NCEA newsletter - November 2018

Public hearing ESIA offshore gas in Senegal

St. Louis 12-16 November 2018 - The NCEA attended the public hearing for an offshore gas extraction project near the coast of St.Louis. For the old capital of Senegal the project offers opportunities but will also impact the daily life of the fishermen. It was encouraging to see the great interest of the citizens in the effects of the project, as testified by the large number of interventions on various topics. The NCEA will soon share its advice on the offshore gas extraction project with the ministry of Environment.

SEA review workshop in Rwanda

Rubavu, 12-16 November 2018 - Rwanda is in the process of regulating SEA. The environment agency REMA has asked the NCEA to help develop its capacity to administer it. In a first joint activity, the NCEA facilitated a review workshop focusing on the Sebeya Catchment Plan, in which SEA elements are embedded. Jointly, the plan developers and the plan reviewers defined a review framework, looking at which SEA elements are crucial for decision making on the plan. This shared approach was much appreciated by both parties. The actual review - carried out by REMA with assistance of the NCEA - is expected shortly.

ESIA/SEA review workshop in Mozambique

Bilene, 5-7 November 2018 - WWF Mozambique occasionally receives ESIA/SEA reports for review. To carry out these reviews,  WWF  requested the NCEA for a 3-day workshop for its staff and CSO partners to:

• raise awareness on the importance of ESIA/SEA review;
• exchange experiences on ESIA/SEA review in Mozambique and elsewhere;
• jointly apply review guidelines and draw lessons for future reviews.

The workshop took place in the framework of the SRJS programme. In addition to WWF staff and CSO partners, also MITADER staff (ministry of environment) participated in the workshop. 

Seminar ESIA for infrastucture in Central Africa

Brazzaville, 13-16 November 2018 - Participants from Congo, Cameroon, DRC and CAR discussed enthusiastically possibilities, cases and lessons learnt on ESIAs for sustainable infrastructure development. It was the topic of SEEAC'S  10th international seminar, in its role as regional EA knowledge centre. Preceding the conference, SEEAC had organised a workshop on monitoring and evaluation of ESIAs. The NCEA presented cases both at the workshop and at the seminar. 

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Expert meeting sustainable infrastructure in Fuzhou, China

Fuzhou, China, 22-23 October 2018 - How can an integrated approach on infrastructure contribute to the SDGs? This was one of the central questions at the international expert meeting on sustainable infrastructure in Fuzhou. The NCEA gave a presentation on the subject of added value of SEA as a legal decision-support tool. It contributes to strategic and integrated infrastructure planning in doing the ‘right’ projects instead of doing projects right.    

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