038-i. Advisory review: EIA for coastal resource management - Sri Lanka

The NCEA issued an advisory review of an EIA for coastal resource management in Sri Lanka. It concluded that the EIA report is relatively well done given the current stage of the project, and that no serious adverse environmental impacts may be expected to undermine the project's objectives.

Advisory reports and other documents

Significant details

The Coastal Resource Management Project (CRMP) aims to improve sustainability of coastal resources. It does so by organizing coastal communities into associations and training these on how to generate an income and prevent coastal erosion. An EIA was prepared for this project.

The NCEA was invited by the Dutch government to advise on the quality of the EIA report. The aim of this review would be to check whether the report contains sufficient information to guarantee full integration of environmental considerations in decision-making.

The NCEA issued an advisory review in which it observed among others that:

• The EIA report is comprehensive but not site-specific;
• Therefore it does not allow for identification/formulation of site-specific adverse environmental impacts and mitigation measures;
• For the current stage of activities, the EIA report gives a good description of the problems and possible solutions;
• Although environmental impacts and possible mitigation measures are dealt with rather generally, the project is environmentally sound and technically feasible;

The NCEA's general conclusion is, therefore, that no serious environmental effects will undermine or hamper the achievement of the project's objectives, provided that:

• Detailed site-specific EIAs will be prepared as part of the design studies
• These EIAs meet the standards required for environmental clearance.

With regard to project implementation, the NCEA recommended to adopt a phased approach.

Parties involved

Members of the working group

Chair: Jan-Willem Kroon
Technical secretary: Ineke Steinhauer

Proponent and Component Authority

Further details

Country: Sri Lanka

Last modified: 02 Apr 2019