Malawi Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) was established under the Environment Management Act (2017) as the principal agency for the protection and management of the environment and sustainable utilization of natural resources in Malawi. In line with its mandate, MEPA performs a number of regulatory functions.
One of the functions is to oversee and administer environmental assessment processes in the country. Environmental Assessments are very important because they contribute to sustainable socio-economic development by ensuring that environmental and social concerns are integrated into project design, implementation and decision making. Through the process, projects are implemented without leading to significant undue harm to the environment, society and human health thereby contributing to Environmental Sustainability Enabler of the Malawi Vision 2063. Environmental assessment involves a number of key stages and elements. This page highlights the general key stages and elements of the environmental assessment process in Malawi.
KEY STAGES
This is the first stage of determining whether a development proposal requires any appropriate level of assessment . This can be a strategic environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA), environmental audit or an environmental and social management plan(ESMP)
Scoping is a process of identifying the key environmental and social issues. It establishes the principal issues to be addressed, the information to be generated and the analysis required in an ESIA. This entails making preliminary evaluation of the project site in order to identify key aspects which the ESIA study should focus on.
A project Brief is a short report informing the MEPA that a development activity is being considered. Its sole purpose is to provide sufficient information to allow the Authority to determine the level of the environmental assessment, which may be required be it SEA, an ESIA, Environmental Audit, or ESMP, based on the outcomes of screening and his/her discretion. Appropriate TORS will be development.
This is engaging principal stakeholders including directly affected and interested parties because they have varying interests, importance and influence. Affected parties are those who feel direct impacts of the projects on their safety, health, livelihoods and wellbeing while interested parties are those who are not directly affected but some have interest in the proposed project stakeholder consultation is mandatory when undertaking an Environmental Assessment.
The developer hires a team of qualified ESIA consultants to conduct comprehensive studies to includes collection of baselines data studies to includes collection of baseline data, identification of project area of influence, review of legal and regulatory framework applicable to the project, description of project activities; analysis of alternatives; baseline data collection an description of project environmental settings; Identification of project impacts; direct and indirect impacts; evaluation of impact significance identification of impacts and propose alternatives and mitigation measures report as prescribed in the Terms of Reference which independently under take the assessments , do consultations Ans stakeholder engagements, then finally prepare an ESIA report which is submitted by the developer to MEPA for consideration. MEPA has a register of dully qualifies and experienced experts which developers an engage fees agreed between the two parties.
Upon submission of the ESIA report by the developer, the report undergoes review processes from an independent team of experts called Advisory Committee on Environmental Assessments to review for its adequacy. As part of the review processes, gaps are identified and communication is made to the developer to address the gaps observed, with assistance from the developer’s consultants. Once the technical review finds the ESIA report to be satisfactory, a recommendation for approval of the ESIA is made to the MEPA Board.
The ESIA report recommended in the previous stage is considered by the MEPA Board for approval. The developer is offered an approval letter and also an ESIA Certificate with conditions. Sometimes, MEPA might observe certain pertinent policy issues that require addressing or further stakeholder engagements before an approval is granted.
The approved ESIA report outlines an environmental and social management plan (ESMP) and approval conditions which require to be implemented as an integral part of the overall project implementation. The developers are obliged to implement the actions in the ESMP and the conditions of approval. Non-adherence to this can lead to various punitive measures, as stipulated in the Environment Management Act, being imposed on the developer by the Malawi Environment Protection Authority. Other regulatory agencies are also legally mandated to take appropriate sanctions on the developer in line with their sectoral legislation and standards.
During project implementation, MEPA and other regulatory agencies and policy holders at local authority and national levels undertake monitoring visits to project sites to ensure that mitigation measures outlined in the approved ESIA report and approval conditions are being implemented to the letter, in adherence to applicable environmental and social legislations and standards. It is the responsibility of individuals and organizations (both private and public sector) who intend to implement projects to ensure that their projects adhere to the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment requirements in the country. To do that the developers need to consult the Malawi Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) to get guidance in the process. MEPA has been mandated under the Environment Management Act to be responsible for the administration of the process. However, Environmental Officers based in the councils can also provide guidance on the matter.
