ENGLISH:
Bienvenu Mavola
was formerly a trader. He lives in Sibut and is hosting a family from Dekoa on his property. There are nine people in his family, to which they have since added five IDPs. They are relatives of his wife, so he is supportive. He has lent them a portion of his land for them to farm themselves.
He confesses that he doesn’t foresee any chance of them returning home for the time being, and he worries: “We’re taking care of them, but it isn’t always easy,” he admits. In two weeks he will harvest the corn, rice, and sesame that he planted. He will sell some of it and feed his family with the rest. “I’m hoping to save some seeds for next year, too. I left part of my field for the IDPs, and in the other I’m growing peanuts.”

FRENCH:
Bienvenu Mavola
était commerçant auparavant. Il vit à Sibut et accueille sur sa parcelle une famille venant de Dekoa. Dans sa famille, ils sont neuf, auxquels s’ajoutent désormais cinq déplacés. Ce sont des parents de sa femme, alors il est solidaire. Il leur a prêté une partie de ses terres pour qu’ils la cultivent eux-mêmes.
Il avoue n’avoir aucune visibilité sur leur éventuel retour pour le moment, et s’en inquiète : « Nous les entretenons, mais ce n’est pas toujours facile » confesse-t-il. Dans deux semaines il récoltera le maïs, le padi et le sésame qu’il a plantés. Il en revendra une partie puis nourrira sa famille avec le reste : « Je souhaite aussi garder des semences pour l’année prochaine. J’ai laissé une partie de mon champ aux déplacés, dans l’autre je cultive des arachides » dit-il.

November 2014. Photo: NRC/ Vincent Tremeau — Read caption Photo: NRC/Vincent Tremeau

Preserving the environment

Now more than ever, we must protect the environment.

It is absolutely essential that we understand how sensitive the environment is to impact from our operations, and that we work to reduce that impact.

– Joseph Attwood, NRC’s Environment and Climate Change Adviser

Reducing NRC’s environmental footprint

Protecting the environment is vital to our work. It reduces the risk of displacement and strengthens resilience for those who live off the land. As climate change impacts the most vulnerable, we need to act. At NRC, we must ensure that our activities do not increase vulnerability even further.

That's why we have started the process of weaving environmental issues into all of our thinking and doing.

From renewable energy to conservation agriculture, from carbon management to sustainable livelihoods: we must develop our assistance that is effective, real and most of all, sustainable. We know that a degraded environment can force people to flee, and we want to work to prevent it.

Read more about our work on climate displacement.

The NEAT app

Humanitarian operations can have a negative impact on the environment. But we can innovate to work in more environmentally friendly ways. That’s why we created our mobile phone application, the NRC Environmental Assessment Tool – NEAT.

We designed NEAT to bring environmental issues to the forefront of our work on the ground. Its user-friendly interface makes it easy for NRC field teams to keep environmental protection in mind when they design projects.

Read caption How do you know if your aid project is going to have a harmful effect on the environment? NRC has developed an app to let us quickly and easily assess the environmental impact of our projects.

NEAT allows our teams on the ground to quickly assess the environmental risks of a project, and offers advice on how to reduce these risks. Be it pollution from waste management, the quality of a drinking water source, or impacts to natural resources, we are developing effective and practical methods for reducing impact and strengthening resilience.