Environmental assessment of projects necessary

Environmental Protection Act - 1997, clause 12, sub-clause 1 states that no proponent of a project shall commence construction or operation unless he has filed with the Federal EPA an Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) or Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and has obtained the approval from Federal Agency.
The need for conducting the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of such projects seems more justified and indispensable, especially in the prevailing circumstances when environment and community damages are always associated with mega projects pertaining to construction and other activities. Public sector involvement in conducting an EIA of the project is more essential than any other entity.
Maintaining a sustainable environment is an integral and difficult part of the challenge to stimulate economic growth in developing countries. Environmental factors, such as indoor and outdoor air pollution, waterborne diseases, and exposure to toxic chemicals threaten the health of millions of people; and natural resources, land, water, and forests are being degraded at alarming rates in many countries.
Some 5 to 6 million people die each year in developing countries due to waterborne diseases and air pollution. In many developing countries, the economic costs of environmental degradation have been estimated at 4% to 8% of GDP per year. Simultaneously, far-reaching trends, globalisation, the increased role of the private sector and of civil society and rapid technological advances have been reshaping the world, causing development and environmental challenges to be ever more intertwined.
Concerns were raised in this regard in a three-day workshop organised by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) in Islamabad in which it was concluded that both public and private sectors lack the capacity to conduct Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) of the development projects in the country.
As a matter of fact, it is also one of the preconditions of the international donor agencies, including the United Nations and foreign banks like European bank and others to develop IEE/EIA for a new project. Many international financial institutions routinely assess the environmental risks associated with their products and services.
Consequently they are beginning to alter their corporate lending practices, offer investment options that favour environmentally and/or socially responsible companies, adjust insurance premiums to reflect environmental risk and embrace sustainability principles across their internal procedures.
According to latest news, the federal cabinet had decided that in future no project, big or small, would be approved without mandatory EIA. Establishing Environmental Assessment Policy and subsequent review function of a bank for upcoming mega projects will safeguard the environment. Moreover, prioritisation of environmental issues in terms of their effect on economic development and poverty reduction, using both quantitative and qualitative techniques, will help combating the gradually increasing environmental pollution and their associated socio-economic, environmental and health impacts.
It is a matter of great concern that the EIA was not conducted prior to the execution of projects like the Northern bypass project and KPT Port Fountain Jet.
An example in this regard could be pointed out that World Bank where Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is a tool for including environmental considerations into policies, plans, and programmes at the earliest stages of decision-making. SEA extends the application of environmental assessments (EAs) from projects to policies, programmes, and plans. Ideally, SEA is participatory, giving voice to those affected by policy, programmes, and plans.
The World Bank describes SEA as a participatory approach for upstreaming environmental and social issues to influence development planning, decision-making and implementation process at the strategic level. Implicitly included in this description is the importance of analytical work to support the decision-making process.
A number of countries have national SEA legislation. For the most part, it falls under environmental impact assessment legislation and extends the use of environmental impact assessment to programmes and plans in some cases, to policies. China, Ethiopia and Kenya have EIA legislation which addresses SEA. In India, highly qualified environmental engineers can find in all government departments, multinationals and industries.
In the late 1990s, the government of Indonesia determined that a number of sectors, including the water sector, were in need of significant reform. The goals of the SEA for the water sector loan were to inform the government and bank management of the environmental risks associated with the policy reforms, to prescribe mitigation and monitoring procedures for softening adverse impacts, and to ensure that those affected by the reforms were given a voice in the discussions. The SEA process included a series of consultations designed to define the scope of the assessment, share case materials, identify possible impacts and mitigation measures and disseminate findings.
In November 2002, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved its first-ever environment policy. The bank had previously been operating since 1966 with only environment-related operational guidelines in place. Between February and December in 2001, the ADB sought comments and recommendations on its draft environment policy through consultations with governments, the private sector, NGOs and ADB staff.
Though the consultation process was quite thorough, many civil society groups believed the process had been somewhat futile because versions of the policy updated after the consultations did not include or contained largely watered down comments or recommendations from civil society.
Another example is that of Inter-American Development Bank. The Environment Division (ENV) of the Inter-American Development Bank furthers the institution's goal of sustainable development by enhancing the environmental quality of operations. It shapes bank policies and strategies, ensuring that projects fulfil IDB environmental objectives and requirements, by drawing upon lessons learned from other operations, direct experience and state-of-the-art research and analysis.
The Division prepares and disseminates technical studies and provides guidance on environmental impact assessments and good practices in environmental management and project analysis. It also offers environmental training to Bank staff, provides technical advice to project teams, and supports the Environment Committee.
The committee is the key forum for influencing the environmental quality of operations and maintaining an effective exchange with regional departments about country needs and operational issues.
The work of the Environment Division embraces public and private sector projects, including urban and rural environmental management, energy conservation and development, sustainable agriculture, forestry and biodiversity, water resources management, coastal and marine resources, climate change and disaster risk management.
The Philippines provides a useful example. Its economy has been fiscally stressed. In 1992, servicing its $32 billion external debt consumed some 28 percent of its exports, while imports exceeded exports by $1.4 billion. It is also environmentally distressed. Due to rapid deforestation, conservationist Norman Myers named the Philippines one of the world's 10 "hot spots," where biodiversity is most severely threatened. Finally, it has been a major recipient of official environmental loans, concentrated primarily in forestry projects. Between 1988 and 1992 the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the World Bank, and the Japanese government lent $731 million for forestry projects - more than 10 times the $60 million of international lending provided for forestry projects during the previous 12 years.
HERE ARE A FEW SUGGESTIONS IN THIS REGARD FROM THE WRITER:
Recently Dr Shamshad Akhtar has been appointed new Governor of the State bank of Pakistan (SBP). Her attention should be drawn to the fact that the banks operating in Pakistan, either in the public or private sectors, direly need qualified environmentalists to assess IEE/EIA submitted from the borrower for future development projects.
The State Bank chief has to constitute an environment department in the State Bank, which must be headed by a qualified environment engineer. It is suggested that a formalised, systematic, and comprehensive procedure should be constituted for evaluating the environmental impacts of a mega project either owned by public or private sector and its alternatives, including the preparation of a written report on the findings of that evaluation, and using the findings in a publicly accountable decision-making.
Training of the SBP staff by professional and qualified environmental engineers/officers shall be mandatory. The Environment Department's principal function shall be to implement the bank's environmental mandate. The department shall appraise all projects financed by the bank to ensure that they comply with the banks' environmental policy and procedures.
The Environment Department shall also help develop environmental investments and capacity building projects. The department may assist banking teams and sponsors on public consultation, monitoring the implementation of environmental requirements for each project.
This includes reporting, site visits, and interim audits, initiating investment and technical assistance projects with specific environmental safeguards and will provide policy and project related guidance to the bank on issues of environment, health and safety.
The department shall initiate projects with specific environmental aims which include energy efficiency credit lines, solid waste management and waste water treatment facilities. There are also projects where environmental benefits are incidental as a result of, for example, technology upgrades which improve environmental efficiency.
Not only this, the SBP trained environmental staff would also help in several environmental functions within the SBP buildings throughout the country. These include promoting energy efficiency, minimising water consumption and improving waste recycling.
In addition to that, all banks in Karachi shall be directed to create environment departments, headed by senior qualified environment engineers. Moreover, inclusion of some environmental requirements in loan agreements, such as the development of environmental management plans is another step which is an indispensable requirement of foreign banks and donor agencies.
After constituting the environment department in the SBP, the projects may be divided into the following categories for evaluation and further proceedings:
CATEGORY A: Projects with potential to have significant adverse environmental impacts. An environmental impact assessment (EIA) is required to address significant impacts.
CATEGORY B: Projects judged to have some adverse environmental impacts, but of lesser degree or significance than those for category A projects. An initial environmental examination (IEE) is required to determine whether or not significant environmental impacts warranting an EIA are likely. If an EIA is not needed. The IEE is regarded as the final environmental assessment report.
CATEGORY C: Projects unlikely to have adverse environmental impacts. No EIA or IEE is required, although environmental implications are still reviewed.
The borrower shall prepare EIA reports for category A projects and IEE reports for category B projects. The borrower shall also prepare the summary EIA or summary IEE reports highlighting the main findings of the IEE or EIA. The format of the environmental assessment report for programme loans is therefore flexible, but would include a matrix describing the environmental consequences and mitigation measures for the policy actions underpinning the programme loan. The content of the environmental assessment report for sector loans shall include a description of the institutional arrangements and process to be followed for environmental assessment of projects to be approved during implementation.
The State Bank shall require public consultation in the environmental assessment process. For category A and B projects, the borrower must consult with groups affected by the proposed project and local non government organisations. The consultation shall be carried out as early as possible in the project cycle so that views of affected groups are taken into account in the design of the project and its environment mitigation measures. Such consultation shall also take place during project implementation to identify and help address environmental issues that arise. The public consultation process needs to be described in the EIA. It may be mentioned here that the public consultation is applicable only in case of an EIA and not in IEE.
Environmental assessment reports for SBP projects shall be accessible to interested parties and the general public. These reports shall require to be circulated countrywide, through the depository library system and on the SBP web site. Moreover, a few copies of the report shall be available in SBP's library.
For environmentally sensitive projects, the IEE/EIA reports shall be submitted to the board of directors well before it considers the sector loan, to demonstrate the manner of treating environmental issues that may arise during and after project.
In determining appropriate environmental standards for the SBP projects, it shall follow the standards and approaches prescribed in detail in the National Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS).