Environmentally sound design (ESD) is the design and implementation of activities and projects such that the environmental impacts associated with meeting a particular development objective are kept to a practicable minimum. ESD dictates that each alternative be considered, and that the environmental impacts associated with each choice be weighed alongside technical, economic, and social criteria. Once means are chosen, ESD also takes a prevention-based approach to the specifics of project design. Finally, where impacts cannot be prevented entirely or minimized by design choices, ESD mandates that they be mitigated during project operation, or remediated after the project is decommissioned (taken from USAID Environmental Guideline in http://ane-environment.net/index.htm).
Environmentally Sound Design and Implementation can make immediate and important contributions to reconstruction efforts in Aceh. The fast pace of reconstruction in Aceh has potentially negative environmental impacts. High demand for construction materials, for example, threatens forests and coral reefs. “Building Back Better”, the motto of the BRR (Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency for Aceh and Nias), has to accommodate such necessity with designs that make living not only possible but of an acceptable quality.
There is intense pressure to make tangible progress on construction of infrastructure in Aceh. ESP helps out in a variety of ways. ESP in Aceh helps the communities, BRR, NGOs and donors by supporting information sharing, assisting in spatial planning activities, and conducting specific studies. Approaches for sharing information include workshops, providing documentation and data to existing networks such as United Nations Information Management Service (UNIMS) and others, and acting as an information clearing house for environmentally-sound design and implementation related issues. ESP contributes to the spatial plans, participatory mapping for example, that involve people, local governments and NGOs. Specific planned studies include an assessment of illegal logging (including Timber for Aceh Initiative) and an assessment of wells and septic tanks in Banda Aceh.
ESP provides practical, field-based technical support to solve problems and achieve more sustainable development solutions. In conducting its works, ESP actively seeks out partners in the field, learns their objectives and constraints, identifies and priorities opportunities for technical support, and delivers this support on a timely basis. Environmentally sound design, in summary, is an integral part of project design and implementation process in ESP. This is not simply an administrative requirement.
