Environmental Impact Assessments in Kenya
Environmental impact assessment is a study meant to establish the positive and negative impacts of structural and civil developments. The aim of conducting an EIA is to predict the expected environmental, socio-economic impacts and design Environmental Management plans which can be incorporated into the 3 phases of the project namely construction phase, operation phase and decommissioning phase.
Environmental and socio economic impacts need not necessarily be negative in nature. In any case conducting an EIA should not be approached as a restrictive activity to developments but rather as complementary activities that support such projects to be more environmentally and socially and economically sound.
Environmental and socio economic impacts need not necessarily be negative in nature. In any case conducting an EIA should not be approached as a restrictive activity to developments but rather as complementary activities that support such projects to be more environmentally and socially and economically sound.
Objectives of an EIA
The objectives of an EIA is to:
- Recognize, forecast and investigate the environmental , economic and social impacts of development activities
- To give information on the environmental consequences for decision making
- To promote environmentally sound and sustainable development through the identification of appropriate alternatives and mitigation measures.
A. EIA Guiding Principles
The execution of an EIA guided by several principles that ensure that the study is undertaken in the most effective and productive way. The guiding principles of doing an EIA include the below:
I) Participation
This calls for the timely and active participation of all the concerned stake holders of the project including the project proponent, the workers and the neighboring community. Involvement of the public is critical in to the success of the EIA Study. The participation of the public ensures the involvement of the people in describing their expected negative and positive impact of the project in their neighborhood. It also ensures project support by the community from the word go through incorporating their views in the project design and implementation.
II) Transparency
All assessments conducted and basis of the conclusions and recommendations need to be very open to evaluation. The EIA reports and environmental management plans should be widely available for scrutiny and comments. The process of the EIA should also be clear and easily understood by the public; it should ensure public access to information, identify the factors that should be taken into account in decision making and acknowledge the limitations of the study.
III) Certainty
This means that the process of conducting the EIA should be clarified beforehand and agreed upon by all participants in advance. This ensures that the process is mutually agreed upon investigation and hence the results therein would be universally acceptable to all the project stakeholders.
IV) Accountability
Accountability in the execution of an EIA means that the experts and stakeholders are accountable to their different roles conducting and implementing the study. While the experts are accountable in developing the most appropriate mitigative measures and a workable environmental management plan (EMP), the project management are accountable in making sure that the EMP recommendations are implemented and impacts monitored.
V) Credibility
Credibility of the Environmental impact assessment process is critical to its adoption and the effectiveness of the EMP. It requires that the EIA assessment is undertaken with utmost professionalism and objectivity. To ensure credibility of the EIA process, the study experts need to give utmost emphasis on participation, field study, desk study in order to come up with the best suited EMP for the project. Experts should not adopt an EIA for one project and apply it on to another while assuming all the impacts apply equally to the 2 projects.
VI) Cost effectiveness
Conducting an EIA is a costly exercise but one which is very important in ensuring that the environment, community and economic considerations are incorporated into the project build, operation and decommissioning. The assessment process and its outcomes should ensure that the environment is protected at the least cost to the project proponent and the local community.
VII) Flexibility
The EIA study is an exercise which draws expertise and science from various disciplines. The survey should therefore be flexible enough to accommodate all angles in evaluating impacts of a project development. An example is that the study will look at the environment impact in terms of sewerage, water use, flora and fauna disturbance. The study will also investigate the economic impacts including job creation, access to affordable housing etc.
VIII) Practicality
The environmental impact assessment survey outcomes should be easily implementable and within the purview of the project proponent. All efforts should be made to make recommendations on the EMP that are practical. Impractical action plans in an EIA will simply result to being ignored and not implemented by the proponent.
B. Participants in an EIA Process
An Environmental Impact Assessment is a process that should be as all inclusive as possible. This is because the proposed project impacts will involve different stakeholders far and beyond the project proponent. In this regard it is important to ensure that all stakeholders are included in every step of the process of conducting a project EIA study.
The stakeholders of an Environmental Impact Assessment should include the below:
I) Proponent: This includes the government, corporation or an individual that starts the project.
II) Decision maker: This could be the project management team or the executive leadership of the proponent agency.
III) Assessor: This is the agency tasked with the preparation of the EIA, undertaking the study and drafting the EMP.
IV) Reviewer: This is the Environmental board or authority which is tasked with the role of reviewing the EIA reports and issuing EIA licenses.
V) Expert Advisers: This includes the other peripheral players including the media, the public and environmental organizations.
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I) Proponent: This includes the government, corporation or an individual that starts the project.
II) Decision maker: This could be the project management team or the executive leadership of the proponent agency.
III) Assessor: This is the agency tasked with the preparation of the EIA, undertaking the study and drafting the EMP.
IV) Reviewer: This is the Environmental board or authority which is tasked with the role of reviewing the EIA reports and issuing EIA licenses.
V) Expert Advisers: This includes the other peripheral players including the media, the public and environmental organizations.
Find out more about EIA Agent in Kenya