ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT
Environmental Impact Assessment can be described as a tool that was developed to provide information to decision-makers on the impact that a proposed project or development would have on the natural environment. The aim of the tool is to provide the necessary information to decision-makers so that they can make more informed decisions about whether to proceed with the project or development. The decision to proceed depends on the sustainability of the project in the context that it is located in; in other words, would the proposed project or development be sustainable to the natural and biophysical environment? Would it cause damage that is of an irreversible nature to the environment? How are the community and people of the surrounding areas affected by the proposed project or development? Does the proposed project or development promote the social, natural and economic spheres of sustainable development?
Environmental Impact Assessment is the primary, proactive decision-making process available for the environmental assessment and management of individual developments. Environmental Impact Assessment is used to identify, predict and assess the impacts associated with individual development projects before implementation, in other words, it is used early in the design phase before project construction and operation. Effective Environmental Impact Assessment focuses on addressing both the negative and positive impacts likely to arise from a proposed development and it identifies mitigation measures to enhance the positive and to avoid, minimize, rehabilitate or compensate for the negative impacts. Positive impacts could include increased taxes and revenue for government; increased employment and training opportunities for local residents; or provision of improved infrastructure such as a new wharf, bridge or road. Negative impacts might include the production of liquid waste and pollution of local waterways; vegetation clearing and destruction of natural habitat and loss of native species; increased traffic volume and congestion on local roads; drawdown of local water supplies, threatening water security; and increased dust and noise, affecting the health and amenity of local residents.
Environmental Impact Assessment is also an increasingly important tool for examining the potential impacts of the environment on development projects, including impacts arising from climate change, climate variability and disasters, and for identifying appropriate adaptation or risk reduction measures to avoid or mitigate these impacts.
The Environmental Impact Assessment process, therefore, is applied in two ways, to assess and address: (1) a development’s impacts on the environment; and (2) the environment’s impacts on a development.
Two important outcomes of the Environmental Impact Assessment process are: (1) the selection of an optimal development site and/or operational design; and (2) the preparation and implementation of an environmental management plan (EMP) that includes mitigation measures for addressing the identified, potential impacts; which stipulates environmental performance standards the proponent is expected to meet; and which establishes a framework for measuring, monitoring and reporting on environmental performance over the lifetime of a development, to promote the achievement of good environmental outcomes.
FEATURES ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT SYSTEM
The principal legislation is Decree 86 of 1992 which made Environmental Impact Assessment mandatory for both public and private sectors for all development projects. It has three goals and thirteen principles for how these are to be achieved. The goals are:
• Before any person or authority takes a decision to undertake or authorize the undertaking of any activity that may likely or significantly affect the environment, prior consideration of its environmental effects should first be taken.
• To promote the implementation of appropriate procedures to realize the above goal.
• To seek the encouragement of the development of reciprocal procedures for notification, information exchange and consultation in activities likely to have significant trans-state (boundary) environmental effects.
PROCESS AND PROCEDURAL FRAMEWORK
The Environmental Impact Assessment process is the various stages a project undergoes from proposal to approval for implementation, resulting in the issuing of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and certificate.
The National Procedural Guidelines show practical steps from project conception to commissioning. The steps are:
Ø Project proposal
Ø Initial environmental examination (IEE)/preliminary assessment
Ø Screening: The Environmental Impact Assessment process begins from the very start of a project. Once a developer has identified a need and assessed all the possible alternatives of project design and sites to select a preferred alternative, two important questions must be asked: 'What will be the effects of this development on the environment? Are those effects significant?' If the answer to the second question is 'yes', an Environmental Impact Assessment may be required. Answering this question is a process known as screening and can be an essential first step into a formal Environmental Impact Assessment. The Environmental Impact Assessment process is, it must be stressed, iterative. This is demonstrated at this early stage of screening where the requirement for a formal Environmental Impact Assessment and its associated cost implications can lead the developer to reassess the project design with a view to reducing the significant impacts to a level where an Environmental Impact Assessment is not legally required (Nielsen et al 2005).
Ø Scoping: Where it is decided that a formal Environmental Impact Assessment is required, the next stage is to define the issues that need to be addressed, that is, those impacts that have a significant effect on the environment. This is known as scoping and is essential for focusing the available resources on the relevant issues.
Ø Environmental Impact Assessment study: Following on from scoping, it is essential to collect all relevant information on the current status of the environment. This study is referred to as a baseline study as it provides a baseline against which change due to a development can be measured.
Ø Impact Prediction: Once the baseline study information is available, the important task of impact prediction can begin. Impact prediction involves forecasting the likely changes in the environment that will occur as a result of the development.
Ø Impact assessment: The next phase involves the assessment of the identified impacts - impact assessment. This requires interpretation of the importance or significance of the impacts to provide a conclusion, which can ultimately be used by decision-makers in determining the fate of the project application.
Ø Mitigation: Frequently, the assessment of impacts will reveal damaging effects upon the environment. These may be alleviated by mitigation measures. Mitigation involves taking measures to reduce or remove environmental impacts and it can be seen that the iterative nature of the Environmental Impact Assessment process is well demonstrated here. For example, successful design of mitigation measures could possibly result in the removal of all significant impacts; hence a new screening exercise would reveal that there might have been no need to carry out a formal Environmental Impact Assessment had the mitigation measures been included from the start.
Ø Producing the environmental impact statement: The outcome of an Environmental Impact Assessment is usually a formal document, known as an environmental impact statement (EIS), which sets out factual information relating to the development, and all the information gathered relating to screening, scoping, baseline study, impact prediction and assessment, mitigation, and monitoring measures. It is quite common that a requirement of an EIS is that it also produces a non-technical summary. This is a summary of the information contained within the EIS, presented in a concise non-technical format, for those who do not wish to read the detailed documents. This is very important, as EISs are public documents intended to inform the public of the nature and likely consequences of a development in time to comment and/or participate in the final project design.
Ø EIS review: Once the Environmental Impact Assessment is complete, the EIS is submitted to the competent authority. This is the body with the authority to permit or refuse development applications. The competent authorities are often in a position of having very little time to make a decision and have a detailed and lengthy EIS to read through which may contain errors, omissions, and developer bias. It is essential, therefore, that they review the document. Review can take a number of forms: it may be purely an ad hoc process whereby the document is read and commented on by decision-makers; it can be more formalised and expert opinion is sought; or it can be through the use of formal review methods designed specifically for the purpose. Basically, the review process should enable the decision-maker to decide whether the EIS is adequate (eg whether it is legally compliant), whether the information is correct, and whether it is unbiased. If it is, they are then in a position to use the EIS as information to be considered in determining whether the project should receive consent. This issue of review is discussed in more detail elsewhere in this module. The competent authority is now in possession of the information they require about the possible effects of the development on the environment. They will use this information, in combination with all of the other details and representations they have received, to help them come to a decision.
Ø Follow up: Follow up relates to the post-approval phase of Environmental Impact Assessment and encompasses monitoring of impacts, the continued environmental management of a project, and impact auditing. Without any form of follow up Environmental Impact Assessment would operate as a linear rather than an iterative process, and an important step towards achieving environmental protection will also have been omitted.
Follow up presents an opportunity both to control environmental effects and to learn from the process and cause-effect relationships. Ideally, data generated by monitoring and other aspects of follow up should be compared with the original predictions and mitigation measures in the EIS to determine
1. the accuracy of the original predictions
2. the degree of the deviation from the predictions
3. the possible reasons for any deviation
4. whether mitigation measures have achieved their objective of reducing or eliminating impacts
Information generated by this process can contribute to the improvement of future Environmental Impact Assessment practice, for example, by enabling more accurate predictions to be made.
Existing Environmental Planning Process
Environmental planning is the process of facilitating decision making to carry out land development with the consideration given to the natural environment, social, political, economic and governance factors and provides a holistic framework to achieve sustainable outcomes. A major goal of environmental planning is to create sustainable communities, which aim to conserve and protect undeveloped land.
The goal of the National Policy on the Environment is to ‘ensure environmental protection and the conservation of natural resources for sustainable development’.
Strategic Objectives The strategic objective of the National Policy on the Environment is to coordinate environmental protection and natural resources conservation for sustainable development. This goal will be achieved by the following strategic objectives:
i. securing a quality of environment adequate for good health and well being;
ii. Promoting sustainable use of natural resources and the restoration and maintenance of the biological diversity of ecosystems;
iii. Promoting an understanding of the essential linkages between the environment, social and economic development issues;
iv. Encouraging individual and community participation in environmental improvement initiatives;
v. Raising public awareness and engendering a national culture of environmental preservation; and
vi. Building partnership among all stakeholders, including government at all levels, international institutions and governments, non-governmental agencies and communities on environmental matters.
Guiding Principles The following principles are central to the attainment of the strategic objectives of this Policy:
i. The Public Trust Doctrine, which recognizes that the State is a trustee of all natural resources, the enjoyment of which is subject to a measure of control necessary to protect the legitimate interest of all sections and stakeholders in the larger framework of strategic national interests;
ii. Environmental Right, which ensures that every Nigerian has a right to a clean and healthy environment and a duty to safeguard and enhance the environment;
iii. Environmental Offsetting, which requires that where for exceptional reasons of overriding public interest, the general obligation to protect threatened or endangered species and natural systems that are of special importance to sustaining life, providing livelihoods, or general well-being cannot be provided, such cost-effective offsetting measures must be undertaken by the proponents of an activity to restore as nearly as may be feasible the lost environmental services to the community;
iv. The Polluter Pays Principle, which prescribes that the polluter should bear the cost of preventing, and remediating pollution;
v. The User Pays Principle in which the cost of a resource to a user must include all the environmental costs associated with its extraction, transformation and use (including the costs of alternative or future uses forgone);
vi. The Precautionary Principle, which holds that where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, the lack of full scientific knowledge shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective means to prevent environmental degradation;
vii. The Subsidiarity Principle, which reflects the a preference for making decisions at the lowest level of government or social organization where the issue can be effectively managed – decisions made at the local level are often viewed as more likely to take account of local environmental conditions and the opinions of the local people who often bear the highest environmental costs of development;
viii. Pollution Prevention Pays Principle, which encourages Industry to invest positively to prevent pollution;
ix. The Principle of Inter-generational Equity, which requires that the needs of the present generation are met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs;
x. The Principle of Intra-generational Equity, which requires that different groups of people within the country and within the present generation have the right to benefit equally from the exploitation of resources and that they have equal right to a clean and healthy environment;
xi. The Principle of Participation, which requires that decisions should, as much as possible, be made by the people or on their behalf by representatives chosen by them;
xii. International Cooperation in which the country will domesticate multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) and regional instruments and implement them cooperatively for better environmental management of shared resources. In this regard, the country will take cognizance of all relevant international agreement on the environment and mainstream them in the protection of Nigeria’s environment;
xiii. Good Environmental Governance in which rule of law, effective institutions, transparency and accountability, respect for human rights and the meaningful participation of citizens will be integrated in environmental management;
xiv. Integrated Ecosystem Approach to conserving environmental resources is adopted and enhanced to ensure that all the country’s ecosystems are managed for sustainable development and benefits of the people.
CONCLUSION
Nigeria has taken serious steps to develop effective environmental strategies by the promulgation of the Environmental Impact Assessment Decree and all the procedural guidelines. Yet there are too many regulators with similar and identical responsibilities. Harmonization and clear allocation of responsibilities has become necessary. FEPA is the apex regulator, and DPR in reliance on regulations can not usurp the responsibility of FEPA nor the State EPA when under our canon of legal interpretation, any Edict (law) in conflict with the Decree (Act) to the extent of the conflict is void. Recognition of this, and an eschewing of rivalries among the administrators, will encourage co-operation among them. To be relevant the regulators (administrators) should be better supported and, for effective compliance monitoring and enforcement, stiffer sanctions and penalties should be prescribed and strictly adhered to. This way environmental requirements will be met and maintained. Compliance should be tied to renewal of licenses and consents and proponents should ensure that staff are highly motivated with adequate equipment and capacity building programs vigorously pursued not only by the administrators but also the proponents.