Unit 3 - project management unit 1 PDF

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UNIT 3: ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS

Contents 3.0 Aims and Objectives 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Environmental Impact Assessment 3.2.1

Screening

3.2.2

Scoping

3.2.3

Impact Assessment & Evaluation

3.2.4

Monitoring & Environmental Auditing

3.3 Timing of Environmental Assessments 3.4 Community and Public Participation 3.5 Environmental Impacts 3.6 Valuation of Cost & Benefit With Regard to Environment 3.6.1

Physical Impacts and Relations

3.6.2

Valuing the Impacts in Monetary Terms

3.6.3

Market Based Methods

3.6.4

The Discount Rate Issue

3.6.5

Issues of Risk and Uncertainty

3.7 Summary 3.8 Answer to Check Your Progress Exercise

3.0 AIMS & OBJECTIVES Objective of the unit is -

to assess the impact of project on environment

-

to identify ways to mitigate negative impact of a project

-

to understand the need for community participation.

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3.1 INTRODUCTION Environmental Assessment (EA) is a process whose breadth, depth and type of analysis depend on the nature, scale and potential environmental impact of the proposed project. EA evaluate a project's potential environmental risks and impacts in its area of influence, examine project alternatives, identities ways of improving selection, siting, planning, design and implementation by preventing, minimizing, mitigating or compensating for adverse environmental impacts and enhancing positive impacts and includes the process of managing adverse environmental impacts throughout project implementation. Project will have a significant impact on the environment. These could be both positive and negative. The positive environment effects needs to be enhanced and the negative effects need to be prevented or reduced thorough appropriate mitigation measures to achieve this, project should be subject to an environmental assessment. Public and government awareness of the negative impact of development on the environment has increased over the last thirty years in developed and developing countries. The first move to assess the environmental impact from development projects originated in the USA in the seventies. This led to the development of environmental impact assessment (EIA) methods, which have been increasingly adapted and adopted by many other countries. Concern for environmental degradation in Ethiopia has been growing in recent years. The Ethiopian Federal Democratic Republic Constitution provides the basic and comprehensive principles and guidelines for environmental protection and management. The government is currently developing the institutional and policy framework for the implementation of environmental assessment in the country. The constitution states that everyone has the right to live in a clean and healthy environment and the government will make every effort to provide such an environment. The constitution also holds the government and the people of Ethiopia responsible for the preservation of natural resources and maintenance of ecological balances. The three most urgent areas of environmental concerns are: 1. The considerable land degradation including loss of nutrients owing to removal of animal manure a crop residues for use as a fuel and cattle feed

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2. The low quality and availability of water, as a result of which only about one-fifth of the population has access to safe water. 3. The rapidly growing urban environmental problems including lack of sanitary facilities, inadequate refuse collection, and low standard of housing. In essence, this environmental assessment is not anti-development rather it is a means to maintain the environment and for the sustainable development of the country's resources. 3.2 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT In environmental assessment there are two main level of assessment. One for impact of projects i.e., Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and one for the impact of policies, plans and program Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). The later is becoming an increasingly powerful tool to assess the impacts at the national or regional level of existing policies and plans. In Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) there are four major stages to the process: -

Screening

-

Scoping

-

Impact Assessment and Evaluation – preparation of environmental impact statement

-

Monitoring and Auditing

The overall Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process is illustrated in the following diagram.

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Figure 1: Flow chart of simplified EIA process

Actions Review of projects to

Outcomes

Screening

Decisions to proceed

Assess if an EIA is

with environment

Necessary

assessment

Identification of Major Environmental impacts of

Scoping

project Assessment of impacts, and identification of Mitigation measures, and

consultation of draft and final EIS

Public and statutory Review of EIS, and Decision on whether to

impacts of project to assessed and evaluated

Impact Prediction and Evaluation

Alternative options Preparation and

Potential and/or

Magnitude and significance of impacts and mitigation or enhancement measures

Drafting of Environmental

Environmental Impact Statement

Impact Statement

Review and Decision Making

Yes or no to project

Proceed

Monitoring of key

Environmental

Public reports (part of

Environmental variables,

Monitoring &

environmental management

and auditing against

Auditing

system and/or plan

Standard/plan

3.2.1 Screening

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Screening is the initial review of a project to determine if an EIA is required. For certain types of project it can be a mandatory requirement to undertake an EIA. For others it will be a matter for decision by the relevant regulatory authority. For all major agricultural project it is likely that an EIA would be required, and desirable.

3.2.2 Scoping Once a decision has been made to commence an EIA the next exercise is to assess the likely major impacts of the project on the environment. This is known as scoping an initial environment evaluation. This may identify very major adverse impacts of the proposed project, which mean an outright rejection of the project. An example could be a proposed development, which would have a major impact on the pack and be outside national policy.

On the other hand the evaluation may identify no possible significant adverse impact of the project. When this is the case a full EIA will not be necessary and the project can move on to its implementation stage. These are unlikely to be many major agricultural projects, which fall into this category.

3.2.3 Impact Assessment &Evaluation Following the decision to proceed with a full EIA the next stage of the process is the most exhaustive and consequently expensive part of the assessment. This is the identification and Box 1 Typical contents of an environmental impact statement (EIS) 

Background information of project and area, including history of project and its stakeholders and beneficiaries.



Biophysical and socio-economic environmental description of the area, and assessment of the quality and reliability of this data.



Review of legislative and institutional environment affecting the project.



Assessment of significance and degree of potential impacts (positive and negative) with ranking of importance and, where possible, a quantitative and economic evaluation. Including the active participation of project beneficiaries and those local communities affected by project.



Analysis and appraisal of different project options, including a without project option.



Description of recommended mitigation measures for negative impacts, and of measures to enhance positive impacts.



Any institutional changes or requirements if the project is to be implemented.

Depending upon the actual EIA the EIS may include recommendation on whether the project should proceed of the changes, which should be made to its design to allow it to proceed to implementation. The EIS should also include recommendations on environmental monitoring to take place after project implementation. This stage of the EIA should also be used to attempt an economic valuation of the environmental impact, which can then be used in the appraisal of the project to help assess its overall viability. Often this part of the EIA can be a lengthy and expensive, particularly where it is necessary to assemble or survey baseline data. However, the investment on EIA and valuation can be more than offset when negative impact are avoided or reduced, and positive impacts enhanced.

3.2.4 Monitoring & Environmental Auditing When a project has moved to implementation the final stage of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process, or a component of project management, is environmental auditing. This is linked to the environmental monitoring of the project. Auditing can be undertaken

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either by the project itself or by an external agency. The objective of auditing is to assess the impact of the project against established standard. For example, where an agricultural project has included a major processing plant it could be monitoring of water quality to make sure that effluent from the plant is not exceedingly the agreed or mandatory levels. Auditing can also be linked to the socio-economic impacts of a project. An irrigation project may have the potential to increase water born diseases, and measure to mitigate these may have been part of the project design, monitoring of health statistics and auditing of these figures can be used to assess if this impact has occurred or been mitigated against. Monitoring and auditing require resources and a commitment by the project operator and regulatory authorities.

3.3 TIMING OF ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENTS A crucial factor with environmental assessment is when is it to be made in the development of a project. In the past the environmental assessment of a project, if it happened at all took place toward the end of the development of the project. This would often have been after the identification, design and financial/economic appraisal of the project. But the environmental viability of a project is essential for a successful and sustainable project. This to undergo the preparation of project leaving the environmental to the end of makes no sense, especially, if this assessment indicates that the project is not environmentally viable and sustainable. It is, therefore, important that environmental assessment of projects and project options commences as soon as a project has been identified. This could be only an initial evaluation to rule out various options, which have serious environmental impacts. Later as the project develops more detailed assessments should take place alongside the more traditional economic and financial assessments of projects. As discussed later in this unit the environmental economic valuation should be a part of the overall cost benefit analysis of a project.

3.4 COMMUNITY AND PUBLIC PARTICIPATION 27

Participation of project beneficiaries is also crucial when undertaking an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). Unless local communities have been involved in the original identification and design of a project, the onset of an EIA may be the first thing they know about the project. It is important to allow the participation of local communities in the assessment of potential project impact possible alternatives. It is often they who will have to bear any adverse impacts but hopefully enjoying the positive impacts the project may bring, though this is not always the case with some projects. To achieve this very early in the EIA process the local communities as beneficiaries and stakeholders should be identified.

3.5 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS Project will have its own positive as well as negative impact on the environment. For example, if we take agricultural project, the impact of agricultural project can be grouped into seven broad heading. These are given below with some of the main areas of impact. -

Ecological impact: loss of fauna and flora (including deforestation)

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Impact on soil: erosion, salinisation, alkalinization, fertility and structure

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water quality, quality, surface surface flow, flow, flooding, flooding, pollution pollution Hydrology: water

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Socio-economic impact: crop production, nutrition, employment, and health

-

transport, water water supply, supply, telecommunication telecommunication Infrastructure: transport,

-

Socio-cultural: cultural sites, and archeological sites

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land tenure, tenure, land land rights, rights, etc. etc. Land use: land

A checklist of these potential impacts divided into negative and positive effects is given in Table 1. The table includes possible measures to enhance positive benefit and measure to mitigate against negative impacts. This table is illustrated only as an example for understanding the positive and negative effect of agricultural project on environment.

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TABLE

1:

POTENTIAL

NEGATIVE

ENVIRONMENTAL

IMPACTS

OF

AGRICULTURAL PROJECTS Potential Impact WATER RESOURCES/HYDROLOGY

Possible Possible Mitigation Mitigation Measures Measures Control the use of agro-chemicals and do not use them

Water pollution from:

near watercourses. Training of farmer sin use of

-

pesticides and insecticides

-

fertilizers

-

fuel and oils

-

sewage

Increase in surface runoff Higher risk of flooding with increase in river flows

agrochemicals. Maintain fuel storage facilities and prevent accidental spillage, provide facilities for disposal of waste oils Provide proper sewage disposal and treatment facilities

Higher sediment loads in rivers and siltation down stream Lowering in water tale, particularly in arid areas

Reduce soil compaction and soil erosion and increase

Drainage of wetlands: loss of flood control and increase in soil infiltration. flows Reduction in surface flows from water extraction of Drainage design should include water control devices irrigation schemes SOILS

(check gates, sluices, etc) to maintain water levels Use appropriate land cleaning and conservation

Increase in soil erosion

techniques, which reduce soil erosion and soil

Soil compaction

compaction.

Loss in soil fertility Soil acidification Soil salinisation/alkalization due to irrigation

Avoid the use of heavy machinery particularly in wet conditions, use of animal traction or light machinery. Improve soil fertility by preserving top soils and using good land husbandry to increase organic matter in the soil. Use of nitrogenous cover crops and tree species (agro forestry) to improve soil fertility. Better water management on irrigation schemes with adequate drainage.

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Potential Impact

Possible Possible Mitigation Mitigation Measures Measures Use of non-forested lands for agricultural expansion or

ECOLOGY

Reduction in biodiversity through removal of natural intensification. Creation protection/conservation areas forest and replacement by agriculture.

of remaining natural forest.

Destruction of unique or endangered ecosystems and Use of indigenous and exotic tree species in mixed species including wildlife and migration routes.

plantations,.

Introduction of exotic trees and crops can lead to the Creation and maintenance of corridors between uncontrolled

weed

like

spreading

to

the

local indigenous habitats.

ecosystems.

Preference should be given to indigenous tree species.

Introduction of pests and diseases to the area

Regular monitoring for outbreaks f pests and diseases

LAND USE

and research into the best measures to control them. Identify all land uses and users of land.

Displacement of other users from agricultural scheme.

Identification of important sites and protection of these

Loss of goods and services by local communities.

with guaranteed access for local communities.

Loss of grazing and pastoral rights. Destruction of cultural, historical and scientific sites

Do not deprive other land users of the use of the land except with their consent and compensation for any loss. Use customary tenure systems to secure agreement of

LAND TENURE

Loss of customary tenure by local communities when local communities. tenure is acquired by agricultural schemes-especially resettlement schemes. Loss of tenure, or possibility of tenure, by groups occupying state reserves/lands. Disputes over actual ownership of land and increase in social tensions.

Identify the legal and traditional owners of land. Delineate

and agree

all boundaries

with local

communities. Establish

good

communications

with

the

local

community through regular meetings and agree a method of setting tenure disputes.

Increase in land values and land speculation by outsiders.

Establish land ownership and preferably buy or lease locally owned land.

Potential Impact

Possible Mitigation Measures

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INFRASTRUCTURE

Selection of ridge tops for roads and avoidance of

Poorly planned roads, buildings, dams and other utilities

poorly drained areas, construction of side drains and culverts.

Increase in traffic flows Regular maintenance of all roads and infrastructure. Physical disturbance during construction phase of an agricultural development

Consideration to environmental health factors in location of any accommodation, office and workshop areas.

ECONOMIC

Traffic controls on use of heavy lorries and plan. Ensure all components of the local community receive

Insufficient economic benefits to local groups, or material benefits from the agricultural development. perceived insufficient returns. Lack of access to facilitates and services.

Use local businesses to provide services where this possible. Establish profit sharing schemes where appropriate. Given the community access to clinics, schools, communication facilities

etc. provided by

the

development.

HEALTH

Provide extension services to local farmer/forest users. Siting of households away from irrigated areas.

Increase in water born diseases on irrigation projects

Access to better medical facilities.

Increase in cash crops can lead to less food...