Environmental Assessment and management

[Heraa]

Environmental Impact Assessment

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Origin of EIA
Before the First World War, rapid industrialization and urbanization in western countries was causing rapid loss of natural resources. This continued to the period after the Second World War giving rise to concerns for pollution, quality of life and environmental stress. In early 60s, investors and people realized that the projects they were under taking were affecting the environment, resources, raw materials and people. As a result of this, pressure groups formed with the aim of getting a tool that can be used to safeguard the environment in any development. The USA decided to respond to these issues and established a National Environmental Policy Act in 1970 to consider its goal in terms of environmental protection. The USA became the first country to enact legislation on EIA. This was the first time that EIA became the official tool to be used to protect the environment. The United Nations Conference on the Environment in Stockholm in 1972 and subsequent conventions formalized EIA. At present, all developed countries have environmental laws whereas most of the developing countries are still adopting it.

1.2 EIA in developing countries
Until recently, EIA as a new concept was not readily understood and accepted as a tool in developing countries. Developers resisted and argued that it was anti development because laws and policies supporting it dictated that lands developments causing negative impacts should be discontinued. In a nutshell, EIA was considered just another bureaucratic stumbling block in the path of development. Secondly, it was conceived as a sinister means by which industrialized nations intend to keep developing countries from breaking the vicious cycle of poverty. Thirdly, the experts in the developing countries were foreigners who were viewed as agents of colonization. The need for EIAs has become increasingly important and is now a statutory requirement in many developing countries.
Historically, the choice of new projects was primarily based on one criterion: economic viability. Today, a second and a third choice criteria, environmental and social impact, have become a strong yardstick, hence the triple bottom-line approach (economic, environmental and social) to project viability.

2. EIA LEGAL, POLICY & INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK
EIA takes place within the legal and/or policy and institutional frameworks established by individual countries and international agencies. EIA provision and procedure can contribute to successful implementation of project if these frameworks are adhered to.
2.1 EIA in international environmental law context

Key Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) have seen review and improvements in EIA legal, policy and institutional arrangements. The key agreements are discussed below.

a) Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Trans-boundary Context (Espoo, 1991).

This is the first multi-lateral EIA treaty. It looks at EIA in a trans-boundary context and entered into force in 1997. The Espoo Convention sets out the obligations of Parties to assess the environmental impact of certain activities at an early stage of planning. It also lays down the general obligation of states to notify and consult each other on all major projects under consideration that are likely to have a significant adverse environmental impact across borders.
Apart from stipulating responsibility of signatory countries with regards to proposals that have trans-boundary impacts, it describes the principles, provisions, procedures to be followed and list of activities, contents of documentation and criteria of significance that apply.

b) Rio Declaration (1992).

Principle 17 of Rio Declaration on Environment and Development calls for use of EIA as a national decision making instrument to be used in assessing whether proposed activities are likely to have significant adverse impact on the environment. It also emphasized the role of competent national authority in the decision making process. The other principle (15) of this declaration that is relevant to EIA practice is the application of the precautionary principle.
Agenda 21, which was also as a result of this convention, proposes that governments should:
“Promote the development of appropriate methodologies for making integrated energy, environment and economic policy decisions for sustainable development, inter alia, through environmental impact assessment (9.12(b)) Develop, improve and apply environmental impacts assessment, to foster sustainable industrial development (9.18) Carry out investment analysis and feasibility studies including environmental assessments for establishing forest based processing enterprises. Introduce appropriate EIA procedures for proposed projects likely to have significant impacts upon biological diversity, providing for suitable information to be made widely available and for public participation, where appropriate, and encourage the assessment of impacts of relevant policies and programs on biological diversity (15.5(k)”(UNICED 1992).
Agenda 21 sets the framework within which countries can establish their national environmental laws.
c) UN Convention on climate change and Biological Diversity (1992) cited EIA as an implementing mechanism of these conventions (article 4 and 14 respectively).
d) Doha Ministerial Declaration encourages countries to share expertise and experience with members wishing to perform environmental reviews at the national level (November, 2001).
e) UNECE (Aarhus) Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (1998) covers the decisions at the level of projects and plans, programs and policies and by extension, applies to EIA and SEA.
f) United Nations Conference on the Environment in Stockholm 1972.

2.2 Multilateral and bilateral financial institutions environmental safeguards
Investment banks like African Development Bank (AfDB), Asian Development Bank (ADB), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), European Investment Bank (EIB), Japanese Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), World Bank (WB) have environmental safeguards to ensure that financing of projects is not only based on the precautionary principle, preventative action rather than curative treatment but sustainable development (WBCSD,2005). Although their operational policies and requirements vary in certain respects, the development banks follow a relatively standard procedure for the preparation and approval of an EIA report. Borrowing countries are responsible for the preparation of the EIA, and this requirement possibly more than any other has influenced the introduction and development of EIA in many developing countries. The EIA should examine project alternatives and identify ways of improving project selection, siting, planning, design and implementation by preventing, minimizing, mitigating and compensating for adverse environmental impacts.
Just like other banks, the World Bank has criteria for screening projects as follows:
Category A: If the project likely to have significant environmental impacts that are sensitive, diverse or unprecedented. These impacts may affect an area broader than the communities benefiting from infrastructure investments.
Category B: If the projects potential adverse environmental impacts on human populations or environmentally important areas are less adverse than those of Category A projects. These impacts are site-specific; few if any of them are irreversible; and in most cases mitigation measures can be designed more readily than for Category A projects.
Category C: If the project is likely to have minimal or no adverse environmental impacts. Once the project is assessed and determined as Category C, no further action would be required. Some examples of Category C projects include: Education (i.e. capacity-building, etc., not including school construction) Family planning (World Bank 1999) etc.
All projects financed by the Banks should also comply with the requirements of relevant multilateral environmental agreements (MEA) to which the host country is a party, including the Montreal Protocol (on ozone depleting substances), the UN Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol (on greenhouse gas emissions) and the Aarhus Convention (on environmental information).
All international organizations and bilateral agencies frequently update their procedures and it is important to obtain the current version from the organization.

2.3 National legislations
National legislation may include a statutory requirement for an EIA to be done in a prescribed manner for specific development activities. Most legislation lists projects for which EIA is a mandatory requirement. The statutory requirement to carry out an EIA for specific projects will, for example, require registered experts to carry out the study, the authority with the help of lead agencies and technical committees to review the EIA and approve the project.
Other national legal requirements that govern the use and protection of resources like water, fisheries, forests, wildlife, public health etc must be identified and complied with during an EIA.

2.4 Institutional framework
EIA institutional systems vary from country-to-country and reflecting different types of governance. In some countries, either the Ministry of Environment or a designated authority or Planning Agency administers EIA.
Environmental issues also involve many disciplines and many government bodies with general environmental and resource management laws. Data will therefore have to be collected and collated from a wide range of technical ministries, other government authorities and parastatals where applicable.

[Heraa]

Rest of it I will share insha-Allah as soon as I become eligible to post links

[Heraa]

This is a nice document on the topic..

https://www.dropbox.com/s/cqthmf9det...05-28.pdf?dl=0