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R&D in Environmental Impact Assessment for

Sustainable Development

Prof. Dr. Mohamed Saber

National Research Center Egypt

Outlines of Presentation

Role of R & D in Achieving Sustainable

Development

Sustainable Development Concepts'

EIA as a Tool for Achieving Sustainable

Development (Egyptian Perspectives)

Some Egyptian Successful Stories

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Role of R & D in Achieving

Sustainable Development

R&D definition

R & D are a practice predominantly involved in generating

and transferring modern technology to end-users

R & D are a fashionable realm of scientists, but rather a

dual process requiring broad range of actors, users or

stakeholders

More importantly, R & D redefine the responsibility of local

people from being just recipients and beneficiaries to

actors who prompt and provide strategic inputs

R & D explore and clarifies null hypothesis, designs,

experimentation and efficiency of performance

R & D improve synthesizing and theorizing of all the

concepts of sustainable development

Now we witness a growing worldwide interest in the use of

R & D in achieving sustainable development

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Main roles of R & D in achieving

sustainable development

R & D sustain generating, sharing, exchanging, utilizing

knowledge and appropriate technology

R & D give rise to a wide range of knowledge inventions

ranging from technological to socio-institutional

R & D shape synergy between local competences,

resources and innovations

R & D collect diverse sources of knowledge from local to

global science

R & D necessitate an all-inclusive perspective of both the

biophysical and social spheres

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Relation between R & D and Sustainable

development

R & D as pool of concepts, practices, norms and attitudes

inspire population to improve their knowledge for

sustainable development

R & D pursue broader and profound participation of user

groups in the process of exploring and improvements in

local situations as well as recognizing needs and

opportunities

R &D are vital in numerous socio-cultural, political,

economic dimensions such as community structures,

gender, collective action, property rights, power relations,

policy and governance

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Role of R & D in achieving Sustainable

development

Respond to problems, needs and opportunities identified

by the users

Identify and evaluate technology options that are on

inherited local knowledge and available resources

Ensure that technical innovations are appropriate from

local socio-economic, cultural and political contexts

Promote wider sharing and use of innovations

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Role of R & D in achieving Sustainable

development

R & D phases and activities

Assessment and diagnosis

Experimenting technology options

Studying sustaining local innovations

Dissemination and scaling up of innovations

Managing R & D for sustainable development includes

project development, resource mobilization, data

management, monitoring and evaluation, capacity

development

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Conclusions

R & D programs reinforcement sustainable development of

projects

R & D support finding better ways to preserve materials

particularly those of critical importance to the nation’s cultural

hiritage

R & D find solutions to complex problems often requires

forming interdisciplinary teams, bringing together participants

with expertise

R & D defend sustainable development by supporting social

equating, environmental conservation and setting feasible

economy

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Sustainable Development

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Environmental conservation or economic

development

Following the publication of Carson's Silent Spring in 1962, attention

was drew towards the relationship between economic growth and

environmental degradation

Arguments started at UN Stockholm conference 1972 without reaching

any accepted definition

Hot arguments' continued for several years in many following

international and regional meeting about the concept of sustainability

In 1987 Barbier stated that the goals of environmental conservation and

economic development are not conflicting and could be reinforcing each

other.

At Rio summit 1992 sustainability was for the first time defined as the

development that meets the needs and aspirations of the present

without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own

needs. It envisions a desirable future state for human societies in which

living conditions and resource-use continue to meet human needs

without undermining the "integrity, stability and beauty" of environment

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1- Appropriate technology assist and sustain people to meet

their developmental needs

2- There are six core indicators for appropriate technology

represented by international trade and investment, economic

policy, climate change and energy, measurement and

assessment, natural resource management, and

communication technologies in sustainable development.

3- Integral elements for a sustainable development are R & D

and innovation. A telling example for that is the European

environmental research and innovation policy, which aims at

defining and implementing a transformative agenda to

greening the economy and the society as a whole so to

achieve a truly sustainability

Core concepts in sustainable

development

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EIA as a Tool for Achieving

Sustainable Development

(Egyptian Perspectives)

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EIA Definition

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) refers to the

evaluation of the environmental impacts likely to raise

from any project significantly affecting environmental

quality

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Basic principles

EIA establishes a systematic method for incorporating environmental and sustainable considerations into decision-making

EIA provides the necessary elements to make an informed decision

EIA can

Modify and improve the project design

Ensure efficient resource use to achieve sustainable

development

Enhance social equity

Identify the measures for monitoring and managing

environmental impacts

Provide project sustainability

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Why an EIA?

Environment impact assessment seeks to:

Ensuring that the developmental options under consideration are environmentally, socially and economically sound and sustainable

Ensuring that any possibly adverse environmental consequences are recognized early in the project cycle and are taken into account in the project design

Identify ways to improve projects environmentally and minimize or compensate adverse impacts

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Projects classification

In the Egyptian legislations are classified to:

White projects include establishments and project with minor adverse environmental impacts

Grey projects includes establishments to be screened for major adverse environmental impacts. The establishment is categorized by activities, quantity of production and project size. The applicant must carry out a more elaborate environmental screening (Format A)

Black projects includes establishments or projects which due to their potential and sustainable environmental impacts require a full EIA study. The establishments are screened by activities, quantity of production and project size (Format B)

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FORMS

Environmental Screening Form (A) (General Information)

1- Project title

2- Type of Project ( Residential, Commercial, Tourist, Industrial, Others)

3- Project Developer/applicant

Name of Owner & contact person

Address Fax No. Phone No.

4- Estimated capital investment /L.E.

5- Competent Licensing authority

6- New Project or extension of existing project

7- Project phases and expected starting date

(Construction) - (Operation) (Future expansion)

8- Brief project description : Production capacity- Raw materials- Sources of Energy)

9- Project Site location

Address

Total Project area/m2

1O- Any additional information

Certification

I hereby certify that the information given in accurate and true to the best of my knowledge , and in case of any consequent change, prompt notification will be made to the EEAA.

Certified by

I.D NO. / PASPORT No.

Reference

Date

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Environmental Screening FORM B

A- General Information

1- Project title:

2- Type of project: (infrastructure, petroleum and mining, tourism, industrial, etc

3- Name of the owner (individual, company, etc)

Name of the person in charge (the responsible person):

Address: Telephone No: Fax No:

Project budget

Competent Administrative Authority

New or Extension

Project phase and expected starting date: Construction – operation - - Future extension

4-Brief project description

Project basic feature

Objectives

Need of justification

Basic components

Technology system

5- Alternatives (Site – Technology- Design)

Similar previous similar studies

6- Location of the project

Address of the project:

Total area (please attach a map that clearly shows the location of the project in relation to residential areas and neighboring

activities. The map should have a suitable and clear scale and should be approved by the competent administrative authority).

7- A brief description of the construction phases and basic construction methods)

(Inputs during construction and operation)

In case of industrial projects, raw materials & for other projects, state kind of resources)

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Inputs of water, energy, and manpower, see table 1

Inputs during construction and operation phases

End products (Industrial project): or other outputs (all projects), see table 2.

8- Other information deemed important particularly with regard to safeguarding personnel and

environment e.g. safety and fire fighting facilities

B: Brief description of the environment (baseline information)

General area description and most important features

(Present infrastructure and services) water- electricity- sewage – solid wastes – hospitals

Fragile or sensitive ecosystems (critical or high valued ecosystems) that are present

Description of archeological & historical areas)

Description of protected areas

Description of recreational & tourist areas

Preliminary analysis of impacts

1- Air Quality (potential effects on air quality : (Construction phase - Operation phase – Site - Neighboring area - Transboundary

2- Clarify whether projects or sites that are considered sensitive exist nearby the project sites (associates, schools, residential areas…etc

3- Water Quality

Will the activity cause a significant change on the water availability, use, hydrology, drainage, temperature or quality?

Are there existing hazard probabilities- explain the type, quantity and impact

Will the activity affect surface water use?: Fisheries .- Tourism & secretion - Other activities

4- Soil Quality

Would the activity provoke a significant change on land use, landscape, fertility, vegetation cover, biodiversity or quality?

Please identify the impact of changes of soil quality on different activities

5- Please explain if there are any other potential or significant impacts resulting from this activity

Mitigating measures : Air emissions - Waste Water - Solid and hazardous waste - Other mitigating measures

Inter-institutional and public involvement

Is there any contact with public authorities or others concerning the project

Certification

I hereby certify that the information given is accurate and true to the best of my knowledge, and in case of any consequent

change, prompt notification will be made to EEAA.

Certified by

ID No. /Passport No

Reference

Date

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Socio-culture environment (present and

projected aspects)

Nearby communities, year-round and seasonal land use,

planned development activities, community structure,

population, employment and labor market, income

distribution, goods and services, recreation, public health

Cultural habitats, archeologically and historically

significant sites

Indigenous people and traditional tribal lands

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Framework of EIA

Identification of how significant are the impacts

Generation of information and data base

Evaluation of impacts

Identification and evaluation of mitigation measures

and alternatives

Developing of a monitoring plan

Preparation of an EIA report

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Biological Environment

Biodiversity particularly rare or endangered

species within or in the areas adjacent to the

establishment

Sensitive habitats

Species of commercial importance affected by

the establishment.

Invasive species

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Potential impacts

An identification of the impacts which are unavoidable or irreversible is imminent

Wherever possible, quantitative description of the adverse impacts in terms of environmental costs and benefits are useful

Impact analysis of industrial projects should be divided between construction and operation impacts

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Determination of Adverse impacts

Identifying all significant changes which the project will incur

These changes would include, but not limited to, changes on employment opportunities, wastewater effluents, air emission, solid waste, land use, infrastructure, exposure to diseases, risk of industrial hazards, noise, traffic and socio-cultural behavior

Assessment of the impacts from changes brought up by the project on the baseline environmental conditions

Analysis distinguishing between positive and negative impacts, direct and indirect impacts, intended and non-intended impacts as well as immediate and long term impacts should also be done.

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Mitigation of adverse impacts

For a proposed project, a recommendation of feasible cost-effective measures to prevent or reduce significant adverse impacts to acceptable levels are required

An inclusion of measures for emergency response to accidental events, should be set as appropriate

Estimating the impacts and costs of these measures and of the training requirements as well

Consideration of compensation to affected parties for impacts which could not be mitigated

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Objectives and Benefits of EIA

EIA is a safeguard tool for developers indicating that Protection is better than treatment

EIA financial loads of curing environmental impacts are always very high, e.g., treatment costs are usually higher than tacking precaution, especially at the project's early stages

EIA could be visualized as a dose of vaccine given to an infant to protect him/her from invasion of dangerous virus that could cause vital physical and financial defects at the coming stages of his life. As with vaccine, the ramification of neglected or skipping an EIA are serious

EIA strategies offer the potential to cut emissions and pollution thus reducing the firm's future compliance and liability costs

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Development of a monitoring plan

A detailed plan to monitor the implementation of mitigating the adverse impacts of the project during construction and operation should be prepared including luding the following aspects:

1- Hydrology, ground water, drainage and effluents

2- System performance

3- Public health

4- Flora and fauna

Together with estimates of capital and operating costs

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EIA report

Information contained in the report should be arranged and resented to the responsible licensing authorities in the following format:

Executive summary

Policy, legal and administrative framework

Description of the proposed project

Description of the environment

Significant environmental impacts

Analysis of alternatives

Mitigating management plan

Monitoring plan

Interagency and public/NGO's involvement

Non- technical summary of the report for political and public use

List of references

Appendices:

- List of environmental assessment prepared

- Records of interagency and public/NGO's communications

- Data on unpublished document references

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Egyptian Successful Stories

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This work was produced through UNDP, GEF, PIMS no. 4864.

Scientific Committee

1- Professor Hamdallah Zedan

Head of the National Biodiversity committee and the former assistant secretary

general of the United Nation - CBD secretary general.

2- Professor Mostafa Fouda

Minster of environment advisor for nature conservation

3-Professor Mohamed Saber

National research center- biodiversity expert & NBSAP consultant

4-Engineer Wahed Salama

Former manager of Nature Conservation Sector, EEAA

5-Dr Khaled Allam Harhash

Manager of genetic resources department, EEAA

6-Dr Tarek A Temraz

NBSAP, project manager

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SAVE YOUR MONEY BY following R & D and EIA

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