Impact Assessment

Development policies and programmes are all potentially capable of having negative impacts on both the environment and local communities. Whilst in the past programmes of environmental conservation and economic development paid little heed to their potential impact on society and the sustainability of interventions, the need to give adequate professional attention to these issues, early enough in the planning process, cannot be overstated.

The Environment and Development Group brings long ESIA experience to bear on the problems it tackles.

We have carried out social and environmental impact assessments of water projects (in Kenya, Lesotho and Mali), pipelines (Kenya, Cameroon), roads (Tobago, Kenya, DR Congo, Ivory Coast) and  wildlife and veterinary fences (Botswana, Kenya), and have established national norms for EIA procedures and trained staff in their use (Eritrea, Kenya, Zanzibar). 

In addition,  the Group's director led a 15 person, three year multi-disciplinary (EIA) team in the floodplain of the Nile in Southern Sudan in the early 1980s, investigating the environmental impact of the proposed Jonglei Canal, which would have diverted Nile waters past the great Nile swamps, the Sudd.