Steps to establishing hydro power project on
Published On February 28, 2015 » 3083 Views» By Davies M.M Chanda » Features
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Environmental notes logoWart Hog receives visitors from the African Mining Consultants and started sharing why there have visited the office.
We are here to share with you Lufubu Power Company (LPC) in Zambia which will establish a hydro power project in the country’s Northern Province, which will be expected to help mitigate Zambia’s current hydro power deficit.
They will soon start carrying out a feasibility study for a possible development of a hydropower scheme on the Lufubu River.
The Consultants went on to say that LPC will soon start carrying out a feasibility study for a possible development of a hydropower scheme on the Lufubu River in the region. the project will be on the 20km Lufubu River, which flows into Lake Tanganyika and has a catchment area of 10,000 square kilometres.
After hearing all this good news from the Consultants on how the project will benefit Zambia once installed brought joy to Wart Hog but wait a minute.
Wart Hog started thinking to get more information on the project, so the first question was have you done the Environmental impact assessment (EIA) which is used to identify the environmental and social impacts of a proposed project prior to decision-making in order to predict environmental impacts at an early stage in project planning and design, while Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is used at the policy, and manly at planning and programming levels.
So Wart Hog asked the Consultants if this has been put in place but being the two which should come first, one of the consultant asked it took time for Wart Hog to answer but Wart Hog shared with the team on SEA & EIA and the important of these tools for a project and also for ownership to the community.
SEA is a systematic decision support process, aiming to ensure that environmental and possibly other sustainability aspects are considered effectively in policy, plan and programme making.
SEA is an impact assessment tool that is strategic in nature and has the objective of facilitating environmental integration and the assessment of the opportunities and risks of strategic actions in a sustainable development framework.
The strategic action are strongly linked to the formulation of policies, and they are developed in a context of planning and programming procedures.
The structure of SEA (under the Directive) is based on the following phases: Screening, investigation of whether the plan or programme falls under the SEA legislation, Scoping, defining the boundaries of investigation, assessment and assumptions required.
Documentation of the state of the environment, effectively a baseline on which to base judgments, Determination of the likely (non-marginal) environmental impacts, usually in terms of Direction of Change rather than firm figures,
Informing and consulting the public, influencing “decision taking” based on the assessment and, monitoring of the effects of plans and programmes after their implementation.
While the Environmental impact assessment is the formal process used to predict the environmental consequences (positive or negative) of a plan, policy, program, or project prior to the decision to move forward with the proposed action.
Formal impact assessments may be governed by rules of administrative procedure regarding public participation and documentation of decision making, and may be subject to judicial review.
An impact assessment may propose measures to adjust impacts to acceptable levels or to investigate new technological solutions.
The purpose of the assessment is to ensure that decision-makers consider the environmental impacts when deciding whether or not to proceed with a project.
The International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) defines an environmental impact assessment as “the process of identifying, predicting, evaluating and mitigating the biophysical, social, and other relevant effects of development proposals prior to major decisions being taken and commitments made.
EIAs are unique in that they do not require adherence to a pre-determined environmental outcome, but rather they require decision-makers to account for environmental values in their decisions and to justify those decisions in light of detailed environmental studies and public comments on the potential environmental impacts.
For more information contact: Wildlife & Environmental Conservation Society of Zambia, Wart Hog, P.O. Box 30255, Lusaka, Zambia.
Telefax: 260-211-251630, Cell: 0977-780770 E-mail: wecsz@coppernet.zm

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