Asayehgn Desta, Ph. D. Sarlo Distinguished Professor of Sustainable Economic
Development, Dominican University of California
In a number of developing countries, balancing poverty
and socioeconomic needs with environmental concerns creates very pressing
problems. To meet this challenge and to realize the spirit of the World Summit
on Sustainable Development held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1992, a number of
countries have formulated strategic
environmental sustainability policies to: a) include environmental concerns in
their mission statements; b) develop
long-term objectives; c) generate
alternative strategies to pursue those objectives; d) implement strategies to devise policies,
motivate employees, and allocate resources so that the formulated strategies
can be executed; e) monitor the execution of strategies and make adjustments
according to feedback; and f) assess
whether the strategies actually fulfill the countries’ mission statements.
Realizing that natural resources are the foundation of an
economy, Ethiopia has attempted to develop a policy to protect its ecosystems.
To counteract the short term results of
economic and technical policies of the past and to meet
the needs of present and future generations “the first comprehensive statements
of Environmental Policy for the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia were
approved by the Council of Ministers in April 1997” (UNEP EIA Training Resource
Manual, 2006).
By proclamation No. 9/1995 the Ethiopian Environmental
Protection Authority (EPA) has created an environmental policy, as well as legal
and regulatory reforms to manage its environmental and
natural resources. The overall aim of the Ethiopian Environmental Protection
Authority (EPA) is to “… improve and enhance the health and quality of life of
all Ethiopians and to promote sustainable social and economic development
through the sound management and use of natural, human-made and cultural
resources and the environment as a whole so as to meet the needs of the present
generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their
own needs” (EPA, 2010). Some of the
specific duties of the Ethiopian Protection Authority include:
·
To prepare environmental protection policy
and laws, and upon approval, follow up their implementation.
·
To prepare directives and systems necessary
for evaluating the impact of social and economic development projects on the
environment; monitor and follow up their implementation.
Stated
differently, the mandate of the Ethiopian Environmental Protection Authority is
to manage, protect, conserve, and sustain the environment and the natural
resources of the country. Through sustainable management of the environment and
natural resources, it is expected that the economic and social conditions of
Ethiopia will be greatly improved and all Ethiopians will lead productive lives
in a healthy environment. More specifically, keeping in mind the organization’s
overall aim and principles of action such as compliance and regulatory
requirements, the policy objectives of the Ethiopian Environmental Protection
Authority seek to communicate the following environmental priorities:
·
Ensure that essential ecological processes
and life support systems are sustained
·
Preserve biological diversity
·
See that renewable natural resources are used
in such a way that their generative and
productive capabilities are maintained
·
Ensure that the exploitation of non-renewable
resources is managed wisely to extend the benefits far into the future
·
Identify under-utilized natural resources by
finding new technologies for their development
·
Incorporate the full economic, social, and
environmental costs of natural resources development into the planning,
implementation, and accounting process by a comprehensive evaluation of the
environment and the services it provides
·
Improve the environment of human settlements
to satisfy the physical, social, economic, and cultural needs of their inhabitants
on a sustainable basis
·
Ensure the empowerment and participation of
the people and their own organizations in all levels of environmental
management activities
·
Raise public awareness with educational
programs to promote understanding of the essential linkages between environment
and development
·
Undertake sectional and cross–sectional
economic evaluations that create strategic alliances with the local, regional,
national economy (Fed. Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, 1997)
.
While it is recognized that environmental resources contribute
significantly to sustainable economic development, the conceptual framework of
Ethiopia’s comprehensive environmental policy is too general. It is not systematically formulated to meet
the strategic management process stated above. In its strategic objectives, the
Ethiopian Environmental Policy does not include strategies for rigorous
implementation, monitoring, or evaluation.
In addition, the implementation of its functions is hindered by the lack
of institutional frameworks. The capacity to initiate and sustain change and
mobilize adequate resources linking activities effectively among sectors is
hardly visible.
Based on the goals of the Ethiopian Environmental Policy,
it is worth mentioning that its vision
statement should have highlighted what Ethiopia aspires to achieve in the
future. Through the establishment of sound management of renewable and
non-renewable resources, Ethiopia should have envisioned development that
ensures a secure and sustainable environment. Similarly, the mission of the environmental policy
should have been designed to raise the awareness and empowerment of the
Ethiopian people to use environmentally sound technology and the best practices
in order to achieve sustainable development. This would include using good
management, conservation, and monitoring in order to protect the natural
resources of the country (EPA, 2006).
Unlike the Environmental Protection Policy which lacks
specific vision and mission statements, the Environmental Impact Assessment
(EIA), begun by the Environmental Protection Authority includes Procedural
Guidelines as a prerequisite for the approval of new development activities and
projects in any sector. To be well-designed, the EIA has very specific vision
and mission statements. Its vision is to “…see a clean and healthy environment
by eliminating or, when possible minimizing pollutants at their sources. Its mission statement is to enforce the Pollution
Control Proclamation and related laws, in order to eliminate or …minimize
pollutants that generated from industries, agricultural activities, service
rendering organizations and urban areas and enhance the heath
and wellbeing of the citizens” (Ethiopia Environmental Protection Authority,
2006). To realize the mission statements,
the EIA included the following objectives and goals:
·
Promote development that is sustainable and
optimize resource use and management opportunities
·
Protect the productivity and capacity of
natural systems and ecological processes which maintain their functions
·
Ensure environmental concerns are explicitly
addressed and incorporated into the decision-making process
·
Develop, implement and measure programs that
promote management systems for the environment
·
Prevent or minimize or offset the adverse impacts
of municipal waste and other potential pollutants
·
Prevent the adverse effects of developmental
proposals that may generate hazardous substances or waste. (See for example,
The Ethiopia Environmental Protection Authority, 2006)
As practiced by other developing countries (See Kofi and Desta, 1998), the
Environmental Impact Assessment generally includes: a) an assessment of strategic
environmental policies and strategies (refers to a proactive approach for
integrating environmental considerations with higher levels of decision-making in
the development of policies and plans); b) regional, sectional development for
an EIA (the concept of regional planning
that integrates environmental concerns with plans for developing a specific
geographic region); c) project-level EIA
effects (refers to development activity and the impact that it exerts on the
receiving environment). In other words,
the EIA determines: 1) social impacts on health, demography, work, recreation,
consumption, culture, and values; 2) economic impacts on markets, technologies,
resource management, industrial structure, regional development, business
practices, and trade; and 3) environmental impacts on ecosystems, habitats,
resources, air, water, soil.
EIA in Ethiopia is
voluntary and is not legally binding. It is only applicable to large projects,
and ascertains environmental impacts of development activities and how to
mitigate negative impacts early in the project planning cycle. The developers
of these large projects are required to take an “Initial Environmental
Examination (IEE)” in order to determine whether or not a given project
requires full Environmental Impact Assessment. As narrated by Tekelemichael, however, the EPA was created to assist
developers in addressing environmental issues related to the development of
their projects and in meeting environmental impact assessment requirements (2006).
It is further alleged by the Ethiopian Government that the environmental impact
assessment process included the participation of local populations in project
planning and design. Thus, properly-conducted EIA lessens conflicts by promoting
community participation and informing decision makers, thus helping to lay a
suitable foundation for environmentally sound projects.
In general, the environmental impact assessment process
ensures:
·
Screening: responsible agencies carry out an appropriate
assessment of all significant environmental consequences
·
Timing:
assessments are available early enough for use in the preparation of the
strategic decisions
·
Environmental scoping: the developer
provides his judgment of whether or not an initiative should proceed, or if his
objectives could be achieved in a more environmentally friendly way (i.e.,
through alternative initiatives or approaches)
·
Other factors:
sufficient information is available concerning other factors, including
socio-economic conditions, either parallel to or integrated into the assessment
·
Study phase: the output of the study is
reviewed by the Competent Agency;
·
Review: the
quality of the process and information is safeguarded by efficient review
mechanisms
·
Participation:
sufficient information for all legitimate stakeholders (including the public)
is available early enough to be used efficiently in the decision-making
process.
·
Documentation:
results are identifiable, understandable, and available to all parties affected
by the decision;
·
Decision-making and accountability: it is clear to all stakeholders and all parties how the
consequences of the decision were taken
into account;
·
Post-decision: sufficient
information on the actual impacts of implementing certain strategies is available
to judge whether the decision should be amended, Dalal-Clayton,
B. and Bass, S. (2002); and Tekelemichael,
Y. (2006).
In simple terms, the distinguishing characteristics of a
systematic, analytical, and practical Environmental Impact Assessment process
need to be:
·
Purposive- should
inform decision-makers and result in appropriate levels of environmental
protection and community well-being;
·
Rigorous- should employ methodologies and techniques
appropriate to address the problem being investigated
·
Practical-
should result in providing information that is acceptable and useful to
investors faced with problems and needing solutions
·
Relevant- should
provide sufficient, reliable and usable information for development planning
and decision making
·
Efficient- should
achieve the objectives of EIA within the limits of available, information,
time, resources and methodology
·
Adaptive- should
be adjusted to the realities, issues and circumstances of the proposals under
review without compromising the integrity of the process
·
Participants- should
provide appropriate opportunities to inform and involve the interested and
affected populations, and their input and concerns should be addressed
explicitly in the documentation and the decision-making
·
Integrated- should address the interrelationships of social, economic,
and environmental aspects
·
Credible- should
be carried out with professionalism, rigor, fairness, objectivity impartiality,
and balance, and be subject to independent checks and verification
·
Transparent- should
have clear, easily understood requirements for EIA content; ensure public
access to information; identify the factors that are to be taken into account
in decision-making and acknowledge limitations and difficulties ( See for
example, Nalini Bhat,
Technical EIA Guidance Manual, 2009)
Based on the above analysis, the long-term strategic
objectives of Ethiopia’s Environmental Impact Assessment are congruent with the
mission statement but they do not seem to be very realistic. They are hardly
measurable and there is no time frame for achieving the stated objectives. Assuming
that the Ethiopian Government is on the right track, it does not appear to have
worked out the enforcement capacity, or trained human resources, or established
the technical and scientific base for setting standards to measure compliance.
Finally, workable appeal and grievance procedures have hardly materialized.
Therefore, given
that the EIA should be introduced early in the project cycle and must be
an integral part of the projects’ pre-feasibility and feasibility stages, 1) do
multinationals operating in Ethiopia ever submit in advance the design and engineering, implementation,
monitoring, and evaluation of their projects to concerned authorities, and 2)
do the Ethiopian authorities regulate or enforce compliance to the established environmental
standards and guidelines in order to assess the environmental footprints of the
multinational corporations operating in
the country? To be continued.
References:
Dala-Clayton, B and Bass, S. (2002). Sustainable Development Strategies: A Resource Book. London: Earthscan.
Ethiopian Protection Agency, (2006). Ethiopian
Environmental Protection Authority. Retrieved
July 7, 2010 from http://www.epa.gov.et/epa/ department /eia
Ethiopian Environmental Protection Authority
(EPA) (2010). Environment for Development. About EPA. Retrieved July 1, 2010 from http://www.epa.gov.et/About EPA.htm
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
(April 2, 1997). Environmental Policy.
Addis Ababa: Environmental
Protection Authority in Collaboration with the Ministry of Economic Development
and Cooperation.
Kofi, T. and Desta,
A. (1998). The
Saga of African Underdevelopment: A viable Approach for Africa’s Sustainable
Development in the 21st Century. Trenton, NJ: Africa World
Press.
Nalini, Bhat, (2009). Technical EIA Guidance Manual for Cement Industry. Hyderabad, India: IL & FS Ecosmart Limited.
Tekelemichael, Y. “Current
Status of the Environmental Impact Assessment System in Ethiopia” from UNEP EIA Training Resource Manual: Case
studies from Developing Countries.