ID: 2003
Presenting Author: Rufus Sha'Ato
Session: 678 - Advancing government approaches to effective science communication in Impact Assessment
Status: pending
The effectiveness of EIA as a tool in environmental management depends largely on the effectiveness and adequacy of the enabling governance structures.
Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is a vital instrument for promoting sustainable development and economic growth without collateral breach of ecological integrity or social dislocation. Its effectiveness in the environmental management nexus largely depends on the enabling governance structures: the systems of rules, institutions, and processes that determine how environmental decisions are made and implemented. In 2003, the UK Government’s DFID’s State and Local Government Programme (SLGP) set forth to assist the Benue State Government develop a Solid Waste Management system through a Pilot Project. This was pursuant to the Programme’s poverty reduction and improved governance assistance Project in the State. The solid waste management system was preceded by expert studies, including an EIA to guide the design of a pilot Integrated Waste Treatment Facility. However, this project failed. This paper explores the governance issues and challenges that hindered the effective implementation of that pilot. It identifies the culprit governance constraints to include institutional weaknesses, legal inadequacies, limited public participation due poor communication mechanisms, corruption, and weak enforcement and concludes that absence of key governance reforms was responsible for the failure of that project; these reforms must precede any future attempt at remedying the situation. The ongoing World Bank’s Sustainable Procurement, Environmental and Social Standards Enhancement (SPESSE) Project in Nigeria has the potential to redress some of these governance issues.
Prof. Rufus Sha'Ato, Department of Environmental Sustainability
Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University, Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria
*+2348036196979; rshaato@uam.edu.ng
Coauthor 1: Prof. Adolphus Angol Naswem
Coauthor 2: Engr. Prof. Simon Verlumun Irtwange