 from the atmosphere. The main carbon sinks are the oceans, forests and soils.
Since February 2022, the REH has been made up of three interdependent bodies: the Forum, the
Working Groups (WG) and the Steering Committee (COPIL).
The Forum is where network members exchange ideas, engage in debate and share information and experiences. As such, it actively contributes to collective reflection, particularly related to the network’s strategy and advocacy.
The Forum meets at least four times a year on specific themes, by videoconference or in person. Individuals or organisations that are not members of the REH can also be invited by the Forum Secretariat to take part in Forum meetings.
Groupe URD is responsible for facilitating and coordinating the Forum.
The COPIL is the decision-making body of the REH. It ratifies and monitors the REH’s strategy, draws up joint position statements, validates the creation/closure of WGs proposed by members, ensures that relevant information circulates between members and between WGs, encourages learning between members and between WGs, represents the REH in certain bodies and is responsible for advocacy and fund-raising.
The COPIL is made up of six operational NGOs (Action Contre la Faim, Care France, Croix-Rouge française, Humanité & Inclusion, Médecins du Monde and Solidarités International) and one think tank (Groupe URD) elected by the REH members. Organisations’ level of involvement within the REH on issues of reducing the environmental impact of aid and more generally on the links between humanitarian aid and the environment.
The COPIL meets once a trimester, and more often if necessary. Groupe URD facilitates the COPIL and acts as its Secretariat.
Each Working Group corresponds to a workspace, the fruit of the crystallisation of exchanges around a specific theme. It is run by members who want to make operational or strategic progress on a specific environmental issue.
For a number of years now, there has been growing awareness among humanitarian actors of the potential negative impacts of their operations, and of crises themselves, on the natural environment. These impacts can be caused as much by the implementation of programmes as by logistical aspects both at headquarters and internationally. In December 2020, a collectively elaborated statement of commitment on the climate was produced and presented at the 5th French National Humanitarian Conference. Via this text, 10 NGOs committed themselves to reducing their emissions by 50% by 2030. Following this declaration, a working group on carbon made up of these 10 NGOs was established at the beginning of 2021. The first step was to measure the greenhouse gas emissions of their activities and to establish coherent carbon accounting within the humanitarian sector. A study was then carried out during the first semester of 2022 to consider a joint methodology or tool to measure greenhouse gases and establish a database of sources of emissions adapted to the humanitarian sector and its related field activities. Based on the results of their initial carbon footprint, the NGOs will be able to implement targeted measures to reduce the impact of their activities, establish action plans to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and support innovative low-carbon projects. This type of experience-sharing and tool design for the collective is at the heart of this working group’s mandate, as it moves forward on specific operational issues. Interested? Contact the group leader: carbone@environnementhumanitaire.org
Based on discussion and the sharing of experiences, this working group aims to provide member organisations with support to make their projects more environmentally friendly by using environmental assessment tools (particularly NEAT+, but also CEDRIG, EST, OIE, etc.). NEAT+, which has been developed by the Joint Environment Unit (JEU) since 2017, is a tool that can be used to rapidly assess environmental risks. It helps to understand an environmental context, and the potential environmental impacts of projects. It aims to make humanitarian programmes greener, and is supposed to be quick and simple to use as it does not require any specific environmental expertise. This tool is still under development. It has rural and urban versions and includes modules on shelter, WASH, food security and livelihoods. Further modules are due to be developed, such as on health and cash and voucher assistance. It is currently being tested by numerous humanitarian organisations around the world. Certain donors are starting to make the use of environmental assessments a contractual obligation (such as DG ECHO). Several REH members have therefore decided to set up a dedicated working group. Interested? Contact the group leader: evalenv@environnementhumanitaire.org
Waste is an issue of growing concern in humanitarian and development contexts as it is a major source of water, soil and air pollution and can compromise the principle of ‘Do No Harm’. Through discussions and the sharing of experiences, this working group aims to help member organisations improve the way that waste is taken into account and managed in their projects. In order to tackle this issue both upstream (e.g. reducing packaging) and downstream (improving recycling, for example), cooperation is required between a large number of actors. The aim of this WG is to coordinate suppliers, purchasers, logistics players and end-users, so that waste can be taken into account as effectively as possible. Are you interested? Contact the group lead: dechets@environnementhumanitaire.org
The issue of the supply chain in humanitarian and development contexts has become increasingly important in recent years. The Carbon working group has established average greenhouse gas emissions linked to purchasing to be between 40% and 70% of emissions. It is therefore very important to decarbonise our purchasing and supply chain (climate vision), and also to integrate the three dimensions of Sustainable Development (socio-economic, environmental and societal) more fully into our activities. The Working Group’s mission is to support member organizations in integrating the concepts of responsible and sustainable purchasing into their supply chains, by exchanging and sharing experiences. The group’s origins lie in the shared interest of the following NGOs in developing common purchasing criteria: Oxfam Intermon, Humanité et Inclusion, Alima, MSF Belgique, Action Contre la Faim and Bioforce. The group is being formalized by integration into REH and opening up to other members. Are you interested? Contact: achatsdurables@environnementhumanitaire.org
The humanitarian environment network is made up of over 300 members, both individuals and organizations, including ten or so “active” members, who sit on the Steering Committee and are more involved in the network’s decision-making processes and major orientations. Although we won’t list every member’s name here, we do list the NGO members, whose logos are displayed below.
![[URD]_Logo_sans-baseline](https://www.environnementhumanitaire.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/URD_Logo_sans-baseline-1.png){kind=logo}
