Environmental and Social

YoungProfsNet
Development Practitioners

YoungProfsNet: How does YoungProfsNet work ?

cooperative learning and development YoungProfsNet is a network working over the Internet. That work
may be done in various ways. Small teams can work together on
social development or environmental projects that will provide
Introducing YoungProfsNet
learning. Or they may make environmental engineering designs
Young environmental and social development practitioners join forces
together. While projects may focus on a single country, project teams
to work on their professional development through YoungProfsNet.
will always be open to all members who wish to take part. And we
The objective of this network is to provide an international on-line
aim for our projects to come up with work products that can be
platform for mutual and cooperative learning and development for
applied in the environmental and social development practice.
young environmental and social development professionals.

Anybody can join: environmental people (from ecologists to engineers

and energy and renewables experts), social development people (from
scientists to development experts) and those who work on sustainable
development and (corporate) social responsibility. We hope that
younger people will dominate but more experienced professionals can
make a valuable contribution.

Providing a bridge to your future

We already have considerable experience in one-on-one consulting

between members and there are boundless opportunities to seek
second opinions or give informal advice and for guidance, coaching
and mentoring. While much of the work will be carried out over the
internet, we have held a number of successful local meetings in a
number of countries and we are looking for ways to revive them.
Aspiring to reach the top in your profession
 Management Authority approved since 2013. We published the
project report on 1 October 2018. And we are working on a project to
redevelop the Environmental-Social-Health Risk and Impact
Management Process of the International Association of Oil and Gas
Producers and align this with established impact assessment practice.

YoungProfsNet meeting in the Netherlands – September 2015 We are looking for other projects to be developed in the course of
2021 covering other areas of interest than just impact assessment.
We recognise that projects may be carried out using another language
than English, e.g. Spanish, Portuguese or French, if that is easier for We are working on a database with information on the expertise of
members from relevant countries. individual members, their areas of interest and their areas of learning
and development interest. Such a database will be of great value to
Communications will be in many forms: using our website facilitate professional contacts between members of YoungProfsNet.
(www.youngprofsnet.org) and our pages on LinkedIn, Facebook and Contact details will not be publicly available to protect the privacy of-
Google+, by email and instant messaging systems such as Skype, our members. We shall connect members on a case-by-case basis.
Hangouts or WhatsApp. We are experimenting using Slack
(www.slack.com) as a working and communications tool for our Organisation
network. This worked well for our Kenya project. YoungProfsNet does not have a legal status yet, but we are exploring
the various options for that. We have four Network Directors: Eva
A short history Kimonye (Kenya, now in the United Arab Emirates), Carolina Casserly
YoungProfsNet is an initiative of Eva Kimonye (then in Kenya)and (Argentina), Trupti Jain (India) and Maarten Smies (the Netherlands).
Maarten Smies (the Netherlands), who in the spring of 2015 discussed
how experienced environmentalists could share their knowledge and To develop and oversee our work we established a Programme
experience with young professionals. They reckoned that young Council. We have appointed our first sixteen council members and we
professionals working together would be able to gain learning and expect the council to grow to some 50 members with a good gender,
professional development in a variety of ways. professional and geographical diversity.

They launched YoungProfsNet at the end of May 2015. The network Are you interested in joining YoungProfsNet ?
reached 1000 members on 23 October 2015 and on 2 February 2021 You can join us by sending an email message to our network
we welcomed our 6000th member. At present we have over 6100 administrator Maarten Smies ([email protected]) with
members from more than 130 countries. your name, country and instant messenger provider and user name or
by joining our group on LinkedIn (just type youngprofsnet in the
We carried out a project to review some 40 impact assessment reports LinkedIn search bar, or: https://www.linkedin.com/groups
for petrol station projects in Kenya that the National Environment /8313692). Membership is free.
 Areas of interest to YoungProfsNet

1. Environment 3. General areas of interest

1.1 Environment and environmental research; ecosystem services 3.1 Environmental and social development policy, strategy and
1.2 Ecology and biodiversity, nature conservation management
1.3 Forestry and forest conservation 3.2 (Environmental and social) management (systems); performance
1.4 Agroecology measurement and reporting
1.5 Environmental chemistry and toxicology 3.3 Audit and (value assurance) review
1.6 Environmental and ecological engineering 3.4 Baseline surveys
1.7 Environmental (bio)remediation and ecosystem restoration 3.5 Impact assessment and strategic impact assessment; environmental
1.8 Environmental quality: air and atmosphere and social compliance, control and protection during construction and
1.9 Environmental quality: soil and groundwater operations phases
1.10 Environmental quality: fresh water; rivers and lakes 3.6 Integrated assessments
1.11 Environmental quality: estuaries and coastal seas 3.7 Sustainability assessment and reporting
1.12 Environmental quality: seas and oceans 3.8 Site assessments
3.9 Life cycle analysis (LCA) and assessment
2. Social development 3.10 Governance and due diligence
2.1 Social (development) research 3.11 Participation, engagement and consultation
2.2 Social and community structure and functioning; social and 3.12 Sustainable development and (corporate) social responsibility
community development 3.13 Human rights and labour
2.3 Livelihood and employment: economic development and equity; 3.14 Legal and regulatory (including performance standards and
ecosystem services safeguards)
2.4 Education 3.15 International relations and diplomacy
2.5 Gender and equality 3.16 Economic and financial instruments; circular economy
2.6 Cultural, historical and archaeological resources and heritage 3.17 Occupational health and safety
2.7 Youth participation 3.18 Environmental and public health
2.8 Community and public health 3.19 Natural resources management
2.9 Vulnerability and marginalisation 3.20 Water research, engineering and management
2.10 Indigenous peoples and communities 3.21 Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH)
2.11 Resettlement planning 3.22 Energy and climate; GHG emissions; carbon footprint;
climate change mitigation, resilience and adaptation
3.23 Waste and waste management
3.24 Environmental and social development education and
learning and development
3.25 Environmental and social development communication
3.26 Geomatics and Geographical Information Systems
3.27 Emergency preparedness and response
 countries

Environmental and Social

members members members
YoungProfsNet
Development Practitioners

country rep country rep country rep

A cooperative learning and development

platform for young environmental and
social development professionals
members
organisation directors
www.youngprofsnet.org

LinkedIn: YoungProfsNet
programme Facebook: YoungProfsNet
council programme
organisation
contact: Maarten Smies
email: [email protected]
phone: +31 70 326 8365
mobile: +31 6 2207 3021
lead lead lead
skype: maartensmies
hangouts: [email protected]
facebook messenger: maartensmies
whatsapp: +31 6 2649 4940
project project project
PO Box 96992
2509 JJ The Hague
(the Netherlands)
members members members

YoungProfsNet organisation chart 1 April 2021