| The environmental liabilities associated with petroleum development are being addressed through two distinct channels---one a part of the IBRD loan and the other within the IDA Credit for Petroleum Capacity Building in Chad. The first channel is the application of the Bank’s safeguard policies, which resulted in (a) the preparation of an Environmental Management Plan (EMP) and (b) the inclusion of a gate-keeping clause in the loan agreement and project agreements. This clause ensures that any crude transiting through the pipeline is developed in accordance with the principles set forth in the original EMP. The second channel is support to Chad’s efforts to ensure the social and environmental sustainability of future petroleum development. - History of Environmental Assessment - Consultations led to Significant Changes - Implementation of the EMP - Monitoring Project Performance History Members of the consortium began making environmental assessments as far back as 1993. The early reviews revealed the key issues for preparing a formal Environmental Assessment (EA), required for World Bank lending. Over the next few years scientific and technical studies were conducted that led to a draft EA for public comment, beginning in 1997. During this period, the World Bank also assessed the governments’ capacities to provide project environmental management and a monitoring system. The Bank also aided in improving this capacity; for example, it helped the governments contract environmental experts to take part in reviewing the draft EA. At the time, Chad had little capacity to assess and monitor environmental impacts. Its National Plan for Sustainable Development dealt largely with desertification and ignored potential petroleum developments. The Ministry of Environment and Water had only recently been created, and the Environment Department was virtually devoid of staff and logistical support. But the Chadian committee charged with overseeing project preparation worked with its environmental panel of experts to mitigate environmental and social impacts in the oilfield area. In Cameroon, the National Environmental Action Plan provided for an environmental assessment of the project. A framework law had been passed by Parliament (though, like Chad’s law, it lacked the necessary implementation rules and regulations), and a nucleus of environmental management capacity was being developed in the Ministry of Environment and Forests. Here too they appealed to the services of an Environmental Panel of Experts. Consultations led to significant changes Broad consultations with the public on the draft EA led to significant changes in project design. In particular, the pipeline route was modified to avoid crossing the Mbéré Rift Valley and the Deng Deng Forest in Cameroon. Crossing the Atlantic Littoral forest could not be avoided, but the pipeline route (roughly paralleling an existing road) was optimized to limit damage to areas of high biodiversity value. In addition, the Consortium agreed to provide funds to help Cameroon create two protected areas to offset any residual biodiversity impacts. In 1999, the Consortium submitted an Environmental Management Plan (EMP) in 6 volumes, which was placed in the Bank’s Public Information Center to solicit additional public comments. After careful review, this plan was approved by the Bank Group. [Link to EMP] Before submitting the project to the Board, the Africa Region convened a review panel composed of the most senior environmental experts within the Bank Group. This group spent days reviewing the project documentation and concluded that the project, although risky, should go forward. In particular, it concluded that the project was in compliance with all relevant Bank safeguard policies. Implementation of the EMP The main responsibilities of the two governments under the EMP were to § Make sure Esso (the operator) had access to the project site (implying cooperation with the Compensation and Resettlement Plan in Chad and with the Compensation Plan and Indigenous Peoples Plans in Cameroon), and § monitor the activities of Esso during the construction and operation periods. The governments were also responsible for managing any indirect impacts of project on the surrounding communities. In Chad, the Comité Technique National de Suivi et de Contrôle (CTNSC) established a field unit in Komé to monitor project implementation, both for the oilfield and for the Chad portion of the pipeline. This interministerial group was tasked with oversight of the Consortium’s environmental monitoring activities, which covered implementing the Compensation and Resettlement Plan; managing the government’s activities for mitigating indirect impacts on local communities; and supporting the preparation of a Regional Development Plan in the oil-producing area. The World Bank also provided support to the government to adopt new environmental regulations in the petroleum sector, train technical staff, and support community initiatives in the oil-producing area through the Petroleum Sector Management Capacity Building Project. In Cameroon, the Pipeline Steering and Monitoring Committee’s (PSMC) Environment, Route, and Security Section would have three expert staff based at the National Hydrocarbon Company (SNH) headquarters in Yaoundé, as well as field teams located along the pipeline to deal with environmental and social issues on the ground. Through the PSMC, it was expected that the support of local administrations and local branches of other ministries could be mobilized as needed, to address, in particular, potential health issues in the communities likely to be affected by pipeline construction and related activities. Through another capacity building project, the Cameroon Environment Capacity Enhancement Project (CAPECE), the Cameroonian government received support in defining, and then enforcing the Environmental Framework Law, creating a long-term strategic plan for the petroleum sector, implementing a public health program in the area affected by the pipeline, defining a national oil spill response plan, and other activities. Monitoring Project Performance Due to the high level of public concern about the project, it was designed with multiple levels of monitoring. The Operator monitors its own work on the ground and the work of its subcontractors, providing regular reports to the sponsors and major lenders. The governments monitor the performance of the Operator on the ground and provide regular reports to the Bank under the two capacity building projects. Both governments continue to be advised by international panels of experts, also financed under the capacity building projects. Bank Group staff supervise the projects regularly. The lender group recruited an External Compliance Monitoring Group (ECMG) to provide independent environmental monitoring of the project. An International Advisory Group (IAG) was established to oversee broader social and economic aspects of the project, in particular to ensure that project revenues were used to achieve the basic project objective of poverty alleviation. Civil society and international NGOs were invited to continue their own independent monitoring of project performance and to bring any problems to the attention of the Bank Group.
The reports of the ECMG and the IAG are made public through the Bank’s website. Esso Chad also established a project website and makes its quarterly monitoring reports available to the public. |
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