An Environmental Impact Assessment identifies the environmental and social effects of a proposed project, judges how serious they are, and sets out how each one will be avoided, reduced or managed. In Zimbabwe it is submitted to the Environmental Management Agency, which issues the certificate a prescribed project needs before it may proceed.
An EIA is a legal requirement for prescribed activities, but the commercial reasons usually bite first. Lenders ask for it. Contractors cannot mobilise without it. And a finding that arrives after design is locked, a wetland, a grave site, a protected species, costs far more to resolve than it would have done at concept stage.
The process runs under the Environmental Management Act [Chapter 20:27] and its regulations, which list prescribed activities and set out consultation requirements. Where lenders are involved, an ESIA to IFC Performance Standards usually runs alongside the national process rather than replacing it. Heritage findings bring in the National Museums and Monuments Act.
We confirm whether your project is prescribed, and at what scale.
Submitted to EMA, agreeing the studies required.
Our own teams, our own equipment, our own data.
Communities, authorities and affected parties, properly recorded.
Report, management plan, and follow-through to certificate.
How it runs
Scroll through the five stages. Most delays happen between stage one and stage two, before anyone has been appointed.
We confirm whether your project is a prescribed activity under the Environmental Management Act, and at what scale. A short conversation here can save a wasted commission.
A project prospectus goes to EMA. The agency confirms which specialist studies are required, which is what sets the programme and the cost.
Our own teams take the measurements: ecology, water, air, noise, soils, heritage and social. Some surveys are seasonal, which is why early scoping matters.
Communities, authorities and affected parties are consulted and the record is kept properly. Objections raised late are the ones that stop projects.
The assessment, the management plan and the consultation record are submitted. We answer EMA queries through to the certificate.
Free tool
Four questions, about two minutes, and an indication you can take to your board before you commission anything.
Select an answer to each question above.
Questions we are asked
It depends on the baseline studies required and the seasons they have to be done in. Ecological surveys, for example, may need both a wet and a dry season to be defensible. We give a programme at scoping stage, once EMA has confirmed what is required.
No. For a prescribed project, works must not begin before the certificate is issued. Starting early risks a stop order and penalties, and it undermines the assessment itself.
An EIA meets the national requirement. An ESIA adds the social performance standards international lenders apply, including resettlement, labour and community health. If a development finance institution is funding you, assume an ESIA.
Certificates carry conditions. Most operations then need an Environmental Management Plan in force, routine monitoring, and periodic environmental audits.
Thirty minutes at concept stage saves months at approval stage.