Chapter 1: introduction

3.3 Guidelines

3.3.1 National Environmental Impact Assessment Guidelines, 1993

To address environmental impact assessment as envisaged by the National Conservation Strategy (NCS) 1987, National Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Guidelines were endorsed by the Government of Nepal on 27 September 1992 and gazetted on 19 July in 1993, Volume 43, Number 5. The guideline provides criteria for project screening and initial environmental examination (IEE). This includes scoping, preparation of ToR for EIA, methods of EIA report, impact identification and prediction, impact mitigation measures, review of the draft EIA report, impact monitoring, evaluation of impact studies, impact auditing, community participation and schedules and annexes to IEE and EIA.

Many of the guideline provisions are now included in the EPA, 1997, and EPR, 1997. EIA in Nepal has now become legally mandatory. However, as the National Environmental Guidelines, 1993 have not been issued under the Environmental Protection Act (1997); they do not have any legal force. It is a policy guideline issued by the Government that is still followed in matters which are not covered by the EPA (1997) and EPR (1997).

3.3.2 EIA Guidelines for Forestry Sector, 1995

The EIA guidelines for the forestry sector aim to facilitate the sustainable use of forest resources for socio-economic development and to meet the basic needs of the communities for forest products. The positive and negative impacts of any development project in the forest area are to be identified and plans must be developed to minimize environmental damage, conserving genetic resources and bio-diversity.

3.3.3 Department of Electricity Development Manuals

The Department of Electricity Development (DoED), Government of Nepal, in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development and International Resource Group has developed a series of manuals for the conduction and preparation of EIA and IEE documents in the power and transmission line development sector. Important manuals developed are:

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  Manual for Preparing Terms of References (ToR) for Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of Hydropower Projects, with Notes on EIA Report Preparation, (2001)
  
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  Manual for Preparing Environmental Management Plan (EMP) for Hydropower Projects, (2002)
  
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  Manual for Developing and Reviewing Water Quality Monitoring Plans and Results for Hydropower Projects, (2002)
  
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  Manual for Conducting Public Hearings in the Environmental Impact Assessment Process for Hydropower Projects, (2004)
  
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  Manual for Addressing Gender Issues in Environmental Impact Assessment/Initial Environmental examination for Hydropower Projects, (2005)
  

The manuals set forth by DoED provide systematic details of methods and tools for the conduction of IEE/EIA public hearing, IEE/EIA level assessment of gender related issues, preparation of IEE/EIA level environmental management plans, review of IEE/EIA level water quality assessment, and preparation of IEE/EIA ToR.

3.3.4 Department of Forest Guidelines

The Department of Forest has made public various guidelines with relevance to environmental assessment of the development projects which are as follows:

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  Forest Products Collection, Sale and Distribution Guidelines, (1998);
  
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  Community Forest Guidelines, (2009);
  
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  Community Forest Inventory Guidelines, (2005);
  
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  Guidelines for use of forest area for development works (2006)
  

The forest produces collection; sale and distribution guideline details (clauses 3 to 10) various procedures and formats for getting approval for vegetation clearance, delineation of lands for vegetation clearance, evaluation of wood volume among others, and government offices and officials responsible for the approval, delineation and evaluation. These provisions have direct relevance to the development of the project and need compliance to these provisions.

The objective of the community forestry guideline is to develop the community forest through the active participation of the poor, disadvantaged, indigenous, Janajati, Madhesi, women, communities lagging behind due to various reasons and the traditional community forest users. The guideline sets process and procedures to identify and capacitate the community groups, establish and register the community forest user groups, preparation of the forest management plan and registration, regulations and implementation of the forest management plan, amendments of regulation and management plan, and roles and responsibilities of the forest stakeholders. The community forest guideline was endorsed by GoN in 2009. The guideline provides clear direction and demarcation for development works and projects. It was developed to maximize people participation and protect the sovereignty and rights of the local people on natural resources: community forests and associated natural resources as per the ILO 169 convention. Moreover, it helps to support the Tenth Five Year Plan and Three Year Interim Plan on internal planning, development and utilization of forest resources for addressing the millennium development goal through upliftment of the poverty level of the local people. Apart from it, the guideline covers various aspects of forest management mainly on sustainable forest management, good governance and livelihood of local people.

Community Forest Inventory Guidelines details the processes and procedures for evaluating the forest stock and it’s harvesting potentials while preparing the operational plans with an objective to ensure sustainable harvesting by limiting the extraction with the annual increment.

Guideline for the use of the forest area for development projects reiterates the use of the forest area only if other options are not available. The projects requiring the forest land area have to make alternative studies to minimise the forest land use areas. Development projects of national priority will be allocated with such lands on the decision of the Ministry of Forests. To compensate the forest area and resource lost the project proponent has to comply with the following provisions:

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  The propnent has to afforest the area equal to the forest area lost at the minimum, if the forest area occupied by the project is a barren land. The land area for afforestation will have to be decided based on the discussion with the district forest office. Or the proponent could deposit the required amount as per the forest norms to the district forest office.
  
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  The proponent should plant 25 trees for every lost tree of above 30cm DBH in areas designated by the district forest office and look after the plantation for 5 years to ensure their protection and growth of every planted tree. Or the proponent should deposit the required amount for plantation and protection for five years to the district forest office.
  
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  The proponent will have to compensate the lost forest land for 30 years. The compensation amount for the forest land per ha will be as per the provisions of leasehold forest.
  

3.3.5 MOE Guide to Environmental Management Plan of Hydropower Projects, 2006

The guide sets out the guideline for the formulation of the environmental management plan of hydropower development projects relating to project management structure, roles and responsibilities of the stakeholders and the project proponent. It provides the framework for monitoring and auditing principles and planning.