The major environmental and socialmanagement challenges that we face today, climate change,loss of biodiversity, the decline of ocean fisheries,limitations on food security, the scarcity of usablefreshwater resources, displacement of communities withconsequent increases in urban poverty, and inviability oftraditional local livelihoods, are all the result ofcumulative impacts from a large number of activities thatare for the most part individually insignificant, buttogether have had regional or even global repercussions. Theimportance of understanding the cumulative environmental andsocial impacts from multiple projects, actions, oractivities, or even from the same actions over an extendedperiod of time, located in the same geographic region oraffecting the same resource (e.g., watershed, airshed) hasbeen acknowledged for decades. In some cases, the mostecologically devastating environmental effects andsubsequent social consequences may result not from thedirect effects of a particular action, project, or activitybut from the combination of existing stresses and theindividually minor effects of multiple actions over time(Clarke 1994). This good practice handbook is based onIFC's experience in applying its performance standardsand is non-prescriptive in its approach. It should be usedin conjunction with the Performance Standards, theirguidance notes, and the World Bank Group environmental,health, and safety guidelines, which contain basicrequirements and good international practices to be followedwhen designing, developing, and/or implementing projects.This document is not intended to duplicate requirementsunder the existing IFC sustainability framework. Its purposeis to provide practical guidance to companies investing inemerging markets to improve their understanding, assessment,and management of cumulative environmental and socialimpacts associated with their developments.mulative
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