Greening Aid: Expanding the Concept of Do No Harm

Running a series this week by Brooks Keene looking at the intersection between aid and the environment, focusing on whether aid interventions are truly sustainable.  Brooks previously worked as a development policy consultant in Kenya, and now works for a US-based NGO.

For previous posts in the series, see here.

Expanding the Concept of Do No Harm

Okay back to you people working on the non-fundamental issues like saving people from malaria.  We love you guys too, but you still need to ask yourself some questions.  First why aren’t you working on something important?!?  Just kidding, I like messing with you, and I’m not a big fan of malaria either.

The question you still need to ask yourself at a minimum is, “Am I causing harm on the fundamentals - things like sunlight, water, air and fertile topsoil?” If you can’t answer no with absolute certainty, then back to the drawing board.  If you did answer no, good for you.  You get an added bonus if you didn’t create carbon that will eventually drown the Seychelles.

The United States drained a ton of swamps to get rid of malaria.  That doesn’t mean it was a good idea in the long run or that we had any idea what we were doing.  Our default should be to conservatism in its best sense: If it’s working and you don’t have all the information, then don’t mess with it.

Note: if you are distributing in-kind food aid from the United States government then you are a part of the U.S. subsidy regime for big agriculture that is helping to destroy both natural resources in the United States and markets for small holder farmers who might be using more sustainable techniques closer to the emergency and should be answering a big fat yes to that last question.  You are part of the problem and should lobby to change your organization’s policies.

The good news in the short term is that environmental organizations have come a long way too, and some of them are in fact working on international development.  Groups like Friends of the Earth, the Natural Resources Defense Council or the International Institute for Environment and Development are doing some interesting things on natural resource management.

These groups are starting to partner with traditional aid agencies that have more experience in working with communities and often have long-term presence and systems in developing countries.

[Photo from www.chfinternational.org]