OFFICIAL UNDERLINES IMPORTANCE OF
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT

Ethiopian Parliament, December, 1999

Dr. Tewoldeberhan Gebreegziabher, general manager of the Environmental Protection Authority, has said impact assessment directives and a law have been prepared to enable professionals to implement the task.

The directives contain as their area of focus agriculture, industry, transport, mining, dam building and irrigation sectors which are believed to be the prime movers of the country's economy, the manager said in his performance report to the House of Peoples Representatives on 14 December.

Investors are using this documents either voluntarily or through consultation with the Authority which assists them by evaluating their projects from the standpoint of environmental safety, he added.

Dr. Tewoldeberhan noted that these documents would be binding upon getting the consensus of pertinent bodies and when approved by the Environmental Protection Council.

Legal provisions related to environment protection are spread over various laws as the task itself used to be handled by many sectoral offices.

These provisions are found to be not reliable instruments for their target was reducing damages on human life and property and not redressing environmental degradation, conserving natural resources or promoting sustainable use of such resources, the manager explained.

As a result, he said, an environmental protection law has been drafted to guide, among others, measures, information exchange, incentives and mechanisms of halting environmentally unfriendly practices.

That sectoral and multisectoral environmental issues are brought under a single and comprehensive legal framework is essential for the successful implementation of the law and the prevalence of a just functioning, according to the manager.

He said a forum was prepared for federal and state public offices, non-governmental organizations, trade unions, and the chamber of commerce to enrich the document. The World conservation Union and the World Bank have also forwarded important suggestions.

In spite of the fact that environmental problems are mainly related to rural areas, special attention was given to the problem in the capital with a view to properly manage settlement and industrial activities from the outset, Dr. Tewoldeberhan said.

Accordingly, he said, professionals were assigned and financial assistance made to the Addis Ababa Environmental Protection Bureau to assist its effort to prepare the metropolis environmental law.

The law will contain, among others, provisions related to waste disposal management and control, environmental impact assessment as well as green areas development and conservation, the general manager highlighted.