USAID-supported Mekong Partnership for the Environment partner EarthRights International is bringing a new tool to communities across the Mekong region. On 10 November 2016, EarthRights held a workshop on “Community Engagement in Environment Impact Assessment in Cambodia and other Mekong Countries” in Stung Treng province, Cambodia.
More than 40 participants from local NGOs and affected communities in Cambodia attended. The specific objectives were to disseminate the recently-developed Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in the Mekong Region manual, to exchange ideas on how to advance the inclusion of community-based approaches into formal EIA processes, and to strengthen networking among CSOs and other stakeholders from Cambodia and the Mekong region.
Communities and youth representatives shared their experiences on engaging in EIA processes and highlighted its weaknesses, while suggesting integrating community-based research and impact assessment into the formal EIA process. In addition, the context of EIA in China and of examples from large-scale hydropower dam and energy investment projects in the region were also shared at the meeting.
The Mekong EIA Manual provides a compilation of EIA laws, policies, and regulations from across the six Mekong counties, and has been developed collaboratively with members of ERI’s Mekong Legal Network, specifically targeting government decision-makers, investors, lawyers and other professionals working on the implementation of EIA. The Manual can be downloaded here: https://www.earthrights.org/publication/environmental-impact-assessment-mekong-region
This is an outreach announcement from the USAID–funded Mekong Partnership for the Environment(MPE), a key supporter of The Mekong Eye.
Lead photo: Community Engagement in EIA: Dissemination workshop in Stung Treng, Cambodia (Photo: ERI)
