Asian Development Bank Office of Environment and Social Development Final Report TA 2078-CAM - Strengthening Environmental Impact Assessment Procedures And Capabilities In Cambodia January 1997 IDRC CRDI 4C International Development Research Centre Centre de recherches pour le developpement international fitC A N A D A IDRC - Lib. Project team : Dr Stephen R Tyler, IDRC Singapore : Team Leader/ Project Manager Dr Peter McNamee, GEC Global Environmental Consultants Ltd, Vancouver Mr Douglas Wright, Resource Futures International, Ottawa Mr Gregory Woodsworth, Phnom Penh International Development Research Centre IDRC Centre de recherches pour le developpement international CRDI Asia Regional Office/Bureau Regional pour I'Asie Tanglin P O Box 101, Singapore 912417th Storey, RELC Building, 30 Orange Grove Road, 14C Singapore 258252 Tel : (65) 2351344 Fax : (65) 2351849 Internet URL : http://www.ldre.org.sg Head Office/Si6ge social : P O Box / BP 8500, Ottawa, Canada K1G 31-19 C A N A D A TABLE OF CONTENTS SECTION 1 OVERVIEW and EXECUTIVE SUMMARY SECTION 2 INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND PLANNING SECTION 3 HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY SECTION 4 FOREWORD REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL DEVELOPMENT PLANNING (REDP) CASE STUDY REPORTS : i) Partial Environmental Inventory of Industrial Activity in Phnom Penh ii) Preliminary Review of Socio-Economic Conditions in the Boeng Salang Area of Phnom Penh iii) Preliminary Review of the Environmental Implications of the Prek Thnot Hydro Electricity Development Project iv) Guidelines for Preparing Initial Environmental Evaluations and Environmental Impact Assessments for Palm Oil Development Projects SECTION 1 OVERVIEW and EXECUTIVE SUMMARY IDRC International Development Research Centre CRDI Centre de recherches pour le developpement international Asia Regional Office/Bureau Regional pour I'Asie Tanglin P O Box 101, Singapore 912417th Storey, RELC Building, 30 Orange Grove jc Road, 258252 Singapore Tel : (65) 2351344 Fax : (65) 2351849 Internet URL : http://www.idre.org.sg C A N A D A Intematlonal Development Research Centre January 1997 ADB 2078-CAM - Overview and Executtve Summary 1. OVERVIEW AND EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1.1 Report Contents This project report presents a description of principal activities and key findings from the ADB Technical Assistance project no. 2078-CAM: Strengthening Environmental Impact Assessment Procedures and Capabilities in Cambodia. The project has been delivered for the Royal Government of Cambodia over the past 18 months by the International Development Research Centre in cooperation with Global Environmental Consulting, Ltd. and Resource Futures International Ltd. The report is presented as 4 sections in a single volume. Another important output of the project, an introductory manual on EIA and Environmental Planning, has been produced separately in Khmer and English language versions for limited distribution in Cambodia. Each of the sectional reports stands largely on its own, and is separately numbered. This first report summarizes the activities carried out during the TA and the principal findings of the two studies conducted. The findings of these studies are presented in their entirety in the following two sections of the report. Section 2 addresses the Institutional Development and Planning task of the TA. The objective of this task was to provide support to the Ministry of Environment in developing internal organization and management procedures to introduce REDP and EIA, and to develop jointly with MOE a plausible institutional framework for environmental planning and assessment roles, procedures and relationships within the RGC. Section 3 of this report analyses the Human Resource Development needs of the RGC in the field of environmental planning and assessment and suggests a five-year strategic plan for HRD investments. The current human resource situation of the government is described in relation to the skills and capacities needed to implement environmental planning and assessment. Goals and time-bound targets for HRD in this field are presented. Constraints to HRD are assessed, and given the needs and constraints, a set of recommended strategic training approaches are developed. The resource requirements to implement this strategy are estimated, and priority activities described. A major component of this TA has been the development and delivery of an extended training course on EIA and REDID in the Cambodian context. The course was delivered from October 1995 to May 1996 to 38 participants, half from MOE and the remainder from provincial environment departments and other key line agencies. In almost all cases, this course represented the first formal exposure of participants to environmental management and planning concepts and tools. The course was delivered in English, although English fluency remains low among government officials. In spite of the novelty of the material 1 International Development Research Centre January 1997 ADB 2078-CAM - Overview and Executive Summary and the difficulty of the language and concepts, attendance at lectures and participation in class discussions and individual assignments was very high. The culmination of the training course was the undertaking by course participants of a series of field-based case study projects. A regional environmental development plan was undertaken, along with four EIA case studies in different locations and sectors. These served both to solidify and demonstrate many of the concepts introduced in the classroom, and to provide supervised field experience for the course participants. The cases were selected and introduced by the consultant team, but all fieldwork planning, preparations, data collection, report writing and presentations were undertaken entirely by the course participants, working in mixed project teams. For many of them, these cases represented the first examples of this kind of work they had ever attempted, and certainly for almost all it was the first time they had attempted to prepare reports of this scope in the English language. All five case study reports, as revised by the participant teams, are presented in this document as Section 4. They are included here for two reasons: (i) to provide a complete set of project documentation, as these reports represent significant outputs from the project; and to provide readers with an impression, based on their contents, of the capabilities of the course participants upon completion of the formal training component of the TA. A review of the documents in Section 4 will provide a good sense of the capacity of RGC staff to undertake work in this field. 1.2 Chronological Outline of Activity The activity for this project commenced with the inception study completed at end May 1995. The inception report was submitted to the Asian Development Bank and the Ministry of Environment on June 21, 1995. English language training for 22 of the pre- selected course participants began in July 1995. The official tripartite meeting was held on August 28, 1995 in Phnom Penh, and resulted in minor revisions to the inception report, along with several variances to the original contract (please see original documents: Revised Inception Report - August 1995 and Minutes of Tripartite Meeting, 28/8/95). The revised inception report was approved by ADB in late September. Expert advisors were in the field by early October, equipment purchases were made and the EIA Training Course was officially opened by HE Dr Mok Mareth and Mr Henry Tucker, 2 International Development Research Centre January 1997 ADB 2078-CAM - Overview and Executive Summary__ representing ADB, on October 16, 1995. English language training for course participants continued from October through December. All major equipment items (including car) were purchased prior to the end of 1995. Classroom training on concepts and tools of Regional Environment Development Planning took place as scheduled in November. A coastal development case study was selected for this portion of the training, with the full support of the Ministry of Environment and of provincial officials in Koh Kong province. Case study research and preparation work began in November and the field trip was held in January 1996. Classroom lectures continued on elements of EIA practice and methods through February and March 1996. At the same time, preparation was underway for the four EIA case studies. The final English language training course finished in March. Institutional development strategies included ongoing advice to the Ministry of Environment, and regular contacts with the Cambodia Development Council on project review and approval procedures. As part of the Institutional Development component of the project, the consultants worked with MOE to develop an organizational structure and workplan for the newly-formalized EIA Department (referred to elsewhere in this report, by preference, as the Project Review and Monitoring Department or PRMD). Donor coordination with UNDID and USAID has been an integral aspect of project delivery. Details of major project elements are discussed below. 1.3 Training Course The core of this capacity-building TA was a 16-week training course which provided classroom instruction and formal introduction to essential EIA concepts and skills. A total of 38 trainees were selected for this course: 21 from the Ministry of Environment (national level); 5 from key provincial environment bureaux (i.e. reporting to MOE); and 11 from national-level line agencies (CDC, MAFF, MIME, MTour, MPWT, Min of Rural