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PLP-ESS Module 11: Environmental & social management planning using the mitigation hierarchy & severity (Rachelle Marbug)



Environmental and social government agencies are typically understaffed. Existing staff and local consultants have limited familiarity with international (best) standards and practices, and at times lack authority and/or resources. Notwithstanding constraints on administration and technical capacities, and having limited country safeguard systems in place, there is a high priority or emphasis placed on learning about how to conduct environmental and social management planning throughout a project’s life-cycle. The PLP-ESS training needs assessment together with the findings from the training evaluations of the first round of regional training held between November-December 2020 reiterated the same prominence but with more focus on Pacific case studies. Furthermore, specific requests point to the use of the mitigation hierarchy and the severity probability matrix as areas for learning within the context of developing and/or implementing environmental and social management plans.

This module aims at:
i. Introducing participants to the application of the mitigation hierarchy and severity probability matrix for roads and bridges development across the Pacific, drawing on case studies from Samoa, Kiribati, and the Marshall Islands.