USAID/Mozambique Mission Order No. 204

Effective Date: March 2, 1999

**SUBJECT:** **Ensuring Integration of Environmental Values into
Decision Making Procedures and Compliance with 22 CFR Part 216 (Reg
216)**

### I. PURPOSE

To provide guidance to USAID/Mozambique\'s Strategic Objective Teams on
integrating environmental values into the decision-making process and
complying with 22 CFR Part 216.

### II. AUTHORITY

USAID Automated Directives System (ADS) Section 204\
22 CFR Part 216\
Sections 117, 118, 119, and 496 of the Foreign Assistance Act as
amended.

**III. DEFINITIONS:** None

### IV. RESPONSIBILITIES

The following descriptions of responsibilities are derived directly from
ADS Chapter 204.

**USAID/Mozambique**, pursuant to ADS 204.3.2 and 204.5.3, has the
responsibility to:

-   allocate adequate staff and financial resources to its Teams to
    effectively implement the Agency\'s environmental procedures;

-   hold its Strategic Objective Teams accountable for meeting the
    Agency\'s environmental requirements and continuously monitoring
    their results;

-   prepare and submit an environmental section as an integral part of
    the R4;

-   ensure that no irreversible commitments of resources for programs or
    activities are made by any of its Teams before environmental review
    is completed and its findings considered; and

-   undertake environmental planning analyses for its Strategic Plan.

**Each Strategic Objective Team** **(SO)** has ultimate responsibility
and accountability for successfully meeting 22 CFR Part 216
requirements. This responsibility belongs to every member on the Team,
and in particular to the Team Leader (ADS 204.5.5). Specifically, SO
Teams are required by ADS 204 to:

-   ensure full compliance with 22 CFR Part 216, including designing,
    monitoring, and modifying all programs, results packages, and
    activities to ensure that the environmental consequences of all
    actions taken by USAID are considered and that appropriate
    environmental safeguards are adopted;

-   keep their Bureau Environmental Officer informed on upcoming 22 Part
    CFR 216 actions;

-   ensure that all 22 CFR Part 216 environmental reviews are
    accomplished in a timely fashion so as not to unnecessarily delay
    implementation of activities;

-   actively plan how it will comply with 22 CFR 216 requirements for
    each activity it undertakes, actively monitor ongoing activities for
    compliance, and modify or end activities that are not in compliance;
    and

-   ensure that Results Package Teams have adequate time, staff,
    authority, and money to implement these responsibilities, when these
    responsibilities have been delegated;

**Mission Environmental Officers (MEOs) and Regional Environmental
Officers** are responsible for:

-   advising SO Teams on how best to comply with 22 CFR Part 216
    requirements, how SO Teams can effectively monitor implementation of
    approved mitigative measures, and how SO Teams can obtain additional
    environmental expertise to assist them; and

-   maintaining liaison with Bureau Environmental Officer on issues
    affecting SO Teams in the Mission.

**USAID/Mozambique and each SO Team** are obligated by ADS 204.5.4 to
develop procedures to ensure that adequate time and resources are
available to complete all environmental work required under 22 CFR Part
216 **before funds are obligated.** **..*.Ultimate responsibility and
accountability for successfully meeting 22 CFR Part 216 requirements
belongs to every member on the Team and in particular to the Team Leader
(ADS 204.5.5***).

###### Policy

\"Environmental sustainability is integral to USAID\'s overall goal. To
meet this goal environmental considerations shall be incorporated into
results planning, achieving and monitoring\" (ADS 204.2).

Title 22 of the US Code of Federal Regulations, Part 216, (October 1980)
codifies USAID\'s environmental procedures. Compliance is a legal
requirement as well as Agency policy. As stipulated in the Regulations
(commonly referred to as Reg 16 or Reg 216), it is Agency policy and,
therefore, USAID/Mozambique policy to:

-   ensure that environmental consequences of USAID-financed activities
    are identified and considered by USAID and the host country prior to
    the final decision to proceed, and that appropriate environmental
    safeguards are adopted;

-   assist developing countries to strengthen their capabilities to
    appreciate and effectively evaluate the potential environmental
    effects of proposed development strategies and projects, and to
    select, implement, and manage effective environmental programs;

-   identify impacts resulting from USAID\'s actions upon the
    environment, including those aspects of the biosphere which are the
    common natural and cultural heritage of all mankind; and

-   define environmental factors that constrain development, and carry
    out activities that assist in restoring the renewable resource base
    on which sustained development depends.

The Government of the Republic of Mozambique promotes environmental
sustainability, and requires that public and private investments take
environmental considerations into account. The 1997 Lei do Ambiente
describes Mozambique\'s environmental assessment policy. Although
adherence to USAID environmental procedures cannot be considered a
substitute for Mozambique\'s or vice versa, USAID/Mozambique encourages
a coordinated approach.

###### Applicability

USAID environmental procedures apply to **existing USAID-financed
activities**, **substantive amendments to or extensions** **of these and
all new activities.** The procedures apply to activities formulated as
projects, programs, Results Packages (RPs), or Strategic Objectives
(SOs), and whether implemented through contracts, grants, cooperative
agreements or other mechanisms. Procedures are applicable to grants and
subgrants of which the specific nature may not have been identified at
the time of establishing umbrella financing mechanisms. The need to
adhere to Reg 216 does not stop at the Mission, e.g., requirements flow
down from USAID to its partners, who must adhere to Reg 216
documentation; grantees who provide subgrants with USAID funds must
ensure adherence to Reg 216. Procedures are applicable to Title II PL
480 development food aid programs.

Delivery Orders to Global Bureau's IQCs or buy-ins to other Global
Bureau projects to implement specific activities need to be covered in
the Mission IEE that pertains to the SO, IR, RP or project under which
the activities fall. Mission SO Teams cannot assume that the specific
activities are covered under a Global IEE.

### V. PROCEDURES

Part A is a brief summary of Agency environmental procedures. Part B
recommends some practical steps that SO Teams can follow to monitor and
review environmental compliance.

###### A. Summary of USAID Environmental Procedures

This summary is not an exhaustive review of Reg 216, USAID guidance, and
Africa Bureau practice. The MEO will provide all SO Team Leaders a copy
of the regulations, a summary of procedures (from Africa Bureau
Technical Paper No. 18, June 1966) and the standardized format required
by the Africa Bureau Environmental Officer (BEO) for environmental
documentation.

Environmental considerations are an integral part of activity planning.
Thus, Reg 216 and related environmental requirements should be
considered along with, and not after, the initial activity concept or
proposal; it is easier to build in environmental sustainability and
avoid adverse environmental effects (along with lengthy environmental
documentation) at the start. In other words, compliance is easier if a
pro-active approach is taken.

######## Reg. 216 Procedures

Compliance with Reg 216 requires the Mission to prepare a document in
which the officer with the authority to obligate funds (typically the
Mission Director) makes recommendations to the Bureau Environmental
Officer regarding the nature and degree of environmental effects, based
on the regulations, and requests his/her review and concurrence. BEO
concurrence is required for all Reg 216 documentation. In specific
instances, spelled out in the regulation, reviews and approvals by
others are required. Differences of opinion between the BEO and the
Operating Unit are submitted for resolution to the Assistant
Administrator.

New activities or programs as well as projects authorized in the past
and continuing with amendments or extensions fall into one or more of
the classes described below. More than one Reg 216 classification
typically applies to activities (SOs, RPs, programs and projects) with
multiple components.

-   ***Exemptions*:** Exemptions are applicable to international
    disaster assistance, other emergency situations and circumstances
    with exceptional foreign policy sensitivities. Typically only the
    disaster assistance exemption is used; exemptions for emergencies
    and exceptional circumstances require formal written determination
    from the Agency Assistant Administrator or Administrator and
    consultation with the President\'s Council on Environmental Quality.
    No exemption is applicable to assistance for procurement or use of
    pesticides. Title II development activities are not exempt, unless
    they fall within international disaster assistance or are operating
    under \"not withstanding\" authority.

-   ***Categorical exclusions:*** The regulation defines classes of
    actions that generally are not considered to have an effect on the
    natural or physical environment. The most common categorical
    exclusions are education, technical assistance or training;
    analyses, studies, workshops and meetings; document/information
    transfers; and nutrition, health care or population and family
    planning services. There are considerable nuances/fine print in the
    regulation\'s list of categorical exclusions. For example,
    Categorical Exclusions are not applicable to health activities that
    involve construction, latrines, wells, generation or disposal of
    medical waste, including sharps from immunization programs or
    laboratory wastes, and use of Insecticide Treated Nets or Materials.
    Categorical Exclusions are never applicable to assistance for
    procurement or use of pesticides.\
    \
    A categorical exclusion is not automatic; it must be requested. If
    ***all*** aspects of an activity, RP, or SO are categorically
    excluded, the Africa Bureau does not require a full IEE; the Mission
    can submit a Categorical Exclusion/IEE facesheet with a summary of
    findings, citing the specific Categorical Exclusions requested and
    accompanied by an Annex with a brief activity description.

-   ***Initial Environmental Examination (IEE)**:* The regulations
    require an IEE when activities are neither exempt nor categorically
    excluded, nor listed *a priori* as \"classes of actions normally
    having a significant effect on the environment.\" The IEE provides
    the basis for a formal **Threshold Decision.** This decision,
    specific to activity components or activities within SOs or RPs, can
    be one or more of the following; (1) Negative Determination, if the
    IEE documents that the proposed action will not have a significant
    effect (cause significant harm) on the environment; (2) Positive
    Determination, if the proposed action will have a significant
    effect, which requires preparation of an Environmental Assessment
    (EA) or Environmental Impact Statement (EIS); or (3) Deferral for
    those aspects of an activity that are unidentified at the time of
    authorization. Practice indicates that:

    -   typical IEEs contain a mix of Negative Determinations for some
        activities and Categorical Exclusions for others;

    -   negative determinations often have \"conditions,\" which specify
        how the activity will be implemented to ensure environmental
        soundness and sustainability, mitigative measures and/or
        monitoring;

    -   IEEs can be prepared for entire SOs, RPs, or specific
        activities, depending on their complexity as well as the
        complexity of the determinations and conditions;

    -   even when the activity is listed in the class of \"actions
        normally having a significant effect\" and requiring an EA or an
        EIS, an IEE is often done as a first step to explain why an EA
        might not be needed or prepare the groundwork for an EA;

    -   deferrals should be used only when necessary as activities
        cannot be implemented until the deferral is resolved through an
        amended IEE approved by the BEO;

    -   when grants or subgrants are contemplated under an umbrella
        mechanism and these are demand-driven and/or their specific
        nature is not known until they are proposed, the umbrella IEE
        formula, which requires post IEE environmental reviews
        approvable at the Mission level is to be preferred over the use
        of a deferral.

> The IEE follows a standard Africa Bureau format, which includes a
> description of the activities, country, and environmental baseline
> information (the environmental setting), evaluation of environmental
> impact potential (reasonably foreseeable effects of the proposed
> activities), and recommended mitigation (including monitoring and
> evaluation) to avoid or diminish adverse environmental impacts.

-   **E*nvironmental Assessment* (EA):** An EA is prepared when an IEE
    results in a positive determination, or , because the activities are
    listed within the classes of actions that normally require an EA. EA
    preparation is a formal process, which takes time and requires a
    multi-disciplinary team. An EA begins with scoping (a consultation
    process to identify issues) and requires submission of a scoping
    document for BEO approval prior to doing the EA. The EA has a
    specified content and format and culminates with consultations among
    host government partners and, sometimes, public review.

    -   Special provisions in Reg 216 state that any action that may
        jeopardize a threatened or endangered species or adversely
        modify its critical habitat requires an EA (or EIS) to discuss
        alternatives or modifications to avoid or mitigate such impact.
        See also provisions of the Foreign Assistance Act, noted below.

    -   A Programmatic EA or PEA is sometimes prepared to assess the
        effects of a number of individual actions and their cumulative
        environmental impact in a country or geographic area or to
        assess impacts that are generic or common to a class of
        activities. A PEA may specify that a Supplemental EA be prepared
        for specific actions within the class analyzed in the PEA.

> USAID/Mozambique has in place a Supplemental EA (to a previous
> transition assistance PEA) for Pest Management and Pesticide Use in
> the PVO Support Project, which considerably facilitates preparation of
> IEEs for activities involving the use of certain pesticides. The
> Supplemental EA (to the PEA for Locust and Grasshopper Control in
> Africa and Asia) for Locust/Grasshopper Control Operations in
> Mozambique facilitates Mission response to outbreaks.

-   ***Environmental Impact Statement (EIS):*** An EIS is prepared when
    USAID actions significantly affect the United States itself, the
    global environment, areas outside the jurisdiction of any nation, or
    at the discretion of the Administrator. USAID has prepared one EIS
    in the past 20 years. The EIS, an even more rigorous document than
    an EA, follows US procedures for federal activities in accordance
    with regulations of the Council on Environmental Quality.

-   ***Title II PL 480 BHR Environmental Compliance:*** Approved Reg 216
    documentation is to have been in place by 30 September 1998 for all
    Title II DAPs and PAAs. Thereafter, each new DAP requires Reg 216
    documentation. Each DAP amendment will require an amendment to that
    documentation. At a minimum, each annual PAA submission will include
    an Environmental Status Report to demonstrate that the Sponsor is
    adhering to any conditions that were part of the documentation, and
    to confirm the continued applicability of the DAP Reg 216
    documentation. (If not, amended documentation must be submitted.)
    DAP and PAA Reg 216 documentation is submitted to BHR, using the BHR
    facesheet and outline; the approving officers include the Food for
    Peace Officer in BHR, and concurrence by the BHR BEO is required.
    The Environmental Documentation Manual (1997 and revised
    November 1998) contains detailed information on the BHR process,
    including the format of the Environmental Status Report.

-   ***Pesticides (including botanical pesticides):*** Assistance
    relating to procurement or use of pesticides (interpreted broadly to
    include handling, transport, storage, application, clean-up of
    application equipment, disposal and the like) always requires an
    IEE, which must include answers to a set of 12 specific questions
    contained in the regulations. Pesticides with a certain kind of
    USEPA registration status and type of hazard (as specified in the
    regulations) trigger the need to prepare an EA or EIS. There are
    exceptional situations listed in the regulations when exceptions to
    the pesticide clauses can be made.

-   ***Water Quality Guidance:*** Cable State 98 108651 discusses the
    need for Reg 216 documents to contain requirements for water quality
    testing of USAID-financed potable water sources. Guidance requires
    testing for arsenic, nitrates, nitrites, coliform and other standard
    parameters.

######## Foreign Assistance Act (FAA) and Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)

Sections 117, 118 and 119 of the FAA as amended contain additional
responsibilities and restrictions. USAID must deny assistance for
actions that significantly degrade national parks or similar protected
areas, or introduce exotic plants or animals into such areas. EAs must
be done and must contain specific findings for any activities that
involve the procurement or use of logging equipment, convert forest
lands to rearing of livestock, entail construction, upgrading or
maintenance of roads passing through relatively undegraded forest,
colonize forest lands or construct dams or other water control
structures that flood relatively undegraded forest.

Section 496 of the FAA requires that institutional and policy reforms
include provisions to protect long-term environmental interests from
negative consequences of policy reform. The requirement calls for an
analytical consideration of policy reforms that are likely to have an
impact on environmental management in the long run. One way to approach
this is to build environmental management into the design of such
programs (typically Non-Project Assistance) and/or to develop
environmental monitoring, evaluation and mitigation capacity within the
host country.

The 1998 Foreign Operations Appropriation Act prohibits the use of
development assistance funds for any activity in contravention to CITES.

######## Africa Bureau Practice

The Bureau has additional expectations and recommendations to help the
Mission address environmental compliance for certain types of
assistance.

-   Host country-owned local currency -- the Bureau expects Missions to
    prepare environmental documentation and consider environmental
    effects of specific project type activities financed in the same way
    as activities funded by DA. When local currencies are programmed for
    general budget support, it may not be practical to do so: however,
    when they are approved for specific, project-type activities, it
    becomes feasible to take environmental impacts into consideration.

-   Intermediate credit assistance -- the Bureau desires Missions to
    make specific findings to demonstrate that a categorical exclusion
    applies, including the finding that USAID does not know what kinds
    of activities are being funded, and to identify in an IEE use of
    environmental guidelines and or other opportunities for training and
    monitoring

-   Non-Project Assistance \-- the Bureau expects IEEs with appropriate
    conditions and recommendations to be completed for NPA.

-   Action Plans as well as IEEs are expected for Insecticide Treated
    Nets or Materials; the Bureau is developing a sector
    assessment/guide to good practices.

-   Activities entailing medical waste are expected to utilize the WHO
    Healthcare Waste Management Handbook (1997) and to consult the PEA
    being developed by the Bureau.

###### B. Practical Steps for SO Teams

######## B.1 Existing Activities and Reg 216 Documentation

Each SO team should review environmental documentation, e.g., IEEs,
Categorical Exclusions, or EAs, applicable to its activities.
Environmental documentation may be in the Project Identification
Document, Project Paper or both, if authorized prior to re-engineering.
To locate environmental documentation previously prepared, consult the
files and simultaneously the MEO, who can also access a Bureau IEE
Actions Tracker system. Maintain a file within the SO team of Reg 216
documentation and send copies to the MEO. The MEO should maintain the
same files and copy the SO team on new guidance, changes in
interpretations or informational guidance prepared by the Agency.

An SO team review of existing Reg 216 documentation should be undertaken
to determine:

a.  status of deferrals for activities and how the deferral will be
    resolved (an amended IEE unless the IEE specifies some other means);

b.  applicability of determinations, e.g, are activities that received
    Categorical Exclusions or Negative Determinations still the same in
    nature and character;

c.  presence of modified or new activities, inadvertently added over the
    years, which were not covered in the existing environmental
    documentation;

d.  previously unidentified or unforeseen environmental consequences not
    addressed in the existing environmental documentation;

e.  follow-through on implementing mitigative measures and monitoring,
    including the flow down of responsibilities to implementing partners
    under contracts, grants and agreements (e.g., incorporation of Reg
    216 conditions in contacts, cooperating agreements and grants of
    conditions and/or monitoring of partners) and ;

f.  effectiveness of mitigative measures and monitoring requirements,
    need for adjustments to the activities to ensure environmental
    soundness, refinement of the mitigative measures and monitoring,
    and/or amendment of the Reg 216 documentation.

Items a through d: Unresolved deferrals, determinations that are no
longer applicable, modified or different activities and previously
unidentified environmental consequences will likely necessitate amending
the IEE or other documentation.

Items e and f: Action, most likely with implementing partners, should be
taken. If the IEE or EA/PEA imposed what are now viewed as impossible or
infeasible requirements, discuss with the MEO and consider amending the
documentation.

*SO Teams shall take the necessary action to resolve any problems
identified and to ensure compliance. SO teams should consider the above
at least annually and demonstrate active and continuous monitoring of
the activities. If during implementation of any project, program or
activity, it appears to the Mission Director or officer responsible for
the project, program or activity, that it is having or will have a
significant effect on the environment that was not previously studied in
an EA, the procedures shall be followed, i.e., a Threshold Decision
made.*

######## B.2 Amendments, Extensions, Activity Changes or New Activities

If projects, SOAGs, IRs, RPs or the like are being amended, extended or
supplemented, or activities are being changed or modified, the SO team
should review the documentation to see if it does or does not cover the
new or modified activities.

-   If activities remain substantively the same in nature, character and
    scale as those covered in the existing Reg 216 documentation, but
    the funding is being increased, insert a note in the extension,
    amendment, supplement or other re-engineered document, and put a
    note in the files. Typically the Reg 216 documentation does not need
    to be formally amended.

-   If activities are new, different or expanded in scope and character,
    formally amend the Reg 216 documentation (typically a Categorical
    Exclusion or an IEE). An amended IEE may also require formal or
    informal agreement with partners about the mode of implementation in
    accordance with the amended IEE. Note: activities can be changed in
    a way that may seem minor to the SO\'s objectives and results, but
    how they are treated under Reg 216 would be different, e.g., funding
    immunization or rehabilitating health facilities as part of a health
    SO.

######## B. 3 New SOs, SOAGs or RPs

If a new SO, Special Objective or RP is under consideration, take the
opportunity to build in environmental considerations during design.
During the design phase of the SO, if money was obligated under a SOAG
prior to design of RPs, the IEE will likely have contained deferrals
that need to be resolved. If money is obligated for deferred activities,
the obligating document must contain appropriate covenants regarding the
need to satisfy Agency environmental requirements prior to commitment or
disbursement of monies. Deferrals can be resolved within the context of
an SO-level IEE, an IEE for each RP, or individual IEEs for sets of
activities within an RP. The choice depends on the complexity of the RP
or activity, and the complexity of the Reg 216 requirements pertaining
to it. When the environmental documentation is not for an entire SO, it
should clearly cross-reference the other environmental documentation
pertinent to that SO.

An SO-level or RP-level IEE can cover not only new activities under a
SOAG but also existing activities under project funding. The IEE should
cover sets of related activities (focus on the activities, not the
source of money) and there does not need to be a unique or individual
IEE for each different source of funding.

Additional information is available from the Mission Environmental
Officer.

### VI.  EFFECTIVE DATE:

This Mission Order is effective immediately, and shall remain in effect
until such time as it is cancelled or superceded.

Cynthia F.Rozell\
Mission Director