Cambodia: SLP Environmental Offer High Quality ESIA Services Across Cambodia

Cambodia: SLP Environmental Offer High Quality ESIA Services Across Cambodia

Press Release: 1st November 2009

Environmental & Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) refers to the formal process used to predict the environmental & social consequences of a proposed project or activitysuch as oil and gas exploration or the construction of a new industrial facility. The primary objective of an ESIA is to ensure that the potential impacts of a project on the natural environment and local communities, whether positive and negative, are assessed at the planning and decision making stage, thus enabling appropriate measures to be put in place to prevent, limit or manage any potentially negative impacts in accordance with the principles of sustainable development.

As no two projects are the same it follows that ESIA is a tiered process that aims to focus the efforts of the work where they are most needed through a process of incremental steps. If a Screening Assessment indicates a project requires an EIA then the next stage is the Scoping Study which seeks to identify the significant environmental aspects associated with the construction, operational and decommissioning phases of the project under assessment.

Desk and field studies are undertaken to establish an environmental and socio economic cultural Baseline against which the potential impacts of the project or activity on potentially vulnerable receptors (e.g. local ecosystems or householders) can be assessed. This stage will generally include the collection of air, soil and water samples for chemical analysis; ecological and cultural surveys; and consultations with local communities and administrative bodies to establish a stakeholder socio economic profile. Public Consultation constitutes a critical part of the process and the views of local residents and other stakeholders are canvassed via surveys and public meetings so that their concerns can be addressed in the EIA.

The environmental consultant then evaluates the scheme with regard to its potential impacts on the identified vulnerable receptors and drafts a report which clearly identifies the direct and indirect, short and long term, environmental socio economic & health impacts associated with the proposed scheme. The EIA report will then make recommendations on how any identified adverse effects of the scheme can be prevented, reduced or managed, and the positive aspects enhanced. Our EIA reports include a detailed Environmental Management Plan (EMP) which details the measures that will be taken to monitor and validate the efficacy of the environmental control and management recommendations contained in the report for both the construction and operational phases of the project.

SLP Environmental Consultants (Cambodia) offer the full range of multi-disciplinary services that are required to deliver Environmental & Social Impact Assessments (ESIA) that comply with both international best practice standards (WB, ADB, IEMA) and the relevant local regulatory requirements. Our expert in-house personnel and approved affiliates have comprehensive experience in delivering multi-disciplinary EIA and ESIA projects for a diverse client base across a range of sectors, including; petrochemical, energy, transport, manufacturing, waste, pharmaceutical, real estate, minerals, water and telecoms. We also offer Health Impact Assessments (HIA), and our environmental toxicologists can, where necessary, utilise the latest human health risk assessment modelling tools to assess the degree of risk to vulnerable human receptors.

SLP Environmental was established in SE Asia by international environmental experts in January 2008 and our guiding principle is ‘Environmental Improvement through Technical Excellence’. Our Directors are Chartered Environmentalists (CEnv) and Chartered Scientists (CSci) as well as members of the Environmental Compliance Consultants Group. We are uniquely placed in the South East Asian marketplace to deliver high quality environmental consultancy services as we combine internationally acquired expertise and experience, with an in-depth understanding of South East Asia’s regulatory frameworks and cultural sensitivities.

SLP offer Environmental and Social Impact Assessment services in Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma), Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.