ASSESSMENT OF ADEQUACY AND QUALITY OF THE DRAFT IEE/EIA REGULATIONS OF 2020 PUNJAB, PAKISTAN

Abstract

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) in Pakistan was declared mandatory under section 12 of the Pakistan Environment Protection Act (PEPA) of 1997 and operationalized under the Initial Environmental Examination/Environmental Impact Assessment (IEE/EIA) regulations of 2000. PEPA 1997 only stated the need for carrying out IEE/EIA. The details such as which projects need to undergo IEE/EIA, who will carry out review of EIA reports, timelines for review and decision making, and procedures for monitoring and follow-up were provided by IEE/EIA regulations 2000. The PEPA 1997 and the IEE/EIA regulations 2000 were formulated by the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak EPA) and applied to the entire country. Following the 18th amendment in the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan in 2010, provinces were given the autonomy to legislate on environment. Thus, provinces started drafting their own environmental protection acts and regulations. Punjab province adopted the 2000 IEE/EIA regulations formulated by Pakistan EPA in without making any modifications, and since then, has not made any revisions to the regulations. IEE/EIA. An updated draft of these regulations came out in 2020 with slight modifications which has not been approved by the cabinet as yet. Since the regulations are being updated after almost a decade, it is important to evaluate their quality. Thus, this study aimed towards evaluating the adequacy and effectiveness of the draft IEE/EIA regulations of 2020.