Environment

In the portfolio of projects carried out by BTC, the environment appears both as a specific sector and as an overarching theme which should run through each project.
As an overarching theme, the environmental dimension takes the form of an attempt to establish links between the outcomes and activities of each project and the implementation of the principles of rational management of the environment (a respect for ecosystems and habitats, the conservation and rational use of resources, making allowance for the potential risks for man and the environment, the adaptation of technologies, a long-term perspective, support for local cultures and ways of life, etc.).

BTC considers the environment to be a cross-cutting issue and deems good environmental management to be a part of its activities and its corporate responsibility.
In fact, the head office in Brussels set up an environmental management system in 2001 with the aim of reducing the company's impact on the environment.

The main project categories are

• Sustainable water management
In every region where Belgian cooperation work is going on, but especially in North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa, projects relating to the supply of drinking-water and water purification represent a major field of activity. In many countries, the integrated and rational management of water resources represents a major challenge for the years ahead.
• Measures to combat desertification and soil degradation
The rapid degradation of soils, which is hard to reverse and is due to a variety of causes (demographic pressure, cultural methods, dwindling forest cover, monocultural farming practices, etc.) is an environmental problem which is difficult to remedy. Numerous rural development projects seek to integrate this dimension by proposing alternative agricultural and pastoral techniques, by supporting particular lines of farming, by offering training or support to farmers' organisations and so on.

• Protection and sustainable management of forests
Forest cover is declining both quantitatively and qualitatively everywhere in the developing countries. Promoting sustainable forest management, ensuring that the dividends are primarily received by the local population, promoting product origin and sustainable forestry certification, diversifying products and improving the commercialisation of forest products represent an important field of activity, especially in Latin America.

• Protection and sustainable management of biodiversity
A cross-disciplinary approach is taken to the protection of biodiversity in various projects: few projects take this issue, important though it is, as their central field of operation. The banana section of the Kagera Community Development Programme in Tanzania had the aim of putting forward a series of banana varieties that are locally adapted and appreciated, so as to contribute to the food security of the local people while taking account of the need for biodiversity.

• Combatting climatic change
In order to ensure compliance with the undertakings set out in the Kyoto Protocol, projects in the fields of energy (the promotion of renewable energy sources in Mali and the Philippines, energy planning in Southern Africa), transport (support for the maintenance of city buses in Algeria) and forest conservation represent part of an overall response to the issue of climate change.

• Environmental clean-up as an element of sustainable urban development
Systems to deal with liquid and solid waste in cities represent a growing element in projects executed by BTC. In numerous cities in developing countries, no viable solution exists to restrict the production of waste, offer suitable waste collection, sorting and disposal services, promote the recycling of organic waste or plastic waste, and so on. A number of projects in this field were formulated in 2001 and 2002, while others are still at the identification stage.