Evaluating Environmental and Social Impact Assessment in Developing Countries

Salim Momtaz, Zobaidul Kabir

• Publisher: Elsevier
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9780124080706
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Public Health, Administration & Care

Evaluating Environmental and Social Impact Assessment in Developing Countries is a valuable reference book for practitioners and researchers conducting research in and developing studies on environmental science and management and environmental and social impact assessment. The book's authors have developed and tested a new framework to evaluate environmental impact assessment (EIA) systems that may be adopted by most developing countries with EIA experience. Application of this framework will help determine if the EIA is achieving its intended goal of sustainable development in these countries. It also explains the reasons behind the strengths and weaknesses from which the development practitioners and international development partners can take lessons. This book will help the reader answer such questions as "What are the best forms of public participation?" and "How do we measure contributions to EIA procedure?" since it is based on direct experiences from a developing country that is struggling with many of these issues. Evaluating Environmental and Social Impact Assessment in Developing Countries provides further understanding of appropriate tools to evaluate environmental and social impacts of development initiatives especially in developing countries.

• Demonstrates the development of an integrated holistic method that presents new research in the field
• Offers a thorough analytical assessment of an EIA system in a developing country
• Presents valuable insights into how developing countries are coping with the new phenomenon of public participation and involvement in environmental decision making and what methods and techniques have been successful
• Includes a chapter on social impact assessment in developing countries with special focus on Bangladesh, providing valuable information applicable to developing countries

Chapter 1

Introduction

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has its origin in the passage of National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA ‘69) in the USA. It emerged from the realization that many projects funded by the government in the United States failed to take their environmental impacts into consideration in the development and implementation phase and, as a result, caused major environmental problems. Cost-benefit analysis and other environmental safeguards in place at the time were not adequate for the protection of the environment. This awakening of public conscience regarding environment was happening in the backdrop of the publication of Rachael Curson’s book titled Silent Spring (1962), the initial activities of the Club of Rome (Meadows et al., 1972), and the first wave of environmental movement in the United States of America throughout the 1960s. NEPA ‘69 took effect from January 1970 and provided the basis for similar legislations around the world in the 1970s and 1980s. Developed countries (examples include Canada, European countries, Australia, New Zealand) were quick to accept the concept of EIA and provided legal mandate and/or administrative ruling in favor of EIA. For the developing world, the Asian countries like Indonesia, Taiwan, The Philippines, Singapore, and Hong Kong were at the forefront of EIA adoption. Eventually, other Asian countries joined the club of EIA in the 1990s. African and Latin American countries followed suit. Today, most countries on earth have some form of EIA in place. EIA as a preventative environmental management tool has now been well recognized by the governments of the developed and the developing nations and is well embedded in the planning process.

Bangladesh is a latecomer in the EIA arena at least in a formal way. Some form of EIA was in place and used in 1985 in the planning of the Jamuna River Multipurpose Bridge project (the biggest bridge construction in Bangladesh) where the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank as the funding organizations helped conduct EIA of the proposed project. There were also some environmental laws (Pollution Control Act) for environmental protection. In 1992, the first EIA guidelines for the water sector were published. However, it was not until 1995 that the country passed its first EIA legislation titled Environmental Conservation Act (ECA ’95) (DOE, 1995) to be followed by Environmental Conservation Rules 1997 (ECR ’97) (DOE, 1997). For the first time in the history of Bangladesh, ECA ’95 legally required all development projects to systematically consider in advance their environmental consequences. The Rules (ECR ’97) further clarified the provisions of the Act and were intended to facilitate the enforcement of ECR ‘95.

The objective of this book is to evaluate the effectiveness of EIA system in Bangladesh using a new comprehensive approach termed by the authors as “integrated holistic framework.” The holistic approach adopted in the analysis of EIA system in this book looks into all aspects of the EIA procedure including legislative and administrative status; implementation of EIA, that is, conduct of EIA and SIA (social impact assessment); the quality of environmental and social impact statements (EISs) and public participation; and post-EIS follow-up, that is, implementation of mitigation and monitoring measures. This evaluation study is different to the reviews conducted elsewhere in developed and developing countries that basically looked into one aspect (EIA legislation and administration) or the other (EIS quality) of an EIA system to determine its effectiveness. EIA follow-up is still the weakest link in the EIA system, especially in developing countries. A new approach is particularly important for developing countries as they have now gained considerable experiences in EIA practice which is now due for a major review.

Chapter 2 provides a thorough review of existing approaches in EIA review to emphasize the importance of a new holistic approach. The aim of this chapter is to propose a holistic framework that can be applied to understanding the effectiveness of EIA system in developing countries. Current literature shows that the studies of EIA effectiveness often tend to consider a single stage that can only reveal partial view of success or failure of EIA rather than the whole picture. Based on the review of important aspects of EIA effectiveness under a number of major empirical models, this chapter develops an integrated holistic framework to measure the effectiveness of EIA system in Bangladesh. It can be claimed that putting the models together and capitalizing on their strengths can lead to a complete and stronger framework that facilitates a systematic investigation of EIA effectiveness. It is envisaged that the application of the framework can provide a better understanding of the effectiveness of EIA and promote more effective EIA system in developing countries.

Chapter 3 examines the origin and evolution of EIA in Bangladesh and critiques its present status. Environmental Conservation Act 1995 and Environmental Conservation Rules 1997 have been thoroughly examined. A thorough examination of institutional framework is done in order to identify its weaknesses and strengths.

Chapter 4 thoroughly examines the quality of environmental impact statements (EISs) in Bangladesh using a review package. Review packages have been widely used to examine the quality of EISs prepared in different countries. The authors of this book have used the package developed by Lee and Colley (1992) with significant modifications to suit the Bangladesh context—a process that may also help the developing countries to formulate their own review package.

Chapter 5 examines the emergence of SIA within the framework of EIA. In this chapter, legal and institutional aspects of SIA have been examined and the role of various government and nongovernmental organizations including donor agencies has been discussed. Evaluation of SIA system of a country is relatively new and has started to emerge in the literature lately. Using a modified version of a newly developed review package, this chapter evaluates the SIA system in Bangladesh and reviews the quality of social impact statements. The approach employed to understand the SIA system in Bangladesh can also be adopted in developing countries with similar socioeconomic contexts where SIA is emerging as an important social sustainability safeguard.

Chapter 6 examines the legal and administrative status of community consultation in environmental decision making, especially in the conduct of EIA and SIA. It examines how various environmental organizations—government and nongovernmental—are involving community in their EIAs and SIAs and what roles the donor agencies are playing in its implementation. The notion of public participation and its application in environmental management in Bangladesh is different to that of developed world. This is also true for most developing countries where historically environmental decision making has been a top-down process and the concept of public involvement was nonexistent. The developing countries can learn from the experiences of Bangladesh as described in the pages of this chapter.

Chapter 7 focuses on the last major aspect in the evaluation of the EIA system in Bangladesh—post-EIS or EIA follow-up. Three major projects from three different sectors have been identified for this study. These projects had gone through EIA process, had EISs prepared, and have been in operation for the past few years. This has allowed us to examine whether they have properly implemented mitigation measures, whether they have adequate monitoring mechanisms as suggested by the environmental management plan outlined in the respective EISs, and whether they have followed the community consultation and involvement as outlined in the recommendations of the EISs. This exercise allows us to investigate if the EIA system in Bangladesh is effectively working at the post-EIS level.

Finally, Chapter 8 provides an overview of the book, proposes a framework of an effective EIA system, and concludes the book with recommendations.

Despite the fact that Bangladesh is a latecomer in the EIA arena, it has gained significant experience in EIA since its inception in the 1980s. The country represents ecological and socioeconomic characteristics that are common to many Asian developing countries and some African countries, especially the countries that are emerging as EIA practicing countries. It is believed that the lessons from Bangladesh as learned in the pages of this book can provide useful insights for those countries to launch and expand their environmental management pursuits.

This book is based on the authors’ in-depth knowledge of theory and practice of EIA and SIA and extensive fieldwork experiences in Bangladesh in the past several years. The methods employed are questionnaire survey of relevant people; interviews (face to face and with the use of voice recorder) of practitioners in environmental management; and thorough review of EIA and SIA legislations, documents, guidelines, statements; and field visits to a number of ongoing and completed development projects. The methods have been further elaborated in the relevant chapters where necessary. For example, in Chapter 4 (review of EIS quality), an extended explanation has been given about the development of a review package for Bangladesh and how the EISs were physically reviewed using that package.

References

1. Curson R. Silent spring. London: Hamish Hamilton; 1962.

2. Department of Environment (DOE). The Environmental Conservation Act Dhaka, Bangladesh: Ministry of Environment and Forest; 1995.

3. Department of Environment (DOE). The Environmental Conservation Rules Dhaka, Bangladesh: Ministry of Environment and Forest; 1997.

4. Lee, N & Colley, R 1992, Reviewing the quality of Environmental Assessments, Occasional paper, Number-24, EIA Centre, University of Manchester, UK.

5. Meadows DH, Meadows LM, Randers J, Behrems WW. The Limits to Growth: a report to the club of Rome’s project on the predicament of mankind. London: Angus & Robertson; 1972.

Chapter 2

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Environmental Impact Assessment System in Developing Countries

The Need for an Integrated Holistic Approach

Contents

2.1 Introduction

2.2 Status of EIA Systems in Developing Countries

2.3 Concepts of Effective EIA Systems

2.4 Development of a Conceptual Framework to Evaluate EIA System

2.4.1 Institutional Control (Administrative and Legislative) Approach

2.4.2 Decision Making and Quality of EIS Approach

2.4.3 Contextual Approach

2.4.4 Social System Approach

2.5 The Proposed Framework

2.6 Key Areas and Criteria for Evaluating the EIA System

2.6.1 Institutional Framework of the EIA System

2.6.2 The Quality of EIS

2.6.3 Implementation of Mitigation Measures

2.6.4 Use of Criteria to Evaluate the EIA System

2.7 Evaluation Criteria

2.8 Evolution of the EIA System in Bangladesh

2.9 Status of the EIA System in Bangladesh

2.10 Conclusion

Appendix

References

2.1 Introduction

This chapter starts with a review of the status of environmental impact assessment (EIA) systems in developing countries. It conceptualizes what constitutes an effective EIA system and examines various approaches to effective EIA systems. An integrated holistic approach is then proposed.

2.2 Status of EIA Systems in Developing Countries

The evolution of EIA systems in developing countries differs from that of developed countries (Briffett, 1999; Wood, 2003). The first EIAs to be carried out in developing countries were predominantly in response to the pressure from development assistance agencies on a project-by-project basis. On the other hand, EIA was introduced in developed countries mostly in response to the widespread local demand for better environmental protection (Doberstein, 2003; Wood, 2003). In the later years, the emergence of sustainable development agenda influenced developing countries toward adopting EIA.

A good number of research has been conducted on EIA systems in developing countries (Ahmad and Wood, 2002; Appiah-Opoku, 2001; Briffett, 1999; Doberstein, 2003; Ebisemiju, 1993; Glasson and Salvador, 2000; Kakonge and Imevbore, 1993; Lee and George, 2000; Lim, 1985; Lohani et al., 1997; Nadeem and Hameed, 2008; Paliwal, 2006; Ross, 1994; Sadler, 1996; Tongcumpou and Harvey, 1994; Turnbull, 2003; Wang et al., 2003; Wood, 2003; Zeremariam and Quinn, 2007; Zubair, 2001). These studies show, in general, that the operation and performance of EIA practice in developing countries usually fall behind that of developed countries. Table 2.1 presents a summary of views on the status of EIA practice in developing countries.

Table 2.1

Status of EIA systems and practices in developing countries

Authors	Country	Major deficiencies in EIA systems
Lim (1985)	Philippines, Korea, and Brazil	Actual performance of EIA is significantly diverse from the objectives of EIA; EIA is not fully integrated in planning process; limited authority of review agency
Kakonge and Imevbore (1993)	African countries	Lack of formal legislation for EIA and institutional framework; shortage of manpower and inadequate training; high cost of EIA, inadequate baseline d...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• List of Tables
• List of Figures
• List of Maps
• List of Photos
• List of Abbreviations
• List of Appendices
• Preface
• Author Biography
• Chapter 1. Introduction
• Chapter 2. Evaluating the Effectiveness of Environmental Impact Assessment System in Developing Countries: The Need for an Integrated Holistic Approach
• Chapter 3. Institutional Framework of the Environmental Impact Assessment System
• Chapter 4. The Quality of Environmental Impact Statements
• Chapter 5. Evaluating Social Impact Assessment
• Chapter 6. Evaluating Community Participation in Environmental Impact Assessment
• Chapter 7. Implementation of Mitigation Measures: EIA Practice at Post-EIS Stage
• Chapter 8. Evaluating Environmental and Social Impact Assessment: Framework for Effective EIA System
• Glossary of Terms
• Index