Social Audit Standard (SAS) 500
Ensuring environmental sustainability, addressing climate change including mitigation and
adaptation, forest and wildlife conservation
SAS 500 should be read in conjunction with the “Preface to the Social Audit Standards” and “Framework
for the Social Audit Standards”, issued by the ICAI)
SECTION I – INTRODUCTION
Objective and Scope
1.10 This Social Audit Standard relates to the thematic area of “Ensuring environmental sustainability, addressing climate change including mitigation and adaptation, forest and wildlife conservation”. The Standard aims to provide the Social Auditor with the necessary guidance about independent impact assessment engagement of Social Enterprises engaged in ensuring environmental sustainability, addressing climate change including mitigation and adaptation, forest and wildlife conservation and the audit steps and procedures that should be applied while conducting the social impact assessment. The Standard sets out the minimum requirements to be followed while conducting impact assessment. Laws or regulations may establish additional requirements which should be followed as applicable.
SECTION II – PROCESS OF SOCIAL AUDIT
Data Collection
1.20 The stakeholders that may be approached for obtaining data may include:
> Direct beneficiaries e.g., people living in polluted/ affected areas, forest officials etc.
> Sustainability trainers / Teachers in schools / Trainers imparting on-the-job awareness training
> Monitoring Agency
> Testing Agencies
> Employers
> Key Program officials of the reporting entity
> Academicians, researchers, public interest organisations who work in the area of environment and climate change
The overall activity of conducting a survey and collecting sample data should be reviewed in terms of the following factors to assess relevance and reliability:
> designed by an in-house team or external specialized agency
> conducted by an in-house team or external specialized agency
> coverage: number of municipalities / districts / total distance (km)/ covered
Desk Review
1.30 The Social Auditor should conduct a desk review of existing documents to gain further insight into the evaluation procedure and impact assessment. Such documents, about ensuring environmental sustainability, addressing climate change including mitigation and adaptation, forest and wildlife conservation, may include the following:
- Reports generated under Environment protection laws
- Sustainability policy of the organisation
- Sustainable Development curriculum
- Assessment report of students/trainees on Sustainable development curriculum
- Curriculum of sustainability provided
- Feedback form by staff/trainees
- Sample test reports
- Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the reporting entity and Sustainable Training partners
- Attendance registers of faculty/trainers
- Photographs of awareness, training and capacity building programmes, afforestation programmes, climate change mitigation initiatives etc.
- Data on generation of waste, wastewater etc.
- Data on collection of debris/litter
- Data on recycling co-processing and treatment of waste
- Details of plans, programmes held and to be held in future
- Outreach communications in different sectors (public, commercial, institutional and industrial)
- Details of waste treatment plants / air pollution control equipment installed
- Sustainable Forest Management Policy
- Water Conservation Management Policy
- Institutional mechanisms created or strengthened at the beneficiary level for ensuring accountability in planning and implementation and sustainability of results
Further, the following steps may be considered by the Social Auditor:
(a) screening of the activity to identify which physical climate risks may affect the performance of the economic activity during its expected lifetime;
(b) where the activity is assessed to be at risk from one or more of the physical climate risks, a climate risk and vulnerability assessment to assess the materiality of the physical climate risks on the economic activity;
(c) an assessment of adaptation solutions that can reduce the identified physical climate risk. The climate risk and vulnerability assessment is proportionate to the scale of the activity and its expected lifespan, such that:
(i) for activities with an expected lifespan of less than 10 years, the assessment is performed, at least by using climate projections at the smallest appropriate scale;
(ii) for all other activities, the assessment is performed using the highest available resolution, state of-the-art climate projections across the existing range of future scenarios consistent with the expected lifetime of the activity, including, at least, 10 to 30-year climate projections scenarios for major investments.
Inspection and Personal Interviews
1.40 Besides desk review, the social auditor should also consider conducting physical inspection and personal interviews to get a first hand assessment of impact.
Evaluation Questions
1.50 The social auditor should review the evaluation questions addressed through Questionnaires, In-depth interviews and Focused Group Discussions to assess the responses received from various stakeholders and to understand what has changed. This would help the Social Auditor in forming his views on the following aspects:
- Did the target people get aware about sustainable development?
- Do they think differently after the training?
- Did they learn something they did not know?
- Did they use/apply the knowledge and gain from it?
- Did they share it with others?
- Did the target areas benefit from sustainable development initiatives?
- Did the air/land/water (surface and ground water)/marine/nutrient pollution reduce?
- Did the waste collection/recycling bear results as intended?
- Have activities like timber extraction, water extraction from shallow aquifers stopped?
Such questions, in relation to ensuring environmental sustainability, addressing climate change including mitigation and adaptation, forest and wildlife conservation, may cover the following aspects:
(a) Ensuring environmental sustainability:
- Did the quality of degraded soil/land improve?
- Did the initiatives result in sustainable use of resources?
- To what extent has sustainable livelihood been adopted by the target population?
- Have unsustainable activities in protected areas stopped?
- To what extent the target of land degradation-neutral world was achieved?
- What were the challenges or constraints faced in sustainable development initiatives and what corrective measures are planned for future?
(b) Addressing climate change:
- Could deforestation/desertification be halted?
- Did the afforestation/reforestation initiatives bear good results?
- Did the mitigation initiatives bear positive results?
- Have the initiatives improved the beneficiary livelihoods?
(c) Forest and Wildlife conservation:
- Could degraded forests be restored?
- What has been the impact of initiatives on the biodiversity of mountains/forests?
- Has there been any improvement in restoring natural habitats of animals/threatened animals?
- What is the result of conservation initiatives of threatened animals?
Key Metrics for Evaluation of Project / Program
1.60 The Social Auditor should review the project/program documents to frame the evaluation criteria for assessing impact. Such key metrics may be collated from base-line, mid-line (monthly/quarterly) and end-line assessment (if available), respectively at the beginning, middle and end of the reporting period/project/program to effectively understand and evaluate the impact.
The evaluation of the project/program information would facilitate the Social Auditor to assess:
- What would have happened in the absence of the intervention?
- How much has the project contributed to the changes that are evidenced?
- Is there any unintended negative impact that happened due to the intervention?
Such information, about ensuring environmental sustainability, addressing climate change including mitigation and adaptation, forest and wildlife conservation, may include the following points in respect of the beneficiaries covered under the survey:
(a) Composition
- Demography, Educational and Social Background of the beneficiaries – e.g. Gender, Age wise distribution, Marital status, Education qualification, social category wise distribution, representation/participation by women
- Selection process of the trainees and identification of awareness programme / training needs
(b) Awareness campaign / Training aspects
- Relevance and usefulness of awareness campaign/ training
- Nature of awareness/training imparted
- Duration of awareness/training and its sufficiency
- Sectors of outreach programmes
- Curriculum for training
- Certification/assessment test
- Trainers and their competencies
- Quality of the delivery mechanism
- Training infrastructure & equipment, Information, Education & Communication (IEC) material
(c) Selection of target areas
- Selection process of beneficiary’s areas for initiatives towards sustainable development
- Selection process of activities towards sustainable development
- Geographical locations for activities
(d) Socio-economic & environmental factors
- Status of beneficiaries before receiving awareness/training
- Socio-economic factors
- Livelihood in harmony with nature
- Improved health
- Upliftment of underprivileged beneficiaries
- Environmental factors
- Reduction in pollution
- Improvement in quality of land/soil
(e) Other Factors
- Improvement of biodiversity
- Informed and better treatment of wastes/litter
- Recycling, treatment and co- processing of wastes
- Reduced population exposure with improved air quality
- Global citizenship awareness
- Amenities/resources provided
- Impact on indirect beneficiaries
Assessment of Evaluation Criteria (Illustrative Key Performance Indicators)
1.70 The Social Auditor should identify the quantitative and qualitative evaluation criteria against which the impact has to be assessed.
Such criteria for ensuring environmental sustainability, addressing climate change including mitigation and adaptation, forest and wildlife conservation may broadly include the following aspects:
|
S. No
|
Evaluation Criteria |
| (A) |
Quantitative Criteria |
| 1 |
No. of beneficiaries to whom sustainable development awareness training has been imparted |
| 2 |
No. of indirect beneficiaries of training/awareness campaign |
| 3 |
Average participant and evaluation score |
| 4 |
No. of learning hours i.e., training hours offered per week |
| 5 |
Average experience of trainers in number of years |
| 6 |
No. of areas where sustainable development awareness training has been imparted |
| 7 |
No. of beach areas where litter and marine pollution has been targeted. |
| 8 |
No. of protected areas in forests, mountains etc. where sustainable development initiatives have been taken up |
| 9 |
No. of endangered animals in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List taken up for conservation |
| 10 |
No. of air pollution hot spots where activities are targeted w.r.t. the targeted source of pollution in the area |
| 11 |
No. of cities/units to initiate solar power system |
| 12 |
No. of cities which have the most electric vehicles |
| 13 |
No. of cities which have ‘zero carbon’ emission |
| 14 |
Institutional mechanisms created or strengthened at the beneficiary level for ensuring accountability in planning and implementation and sustainability of results |
|
|
| (B) |
Qualitative Criteria |
| 1
|
Increase in awareness – Beneficiaries of training and awareness campaigns developing a better understanding of the concept of sustainable development, environmental degradation and climate change mitigation and adaptation and conservation of forests, wildlife and biodiversity and as to why these are important
- Adoption of sustainable development training in National education policies
- Inclusion of sustainable development in school curriculum
- Subjects that are taught as part of sustainable development curriculum
- Extent to which the sustainable development curriculum aligned with Global
Citizenship Education (GCED) of United Nations
- Training of Sustainability Trainers and Educators
- Assessment of students on sustainable development curriculum
- Availability of books on Sustainable Development in school libraries
- Practical learning about sustainable development in school campus
- Exposure visits/ excursion programmes to sites practicing sustainable development concepts
- Teaching of sustainable development in adult education programmes
- Enacting of plays for creating mass awareness on sustainable development
- Awards for promotion of sustainable development
- Inclusion of sustainable development training across all types of organisations
- Global awareness through peace education, human rights education and world culture education.
- Creation of Global Citizenship Ambassadors among students based on their global awareness
- Implementation and monitoring of pollution control laws and environment protection laws
- Awareness about respecting nature by educating about consequences of human-induced environmental degradation
- Existence of outreach communications in different sectors (public, commercial,
institutional and industrial) to provide basic information on water usage, best time of day to undertake water-intensive activities, water efficient household appliances and so on.
- Participation and contribution towards Government’s premium flagship programs and campaigns.
|
| 2 |
Improvement in living conditions – Improvement in living conditions as a result of proper treatment of wastes, cleaning up litter and garbage and reduction of pollution. |
| 3 |
Improvement in Health conditions – Improvement in Health conditions due to reduction of air and water pollution, restoration of quality of soil, afforestation etc. |
| 4 |
Improvement in environmental conditions – The better environment that results from initiatives towards sustainable development, environmental degradation, climate change and its mitigation and adaptation and conservation of forests, wildlife and biodiversity as well as living in harmony with nature and not disturbing it. |
| 5 |
Prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse of wastes – The substantial reduction in generation of waste, their recycling, treatment and reuse can be achieved in the following ways:
- Amount of discharge of waste to conform to national standards
- Adherence to Environment Protection and Pollution Control and management laws
- Adherence to law on reuse of waste (to be made)
- Amount of urban solid waste collected at periodic interval from the ward/municipal area
- Percentage of urban solid waste collected to total urban solid waste generated
- Per capita generation of urban solid waste in a ward/municipal area
- Percentage of urban solid waste recycled/co-processed/ treated/ reused from the solid waste generated
- Frequency of collection of urban solid waste
- Coverage of area for collection of urban solid waste
- Amount of hazardous industrial waste collected at periodic interval per unit of measurement
- Percentage of hazardous industrial waste collected to total hazardous industrial waste generated
- Per capita generation of hazardous industrial waste in an industrial area
- Percentage of hazardous waste recycled/reused to total hazardous waste generated
- Amount of domestic hazardous waste generated in the ward/ municipal area
- Amount of Construction and Demolition waste generated and collected in the ward/municipal area
- Frequency of collection of hazardous industrial waste
- Coverage of area for collection of hazardous industrial waste
- Amount of plastic waste collected at periodic interval from the ward/municipal area
- Percentage of plastic waste collected to total urban solid waste generated
- Per capita generation of plastic waste in a block/ward/municipal area (as per Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016
- Percentage of plastic waste recycled/reused to plastic waste generated
- Frequency of collection of plastic waste
- Coverage of area for collection of plastic waste
- Amount of bio medical waste collected at periodic interval per unit of measurement
- Total bio medical waste generated per unit of measurement
- Percentage of bio medical waste treated to total bio medical waste generated
- Frequency of collection of bio medical waste
- Coverage of area for collection of bio medical waste
- Amount of agricultural food lost in value chain after harvest
- Operation of proper mechanism for segregation of waste
- Number of Waste treatment plants installed per unit of measurement
- What number of population, one waste treatment plant installed caters to?
- Availability and implementation of rules constraining locations for landfills, hazardous waste dumps, toxic chemical facilities etc.
- Existence of rain gardening facilities as an effective adaptation measure.
- Availability of water conservation management measures to cut down on waste and inefficiencies.
- Existence of outreach communications in different sectors (public, commercial, institutional and industrial) to provide basic information on water usage, best time of day to undertake water-intensive activities, water efficient household appliances and so on.
|
| 6 |
Improved awareness about climate change – Improvement in education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning may be addressed through the following:
- Availability of a detailed deep decarbonization strategy consistent with 5°C of global carbon budget and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission targets for 2030 and 2050
- Implementation of the deep decarbonization strategy.
- Availability of strategy towards achieving net-zero emissions by 2070
- Implementation of strategy towards achieving net-zero emissions by 2070
- Existence of an Energy Management Policy of the organisation
- Implementation of energy management plans like reducing power consumption, using more efficient equipment etc.
- Conducting of Energy Audit wherever mandatory
- Per capita fossil fuel consumption
- Percentage usage of renewable energy in comparison to conventional energy
- Existence of captive renewable energy plant
- Investment by an entity in renewable energy
- Percentage of nitrogen in fertilizer
- Inclusion of environmental pollution and climate change in school curriculum to increase the climate literacy
- Building awareness on air pollution and its health impacts
- Building awareness through stormwater management curriculum
- Availability of on-the-job climate change and adaptation training of staff to increase the climate literacy
- Practical learning about effects of climate change for people of all ages
- Availability of educational projects in schools or at community centres as opportunities to disseminate climate change information to the public.
- Availability of books on climate change, its effects and mitigation in school libraries
- Enacting of plays (Nukkad Natak) for creating mass awareness on climate change
- Inclusion of training on effects of climate change and how to mitigate it across all types of organizations
- Adequateness of insurance to insulate utilities from financial losses due to extreme weather events
- Implementation and monitoring of pollution control laws and environment protection laws
- Awareness about respecting nature by educating about consequences of human-induced environmental degradation
- Managing scarcity of water through reuse, recycling, rainwater harvesting and desalination
- Collection and harvesting of rainwater and storm water
- Application of Green infrastructure for roofs, underwater storage systems, pavements etc.
- Disaster preparedness score as per Disaster Resilience Index
- Number of human lives lost per xxxx population due to disastrous climatic events
- Disability related index attributable to air pollution
- Integration of climate change scenarios in water supply system
- Implementation of considerations of climate change impacts into planning for new infrastructure
- Incorporation of sea level rise in sewage systems designs in areas prone to coastal flooding
- Integration of climate-related risks like flood, storms, sea-level rise, etc. into capital expansion plans
- Availability of system for wastewater and stormwater collection and treatment
- Availability of backup power for key facilities and critical systems
- Availability of captive renewable power generation units in utilities to produce energy, reduce use and work towards net-zero goals.
- Existence of collaborative activities like tree planting in schools, communities, neighborhoods etc.
- Existence of rain gardening facilities as an effective adaptation measure.
- Preparedness for better utility management during extreme climate conditions.
- Location and relocation of utility infrastructure, like pump stations and treatment plants to higher elevations to reduce risks from flooding, coastal erosion etc
- Building of flood barriers to protect infrastructure during inundation.
- Diversification of water sources to reduce the risk of shortage of water supply (e.g. using a mix of surface water, groundwater, desalination plants etc).
- Existence of outreach communications in different sectors (public, commercial,
institutional and industrial) to provide basic information on water usage, best time of day to undertake water-intensive activities, water efficient household appliances and so on.
- Monitoring data for sea level, precipitation and temperature for better predictions of flood.
|
| 7. |
Conservation, restoration and sustainable use of ecosystem – The conservation, restoration and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystem and their services, particularly in forests, wetlands, mountains and dry lands may be addressed through the following:
- Amount of total water resources used
- Percentage of forest cover out of total geographical area
- Percentage of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystem out of total forest area
- Percentage of area of important sites for terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity covered by protected areas
- Percentage annual change in forest area
- Percentage annual change in land under cultivation
- Amount of water used per unit of measurement under cultivation
- Percentage of forest area under sustainable forest management
- Percentage of area under mangroves out of total geographical area
- Percentage increase in area under mangroves
- Number of culverts built over water bodies in forests and near the roads
- Percentage of area under adaptive storm-water management practices
- Availability of system for wastewater and storm water collection and treatment
- Availability of facilities for monitoring surface water conditions and water quality
- including discharge, snowmelt, reservoir, stream flow, in-stream temperature and
upstream runoff.
- Availability of water conservation management measures to cut down on waste and inefficiencies.
- Building of flood barriers to protect passage of waste and other harmful objects into water during inundation.
- Existence of outreach communications in different sectors (public, commercial,
institutional and industrial) to provide basic information on water usage, best time of day to undertake water-intensive activities, water efficient household appliances and so on.
|
| 8. |
Prevention of marine pollution – The prevention and significant reduction in marine pollution of all kinds from land-based activities may be addressed through the following:
- Availability and implementation of law prohibiting marine pollution
- Percentage of coastal and marine areas that are protected
- Amount of plastic debris in water per unit of measurement (say square yards, acres, etc.)
- Entanglement of marine animals and birds in plastic or litter
- Amount of nutrients like Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Silica in coastal water
- Percentage of plant and algae growth in water per unit of measurement
- Balanced Nitrogen use to avoid nutrient pollution
- Average coastal water quality near shore [Biochemical Oxygen Demand]
- Percentage of Nitrogen in coastal water near shore
- Average pH balance of marine water (marine acidity)
- Amount of litter per unit of measurement of beach
- Amount of litter per unit of measurement of beach resulting from sea/ocean
- Amount of litter per unit of measurement of beach resulting from beach
- Amount of industrial sewage per unit of measurement flowing to beach from the city
- Amount of domestic waste water per unit of measurement flowing to beach from the city
- Whether beach litter is collected / cleaned
- Frequency of collection / cleaning of beach litter
- Percentage of area developed under aquaculture
- Number of representative sampling stations in the shore zone
- Percentage of ecologically significant areas like nursery grounds, spawning grounds and high species diversity areas.
- Percentage of estuary areas with dynamic boundaries and buffers
- Percentage of shoreline areas hardened with seawalls to block erosion
- Preventive or restrictive measures taken to limit groundwater extraction from shallow aquifers
- Availability and implementation of rules constraining locations for landfills, hazardous waste dumps, toxic chemical facilities etc
- Management and realignment of engineering structures affecting rivers, estuaries and coastlines
- Availability of system for wastewater and stormwater collection and treatment
- Availability of facilities for monitoring surface water conditions and water quality including discharge, snowmelt, reservoir, streamflow, in-stream temperature and upstream runoff.
- Availability of water conservation management measures to cut down on waste and inefficiencies.
- Building of flood barriers to protect passage of waste and other harmful objects into water during inundation.
|
| 9. |
Sustainable management of forests – Promoting the implementation of sustainable management of all types of forests, halting deforestation, restoring degraded forests and substantially increasing afforestation and reforestation can be achieved by the following:
- Percentage of forest area under sustainable forest management
- Percentage of forest area under long-term development plan
- Percentage of forest cover out of total geographical area
- Rate of annual forest area change
- Percentage of forest area within protected areas
- Measures taken for prevention of timber extraction from forest areas
- Measures taken for prevention of other activities leading to deforestation
- Percentage of tree cover out of total geographical area (Tree Outside Forest)
- Percentage of area covered under afforestation schemes out of total geographical area
- Percentage of degraded forest area out of total forest area Frequency of tree plantation in degraded areas
- Measures taken to improve quality of soil in degraded forest areas
- Other measures taken to improve degraded forest areas
- Percentage annual change in degraded or desertified land
- Percentage of total increase in desertified land
- Number of forest areas under afforestation or reforestation schemes
- Percentage increase in area under mangroves
- Preservation and restoration of structural complexity and biodiversity area under mangroves
|
| 10 |
Combatting desertification and degradation of soil – Combatting of desertification and degradation of soil, restoring degraded land and soil, including land affected by desertification, drought and floods, and achieving a land degradation neutral world can be achieved by:
- Availability and implementation of rules constraining locations for landfills, hazardous waste dumps, toxic chemical facilities etc.
- Percentage of degraded land and soil out of total geographical area
- Percentage of total increase in desertified land out of total land area
- Percentage annual change in degraded or decertified land
- Measures taken to improve quality of soil in degraded and desertified areas
- Frequency of tree plantation in degraded or desertified areas
- Measures taken for prevention of activities leading to deforestation
- Percentage of tree cover out of total geographical area (Tree Outside Forest)
- Rate of annual change in area under tree cover
- Total land cover area
- Annual change in land cover area that points to degradation
- The total above-ground net primary production (NPP) indicating the health and productive capacity of land
- Total soil organic carbon stock as an indicator of overall quality of soil
- Changes in soil organic carbon stock
- Building of flood barriers to protect infrastructure during inundation.
- Monitoring data for sea level, precipitation and temperature for better predictions of flood.
- Post-flooding soil and silt removal measures
- Number and results of sample soil testing done post-flooding
- Level of Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium (N, P, K) in sample soil post-flooding.
|
| 11. |
Conservation of mountain ecosystems – Conservation of mountain ecosystems, including their biodiversity, to ensure that it enhances their capacity to provide benefits that are essential for sustainable development may be achieved through the following:
- Percentage of green cover over the total surface of the mountain region (MGCI)
- Percentage annual change in mountain vegetation
- Percentage annual change in mountain green cover (Mountain Green Cover Index or MGCI)
- Change in average annual temperature
- Number of protected areas of important sites for mountain biodiversity
- Change in area of protected areas of important sites for mountain biodiversity
- Number of protected areas important for terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity
- Conservation initiatives for birds and their habitats in the mountain ecosystem (Bird Life International or BLI)
- Percentage of protected area out of total geographical area of the country.
- Whether a particular area falls in a protected area as defined by IUCN and as reflected in the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA)
- Compliance with various guidelines issued by IUCN
- Compliance with various guidelines issued by UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) w.r.t. wildlife, sustainability and biodiversity in case of a mountain classification.
- Identification of Key Biodiversity Area (KBI) (various KBIs being a Strict nature reserve, Wilderness area, National park, Natural monument or feature, a Habitat or species management area, a Protected landscape or a protected area with sustainable use of natural resources)
- The land category classification for greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory reporting as per the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
|
| 12 |
Reduction of degradation of natural habitat – The reduction of degradation of natural habitats, halting the loss of biodiversity and protecting and preventing the extinction of threatened species may be achieved by the following:
- Extent to which habitat types have been replicated in multiple areas to spread risks associated with degradation of natural habitat
- Extent to which landscapes have been connected with corridors to enable migrations
- Number of cases registered under Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, per million hectares of protected area
- Percentage of loss of Forest Area to urbanization
- Percentage of loss of Forest Area to building of tourism infrastructure
- Percentage of loss of Forest Area to timber extraction
- Measures taken to prevent loss of Forest Area
- Number of cases of poaching per million hectares of protected area
- Measures taken to prevent animal poaching
- Number of safe animal crossings to prevent accidents and consequent deaths of animals
- Percentage of ecologically significant areas like nursery grounds, spawning grounds and high species diversity areas.
- Availability and implementation of rules constraining locations for landfills, hazardous waste dumps, toxic chemical facilities etc.
- Building of flood barriers to protect natural habitats during inundation.
- Change in animal population as per animal census
- Number of species in the IUCN Red List per unit of measurement in the Vulnerable category
- Number of animals of species in the IUCN Red List per unit of measurement in the Vulnerable category
- Measures taken to protect the animals in IUCN Red List per unit of measurement in the Vulnerable category
- Number of species in the IUCN Red List per unit of measurement in the Endangered category
- Number of animals of species in the IUCN Red List per unit of measurement in the Endangered category
- Measures taken to protect the animals in IUCN Red List per unit of measurement in the Endangered category
- Number of species in the IUCN Red List per unit of measurement in the Critically Endangered category
- Number of animals of species in the IUCN Red List per unit of measurement in the Critically Endangered category
- Measures taken to protect the animals in IUCN Red List per unit of measurement in the Critically Endangered category
- Compliance with various guidelines issued by UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) w.r.t. wildlife, sustainability and biodiversity in case of a mountain classification
- Identification of Key Biodiversity Area (KBI) (various KBIs being a Strict nature reserve, Wilderness area, National park, Natural monument or feature, a Habitat or species management area, a Protected landscape or a protected area with sustainable use of natural resources)
|
SECTION III – ASSESSMENT OF CHALLENGES, AND LIMITATIONS
Challenges/ Areas for improvement
1.80 The Social Auditor should identify the challenges faced by the stakeholders and the areas for improvement based on the suggestions and feedback received from them, which might influence the impact assessment. Some of the examples of commonly faced issues about ensuring environmental sustainability, addressing climate change including mitigation and adaptation, forest and wildlife conservation may include the following:
- Difficulty in understanding the concept of sustainable development
- Developing a sustainable development curriculum for awareness due to the vastness of the subject
- Inability to understand the immediate impact of climate change
- Lack of awareness about biodiversity in general
- Unrestrained production of waste of all kinds from different sectors
- Unrestrained use of plastic
- There being no boundary of global climate, the scope of climate change mitigation initiatives is only territorial
- Unrestrained development of tourism infrastructure in and around protected areas in forest, mountains and coastal regions
Any significant issues observed during the assessment, that may influence the user of the impact assessment in decision making, should be highlighted by the social auditor in the social audit report.
Limitations of the assessment
1.90 The Social Auditor should identify the inherent limitations of the evaluation process which might influence the impact assessment. Some of the examples of ensuring environmental sustainability, addressing climate change including mitigation and adaptation, forest and wildlife conservation may include the following:
- Cases of no-response in case the questionnaire is not administered in person
- Some of the questions being skipped by the respondents and remaining unanswered
- Non-availability of respondents due to relocation to other places after completion of the course
- Change in contact details of respondents due to which they could not be contacted
Any significant limitations observed during the assessment, that may influence the user of the Impact Assessment in decision making, should be highlighted by the Social Auditor in the social audit report.
SECTION IV – APPENDIX
Taxonomic classification of areas and sub-areas for social objectives
(relating to Ensuring environmental sustainability, addressing climate change including mitigati
on and adaptation, forest and wildlife conservation)
| Sr. No |
Areas |
Sub-areas |
| 5 |
Ensuring environmental sustainability, addressing climate change including mitigation and adaptation, forest and wildlife conservation |
Substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse |
| Ensure that people everywhere have the relevant information and awareness for sustainable development and lifestyles in harmony with nature |
| Improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning |
| Ensure the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems and their services, in particular forests, wetlands, mountains and drylands |
Prevent and significantly reduce marine pollution of all kinds, in particular from land-based activities, including marine debris and
nutrient pollution |
| Promote the implementation of sustainable management of all types of forests, halt deforestation, restore degraded forests and substantially increase afforestation and reforestation globally |
| Combat desertification, restore degraded land and soil, including land affected by desertification, drought and floods, and strive to achieve a land degradation-neutral world |
| Ensure the conservation of mountain ecosystems, including their biodiversity, in order to enhance their capacity to provide benefits that are essential for sustainable development |
| Reduce the degradation of natural habitats, halt the loss of biodiversity and protect and prevent the extinction of threatened species |
*****
To Read Related post Social Audit Standard
| SAS 100 Eradicating hunger, poverty, malnutrition and inequality |
https://taxguru.in/chartered-accountant/sas-100-eradicating-hunger-poverty-malnutrition-inequality.html |
| SAS 200 Promoting health care including mental healthcare, sanitation and making available safe drinking water |
https://taxguru.in/chartered-accountant/sas-200-promoting-health-care-including-mental-healthcare-sanitation-making-available-safe-drinking-water.html |
| SAS 300 Promoting Education, Employability, and Livelihoods |
https://taxguru.in/chartered-accountant/sas-300-promoting-education-employability-livelihoods.html |
| SAS 400 Promoting Gender Equality, Empowerment of Women & LGBTQIA + Communities |
https://taxguru.in/chartered-accountant/sas-400-promoting-gender-equality-empowerment-women-lgbtqia-communities.html |
| SAS 500 Ensuring environmental sustainability, addressing climate change including mitigation and adaptation, forest and wildlife conservation |
https://taxguru.in/chartered-accountant/sas-500-ensuring-environmental-sustainability-addressing-climate-change-including-mitigation-adaptation-forest-wildlife-conservation.html |
| SAS 600 Protection of national heritage, art and culture |
https://taxguru.in/chartered-accountant/sas-600-protection-national-heritage-art-culture.html |
| SAS 700 Training to promote rural sports, nationally recognised sports, Paralympic sports and Olympic sports |
https://taxguru.in/chartered-accountant/700-training-promote-rural-sports-nationally-recognised-sports-paralympic-sports-olympic-sports.html |
| SAS 800 Supporting incubators of social enterprises |
https://taxguru.in/chartered-accountant/sas-800-supporting-incubators-social-enterprises.html |
| SAS 900 Supporting other platforms that strengthen non-profit ecosystem in fundraising & capacity building |
https://taxguru.in/chartered-accountant/sas-900-supporting-other-platforms-strengthen-non-profit-ecosystem-fundraising-capacity-building.html |
| SAS 1000 Promoting Livelihoods for rural and urban poor including enhancing income of Small and Marginal Farmers and workers in the non-farm sector |
https://taxguru.in/chartered-accountant/sas-1000-promoting-livelihoods-rural-urban-poor-including-enhancing-income-small-marginal-farmers-and-workers-non-farm-sector.html |
| SAS 1100 Slum area development, affordable housing and other interventions to build sustainable and resilient cities |
https://taxguru.in/chartered-accountant/sas-1100-slum-area-development-affordable-housing-other-interventions-build-sustainable-resilient-cities.html |
| SAS 1200 Disaster Management, including Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Activities |
https://taxguru.in/chartered-accountant/sas-1200-disaster-management-including-relief-rehabilitation-reconstruction-activities.html |
| SAS 1300 Promotion of financial inclusion |
https://taxguru.in/chartered-accountant/sas-1300-promotion-financial-inclusion.html |
| SAS 1400 Facilitating Access to Land and Property Assets for disadvantaged Communities |
https://taxguru.in/chartered-accountant/sas-1400-facilitating-access-land-property-assets-disadvantaged-communities.html |
| SAS 1500 Bridging digital divide in internet and mobile phone access, addressing issues of misinformation & data protection |
https://taxguru.in/chartered-accountant/sas-1500-bridging-digital-divide-internet-mobile-phone-access-addressing-issues-misinformation-data-protection.html |
| SAS 1600 Promoting welfare of migrants and displaced persons |
https://taxguru.in/chartered-accountant/social-audit-standard-sas-1600-promoting-welfare-migrants-displaced-persons.html |
