Comprehensive Option Assesment - UNEP

Module 2: Comprehensive Options Assesment Stages
It is important to note that although distinct in their purpose, social and environmental assessments are usually undertaken in one process. The SEA
for power sector rehabilitation in Zambia considered the needs of at risk Gwembe-Tonga people who had been adversely affected by their
displacement during the development of the Kariba Dam in the 1950s. Social assessments therefore should consider historical as well as current and
potential future impacts. illustrates how the SEA approach helped to highlight and eventually address some of the development needs of the
Gwembe-Tonga
Box 5
Power sector
environment
assessment
scoping and
reconnaissance
study – Zambia
One of the macro goals and identified need was the 'improvement and extension of distribution networks was
regarded as a high social priority'. Full environmental assessments were recommended for power facilities where
rehabilitation involved more complex social and environment management issues and tradeoffs. Here one
recommendation was to assist the Gwembe-Tonga people. Forty years earlier an estimated 57,000 of their people
(35,000 on the north bank of the Zambezi, now Zambia) who previously lived along the shores of the river had been
forced to resettle when the Kariba dam and reservoir was established (between Northern and Southern Rhodesia
during colonial times) without adequate support for livelihood restoration. They remained in a state of deep poverty.
Source: Sector Environment Scoping and Reconnaissance Study (1995) and the Project Appraisal of the Power Sector Rehabilitation Project for Zambia (1997).
Both social and environmental assessments are covered in greater detail in the Environmental Management Plans Manual which is part of the
Training Manual Series on Large-scale infrastructure in East and Southern Africa (Hollingworth, 2008).
Economic assessment
Macro-economic policies and targets help define the economic imperatives of infrastructure projects. National poverty reduction strategy
papers, country assistance strategies, and national, regional development strategies provide high level guidance usually which cascades down
into different policy sectors. Similarly, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and their associated targets have been translated into their
local derivatives and give an alternative and contemporary framework for setting economic goals.
In needs assessment it is important to assess and understand the economic policies and trends guiding the country or region because it is
these that will lead current and future demand for infrastructure services.
In the case of Uganda illustrated in Box 6, economic liberalization stimulated growth and demand for electricity.
Comprehensive Options Assessment for sustainable development of infrastructure
Training Manual
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