Improving Public Participation in Transboundary Environmental Impact Assessment (TEIA) and International Watercourse Management

Transboundary environmental impact assessment (TEIA) has become an important environmental management tool, particularly where a project may have transboundary impacts. Over the past decade, a variety of international, bilateral, and national laws, guidelines, and institutions have adopted requirements that a TEIA be conducted prior to making decisions on projects or activities with transboundary implications. While the practice of TEIA has been growing, it is still irregular. In many cases, the requirements or guidelines governing a TEIA are general (and potentially overly vague), and those who conduct the TEIA have significant discretion in how to perform the analysis and undertake the public consultations. In that context, UNEP, in cooperation with the University of Tokyo, the Environmental Law Institute (ELI), the African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS), and the Southern African Institute for Environmental Assessment, has undertaken a joint research project to remedy this gap in knowledge regarding TEIAs while promoting the operationalization of the Rio principle 10 related to public awareness and participation in decision making for environmental issues.

The partners worked closely with counterparts in Africa and Asia to develop and pilot test a methodology for comparing the impacts that were predicted in a TEIA with the actual impacts that occurred. Five case studies were conducted: three in Africa and two in Asia. To facilitate comparison among the case studies, the partners focused on the particular context of projects affecting international watercourses. A synthesis paper was prepared under the project, which summarize and compare the findings of various case studies and identify a range of lessons learned.  

List of activities

• Development of reports of case studies and a synthesis paper in April 2006 
• A workshop held among partner organizations, sponsored by the University of Tokyo, to discuss the results of the case studies and highlight lessons learned from the project