convention on environmental impact assessment in a transboundary context (espoo, 1991) unece...
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Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context
(Espoo, 1991)
UNECE Secretariatwww.unece.org/env/eia
Moscow, 21 September 2007
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Espoo Convention
• Espoo Convention and its status
• Transboundary EIA procedure• Bilateral & multilateral
agreements• Examples of Transboundary
EIAs
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Espoo Convention
• Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context
• Negotiated under auspices of UNECE, and UNECE provides Secretariat
• Adopted in 1991 in Espoo, Finland
• Entered into force in 1997 (16 Parties)
• Now 41 Parties, including the European Community
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SignedRatified, etc.Ratified Convention & 1st AmendmentRatified Convention & both amendments
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Transboundary EIA procedure
1. Application of the Convention (Art. 2.2, 2.5 / App. I+II)
2. Notification (Art. 3.1)
3. Confirmation of Participation (Art. 3.3)
4. Transmittal of Information (Art. 3.6)
5. Preparation of EIA Documentation (Art. 4 / App. II)
6. …
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Transboundary EIA procedure6. Distribution of EIA Documentation – for
participation of authorities & public of affected Party (Art. 4.2)
7. Public participation (Art. 3.8)
8. Consultation between Parties (Art. 5)
9. Final Decision (Art. 6.1)
10.Transmittal of Final Decision Documentation (Art. 6.2)
11.(Post-project Analysis (Art. 7.1 / App. V) – optional)
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Bilateral & Multilateral Cooperation
• Article 2.9: The provisions of this Convention shall not affect the right of particular Parties to implement, by bilateral or multilateral agreement where appropriate, more stringent measures than those of this Convention.
• Article 8: The Parties may continue existing or enter into new bilateral or multilateral agreements or other arrangements in order to implement their obligations under this Convention and under any of its protocols to which they are a Party. Such agreements or other arrangements may be based on the elements listed in Appendix VI.
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Examples of Transboundary EIA
Oil pipeline Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey
Danube Bridge, Romania & Bulgaria
Multipurpose hydropower, Croatia
Renovation of power plant, Estonia
Nuclear power plant, Finland
Flood prevention, Finland
Power line, Finland
Under-sea pipeline, Italy-Croatia
Kyrgyz-Chinese paper mill
Aggregates dredging in English Channel
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Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline
• Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey• Only Azerbaijan Party to
Convention• Special agreement was
ratified by Parliaments of all 3 countries
• Public participation/disclosure in all 3 countries (though not focussed on transboundary issues)
• Project proponent paid for all aspects and received about 3,000 comments
• Cost for this (& related project): US$1,500,000
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Bridge over River Danube• Between towns of Vidin (Bulgaria) and Calafat (Romania)• Agreement between Governments for bridge construction, with joint
EIA• Joint Working Group on environmental problems• Project Implementation & Management Units in competent
authorities• Proponent: Bulgarian Ministry of Transport & Communications• Public participation in each country• EIA in English, Bulgarian & Romanian• Costs covered by competent authorities• 17 comments received during 2 public hearings
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Multipurpose hydropower system on River Drava
• Proponent: Croatian Power Board• Affected Party: Hungary• EIA summary sent in English and other relevant
documentation sent in Croatian• Translation by Hungarian Ministry of Environment &
Water• Hungary allowed 60 days for comments on first
phase; organized a public hearing with participation of Croatian delegates in second phase
• Hungary produced 4000 booklets with questionnaire; received 25 written comments + oral comments
• Hungarian costs: €6,000 for the booklet, €10,000 for public hearing
• Difficulties included 10,000 pages of documentation, and long process
Photo: Arno Mohl
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Narva Power Programme• Proponent: Estonian Energy Ltd.,
partly owned by Estonian Ministry of Economy & Communication
• Affected Parties: Finland & Russian Federation (not Party)
• Bilateral agreement with Finland• Proponent provided English
translation of documentation• Finnish Ministry of Environment
sent draft EIA documentation to experts, environmental authorities & NGOs
• One month allowed for comments• Proponent received back
summary of comments
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Nuclear Power Plant (“Loviisa-3”), Finland
• Proponent: Fortum Power & Heat Oy
• Affected Party: Russian Federation (not Party)
• Proponent produced 100 booklets in Russian (€1,500)
• NGO in Russia organized public participation (€500)
• 60 days allowed for comments – 18 received
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Flood prevention dredging
• Proponent: Lapland Regional Environment Centre
• Finland & Sweden bilateral agreement on frontier River Tornio
• Finnish-Swedish Commission is competent authority
• Project planned in co-operation with Sweden
• Proponent translated full EIA documentation
• 17 weeks in total for public participation in Sweden
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Power line from Muhos-Torneå, Finland
• Proponent: Finnish Power Company, Fingrid Oyj
• Close to Swedish border• Alternative routes considered• Proponent translated EIA
documentation into Swedish• 17 weeks in total for public
participation in Sweden• Public participation cost
€8,000-10,000• Swedish (2nd language of
Finland) used in all communications
©Photo courtesy of US Department of Energy
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Undersea methane pipeline
• Joint Croatian-Italian private project
• Joint EIA and Joint Body• Information on the project
in the ‘other’ country provided to the public
• Proponent produced all documentation in Croatian and Italian
• Comments from public only on project in ‘own’ country
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Paper mill, Kyrgyzstan• Proponent: Chinese Company
“Complant” and Ministry of Foreign Trade & Industry, Kyrgyzstan (later a Party)
• Affected Party: Kazakhstan (later a Party)
• Trilateral (Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan) treaty on environmental protection includes obligation for joint state environmental expertise for projects with transboundary effects
• One NGO from Kazakhstan and one NGO from Kyrgyzstan
• Kazakhstan NGO organized NGO forum meeting and collected 58 comments
• All documentation in Russian, but poorly translated from Chinese
• Chinese representatives not open to public participation
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Dredging for aggregates in the English Channel, UK
• Proponent: Volker Dredging Ltd• Affected Parties: Belgium, Denmark
& Netherlands (Parties), France & Germany (Parties later)
• Proponent translated full EIA documentation, including non-technical summary, into Danish, French, German and Dutch
• 16 weeks in total for consultations• Comments from Dutch & French
competent authorities only• Translation & copying EIA
documentation: GB£50,000; newspaper advertising: GB£5,000
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Contacts
• For more about the Espoo Convention, visit our website: www.unece.org/env/eia
• Or email: [email protected]