Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (Espoo, 1991) UNECE Secretariat www.unece.org/env/eia
Espoo Convention Espoo Convention and its status Transboundary EIA procedure Bilateral & multilateral agreements Examples of Transboundary EIAs
Espoo Convention Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context Negotiated under auspices of UNECE, and UNECE provides Secretariat Adopted in 1991 in Espoo, Finland Entered into force in 1997 (16 Parties) Now 41 Parties, including the European Community
Signed Ratified, etc. Ratified Convention & Amendment
Transboundary EIA procedure 1. Application of the Convention (Art. 2.2, 2.5 / App. I+II) 2. Notification (Art. 3.1) 3. Confirmation of Participation (Art. 3.3) 4. Transmittal of Information (Art. 3.6) 5. Preparation of EIA Documentation (Art. 4 / App. II) 6.
Transboundary EIA procedure 6. Distribution of EIA Documentation for participation of authorities & public of affected Party (Art. 4.2) 7. Public participation (Art. 3.8) 8. Consultation between Parties (Art. 5) 9. Final Decision (Art. 6.1) 10.Transmittal of Final Decision Documentation (Art. 6.2) 11.(Post-project Analysis (Art. 7.1 / App. V) optional)
Bilateral & Multilateral Cooperation Article 2.9: The provisions of this Convention shall not affect the right of particular Parties to implement, by bilateral or multilateral agreement where appropriate, more stringent measures than those of this Convention. Article 8: The Parties may continue existing or enter into new bilateral or multilateral agreements or other arrangements in order to implement their obligations under this Convention and under any of its protocols to which they are a Party. Such agreements or other arrangements may be based on the elements listed in Appendix VI.
Examples of Transboundary EIA Oil pipeline Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey Danube Bridge, Romania & Bulgaria Multipurpose hydropower, Croatia Renovation of power plant, Estonia Nuclear power plant, Finland Flood prevention, Finland Power line, Finland Under-sea pipeline, Italy-Croatia Kyrgyz-Chinese paper mill Aggregates dredging in English Channel
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey Only Azerbaijan Party to Convention Special agreement was ratified by Parliaments of all 3 countries Public participation/disclosure in all 3 countries (though not focussed on transboundary issues) Project proponent paid for all aspects and received about 3,000 comments Cost for this (& related project): US$1,500,000
Bridge over River Danube Between towns of Vidin (Bulgaria) and Calafat (Romania) Agreement between Governments for bridge construction, with joint EIA Joint Working Group on environmental problems Project Implementation & Management Units in competent authorities Proponent: Bulgarian Ministry of Transport & Communications Public participation in each country EIA in English, Bulgarian & Romanian Costs covered by competent authorities 17 comments received during 2 public hearings
Multipurpose hydropower system on River Drava Proponent: Croatian Power Board Affected Party: Hungary EIA summary sent in English and other relevant documentation sent in Croatian Translation by Hungarian Ministry of Environment & Water Hungary allowed 60 days for comments on first phase; organized a public hearing with participation of Croatian delegates in second phase Hungary produced 4000 booklets with questionnaire; received 25 written comments + oral comments Hungarian costs: 6,000 for the booklet, 10,000 for public hearing Difficulties included 10,000 pages of documentation, and long process Photo: Arno Mohl
Narva Power Programme Proponent: Estonian Energy Ltd., partly owned by Estonian Ministry of Economy & Communication Affected Parties: Finland & Russian Federation (not Party) Bilateral agreement with Finland Proponent provided English translation of documentation Finnish Ministry of Environment sent draft EIA documentation to experts, environmental authorities & NGOs One month allowed for comments Proponent received back summary of comments
Nuclear Power Plant ( Loviisa-3 ), Finland Proponent: Fortum Power & Heat Oy Affected Party: Russian Federation (not Party) Proponent produced 100 booklets in Russian ( 1,500) NGO in Russia organized public participation ( 500) 60 days allowed for comments 18 received
Flood prevention dredging Proponent: Lapland Regional Environment Centre Finland & Sweden bilateral agreement on frontier River Tornio Finnish-Swedish Commission is competent authority Project planned in co-operation with Sweden Proponent translated full EIA documentation 17 weeks in total for public participation in Sweden
Power line from Muhos- Torneå, Finland Proponent: Finnish Power Company, Fingrid Oyj Close to Swedish border Alternative routes considered Proponent translated EIA documentation into Swedish 17 weeks in total for public participation in Sweden Public participation cost 8,000-10,000 Swedish (2 nd language of Finland) used in all communications Photo courtesy of US Department of Energy
Undersea methane pipeline Joint Croatian-Italian private project Joint EIA and Joint Body Information on the project in the other country provided to the public Proponent produced all documentation in Croatian and Italian Comments from public only on project in own country
Paper mill, Kyrgyzstan Proponent: Chinese Company Complant and Ministry of Foreign Trade & Industry, Kyrgyzstan (later a Party) Affected Party: Kazakhstan (later a Party) Trilateral (Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan) treaty on environmental protection includes obligation for joint state environmental expertise for projects with transboundary effects One NGO from Kazakhstan and one NGO from Kyrgyzstan Kazakhstan NGO organized NGO forum meeting and collected 58 comments All documentation in Russian, but poorly translated from Chinese Chinese representatives not open to public participation
Dredging for aggregates in the English Channel, UK Proponent: Volker Dredging Ltd Affected Parties: Belgium, Denmark & Netherlands (Parties), France & Germany (Parties later) Proponent translated full EIA documentation, including non-technical summary, into Danish, French, German and Dutch 16 weeks in total for consultations Comments from Dutch & French competent authorities only Translation & copying EIA documentation: GB 50,000; newspaper advertising: GB 5,000
Contacts For more about the Espoo Convention, visit our website: www.unece.org/env/eia Or email: eia.conv@unece.org