Environmental & social protection

Protecting people and the environment

The AWF ensures that all its projects are properly screened for environmental and social risks. The AWF helps grantees to properly address any risks detected and implement measures to avoid, reduce or mitigate adverse environmental and social impacts.

Putting environmental and social protection at the heart of water project design

The AWF is committed to promoting projects that strike an acceptable balance between project benefits and environmental/social impacts. The AWF also supports projects with environmental benefits, such as projects promoting the prevention of land degradation and air pollution.

Working with project designers, the AWF ensures that the environmental and social impacts of each project are fully considered.

Typically this includes:

• Considering the environmental/social category of every project

• Planning to avoid, reduce or mitigate any adverse impacts of the project on the environment/biodiversity/communities

• Encouraging consultation with stakeholders and communities affected by the project

• Making provision for protecting biodiversity

• Preventing land degradation

• Ensuring that each project delivers a positive environmental impact overall