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post evaluation (Barrow, 2000). Loss of and damage to property are typically
considered within the scope of SIAs.
From a legal point of view, a key point is whether an SIA is required by law,
and in what form. In the US, the development of SIA was fostered by the
requirement in the National Environmental Policy Act 1969 to assess the
likely impacts of proposed projects, including in their physical and socioeconomic
aspects (Barrow, 2000). Legal requirements to conduct an SIA may
cover two aspects:
Content: requiring an assessment of the social impacts of the proposed
projects;
Process: requiring that the assessment be carried out in consultation with
affected populations.
SIA-related consultation requirements may overlap with broader local
consultation processes concerning not just the likely impacts of proposed
investment projects but also their terms and conditions (on these
consultation processes, see above, chapter 3.2.2).
While social impact assessments of large-scale investment projects are often
undertaken in practice, including in order to comply with the policies of
lending institutions involved in the project, domestic legislation specifically
requiring and regulating SIAs is not very developed in much of Africa.
That said, since the 1992 Rio Conference on Environment and Development,
several African countries have adopted framework legislation on
environmental protection (e.g. Mozambique’s Environment Act 1997, Ghana’s
Environmental Protection Agency Act 1994, Cameroon’s Framework Law on
Environmental Protection 1998, Senegal’s Environment Code 2001). Under this
legislation, an EIA is usually required for proposed projects that may have
negative impacts on the environment (e.g. article L48 of Senegal’s Code; article
16 of Mozambique’s Act). And, some countries have streamlined
environmental protection provisions in sectoral legislation. For instance,
under Mali’s Mining Code 1999, investors applying for an “exploitation permit”
must undertake an EIA (article 118). An EIA is also required for petroleum
operations under Cameroon’s Petroleum Code 1999 (article 83).