The quality of environmental impact assessment in Malawi: a retrospective analysis

Figures & data

Figure 1: EIA procedure in Malawi

Table 1: EIA reports studied

No.	EIA report	Type of project	Year of approval
1.	Rose Farm Greenhouse Project	Agriculture/aquaculture	1999
2.	Area 2 Commercial Industry Project	Infrastructure	2001
3.	Kasinthula Fish Farm Project	Agriculture/aquaculture	2001
4.	Victoria Hotel Construction Project	Tourism	2001
5.	Namiwawa Hotel Construction Project	Tourism	2001
6.	Malangalanga Industrial Park Project	Infrastructure	2001
7.	Mali Shopping Centre Project	Land development, housing and human development	2002
8.	Karonga–Chitipa Water Supply Project	Water resources	2001
9.	Bangula–Nsanje–Marka Road Project	Infrastructure	2002
10.	Area 32 Development Project	Infrastructure	1999
11.	Mulanje Mountain Ecotourism Project	Infrastructure	2000
12.	Rehabilitation of the Lilongwe–Salima–Chintheche 132 kV line	Energy generation/transmission	2001
13.	Kapichira Hydroelectric Scheme Project	Energy generation/transmission	2000
14.	Infrastructure Development at Lengwe National Park, Majete and Mwabvi Game Reserves	Land development, housing and human settlement	2000
15.	Ethanol Distillery Plant Project	Industry	2001
16.	Mangochi Bridge Reconstruction Project	Infrastructure	1999
17.	Mpatsanjoka Dambo Project	Agriculture/aquaculture	2002
18.	Bua Irrigation Project	Agriculture/aquaculture	2002
19.	Makanjira Quarry Project	Mining/quarrying	2001
20.	Chiwaula Quarry Project	Mining/quarrying	2001
21.	Area 3 Flower Plantation Project	Agriculture/aquaculture	2001
22.	Lilongwe Casino Hotel Project	Tourism	2002
23.	Malida Residential Park Project	Infrastructure	1999
24.	Chiwona Quarry Project	Mining/quarrying	1999
25.	Maone Industrial Park	Infrastructure	1998
26.	Khwisa Irrigation Project	Agriculture/aquaculture	2001
27.	Dam Construction Projects at Nchima and Tunga Tea Estates	Water resources	1999
28.	Linthipe Quarry Project	Mining/quarrying	1999
29.	Micronutrient and Health Project	Infrastructure	2000
30.	Patsidya Fish Farm Project	Agriculture/aquaculture	2001
31.	Bunda Quarry Project	Mining/quarrying	2000
32.	Mulunguzi Dam Construction Project	Water resources	1999

Table 2: Distribution of EIA compliance grades (%)

EIAs	Screening	Scoping	TORs	Alternative analysis	Impact analysis	Consultation and public participation	Monitoring and evaluation	Environment audit	x ¯
1	56	60	30	33	48	38	63	0	41
2	67	30	40	83	33	38	13	0	38
3	22	20	0	0	10	0	0	0	7
4	56	0	20	83	48	50	25	0	35
5	44	0	40	0	33	13	38	0	21
6	44	20	30	0	19	13	0	0	16
7	44	0	20	0	29	0	25	0	15
8	56	10	0	50	38	0	13	0	21
9	44	0	0	83	33	25	50	0	29
10	78	0	0	100	29	50	38	0	37
11	67	0	30	67	52	63	50	0	41
12	67	50	0	100	29	88	50	0	48
13	67	60	40	67	48	75	63	0	53
14	44	0	30	67	38	75	63	0	40
15	44	40	40	33	24	63	75	0	40
16	67	50	30	67	43	63	75	86	60
17	44	0	20	0	38	0	13	0	14
18	56	0	50	67	29	75	50	0	41
19	44	0	0	0	38	0	38	0	15
20	44	0	0	0	33	0	38	0	14
21	44	0	20	67	52	38	75	0	37
22	56	0	30	83	52	63	0	0	36
23	44	0	30	33	29	63	38	0	30
24	44	0	40	0	38	0	50	0	22
25	44	0	30	0	29	0	0	0	13
26	56	0	30	67	33	0	63	0	31
27	56	0	30	0	33	0	0	0	15
28	56	0	0	0	48	25	13	0	18
29	56	0	0	0	48	0	63	0	21
30	56	0	0	0	0	25	0	0	10
31	44	0	0	0	52	38	63	0	25
32	56	0	40	67	0	0	75	86	41
x¯–Average compliance grade for each EIA or project.

Figure 2: Performance of the EIAs/Projects (N = 32) with respect to the EIA process

Figure 3: Performance of the EIAs/Projects (N = 32) with respect to impact analysis

Table 3: Extracted PCA components (Total Variance Explained)

Component	Initial Eigenvalues			Extraction Sums of Squared Loadings
	Total	% of Variance	Cumulative %	Total	% of Variance	Cumulative %
	1	2.875	35.934	35.934	2.875	35.934	35.934
2	1.381	17.265	53.199	1.381	17.265	53.199
3	.960	11.995	65.193	.960	11.995	65.193
4	.874	10.924	76.117	.874	10.924	76.117
5	.773	9.661	85.778	.773	9.661	85.778
6	.595	7.434	93.212	.595	7.434	93.212
7	.304	3.799	97.012	.304	3.799	97.012
8	.239	2.988	100.000
Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

Figure 4: Scree graph for the EIA compliance data

Table 4: PCA component matrix (Rotated Component Matrix^a)

	Component
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
SCREEN	.296	.915	.147	.124	.114	2.436E-02	1.983E-02
SCOPE	.177	.122	.956	9.047E-03	8.007E-02	7.958E-02	.108
TOR	.112	2.394E-02	7.736E-02	− 1.00E-02	9.641E-02	.982	7.795E-02
AA	.798	.450	− 1.72E-02	− 3.15E-03	.120	4.209E-02	.179
IA	.110	.105	1.229E-02	.967	− .144	− 1.07E-02	.126
CPP	.872	9.706E-02	.293	.167	− 6.57E-02	.137	.117
ME	.195	3.550E-02	.119	.139	.195	8.833E-02	.938
EA	1.693E-02	.115	7.906E-02	− .153	.954	1.05	.187
Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.
Rotation Method: Varimax with kaiser Normalization.
^aRotation converged in 7 iterations.
SCREEN – screening; SCOPE – scoping; AA – alternative analysis; IA – impact analysis; ME – monitoring and evaluation; EA – environmental audit.

Appendix 1 Minimum EIA regulatory requirements

EIA component	Requirements
Screening	Description of the proposed development
	Description of the existing or affected environment
	Recognition of possible impacts or effects of the proposed development
	Recognition of other potential uses of the exploited resources
	Identification of possible mitigation measures
	Accounting of costs and benefits of development (socio-economic and ecological)
	Recognition of any disruption on communities
	Recognition of consequent developments and their effects
Scoping	Documentation of scoping exercise
	Documentation of scoping team
	Evidence of public review of the scoping plan
	Documentation of all consultees
	Documentation of ways of consultation
	Documentation of key issues and concerns that emerged in the consultations
	Identification of reasonable alternatives
	Identification of mitigation measures
	Preparation of TOR issues from the key issues and concerns
	Clarification of project benefits and costs
Terms of reference	Documentation of project description
	Documentation of specific issues to be addressed
	Inclusion of requirement for public consultation
	Inclusion of consultation strategy
	Inclusion of requirement of a multidisciplinary team
	Inclusion of requirement for mitigation and monitoring plan
	Inclusion of time frame for the EIA
	Inclusion of mandate for further identification of issues
	Coherence between TORs and issues in scoping
	Evidence of stakeholders/public review of TORs
Analysis of alternatives	Consideration of alternatives
	Evaluation of ‘no action’ alternative
	Consideration of environmental, socio-economic costs and benefits of alternatives
	Inclusion of data on existing environment and relation to proposed alternatives
	Documentation of methods for analysis of alternatives
	Rationale behind recommendation of the preferred alternatives
Impact analysis	Identification
	General identification of impacts
	Identification of key impacts for intensive investigation
	Identification of impacts at different stages of the project
	Methods for impact identification and rationale for their usage
	Inclusion of impact indicators
	Relation between impacts and proposed project activities
	Documentation of EIA team that carried out impact analysis
	Thorough coverage of issues in TORs
	Prediction
	Prediction of the severity of identified impacts
	Methods used in predicting impact severity and rationale for their usage
	Inclusion of data used to estimate impact severity
	Inclusion of measurable quantitative/qualitative estimates of impacts
	Rational analysis of impact severity
	Significance
	Identification of significant impacts
	Identification and significance of unmitigated impacts
	Methods used to assess impact significance and rationale for their usage
	Mitigation
	Identification of mitigation measures for all significant adverse impacts
	Identification of mitigation measures for all feasible alternatives adopted
	Relation between identified impacts and proposed mitigation measures
	Evidence of public input in developing and proposing mitigation measures
	Identification of unmitigated impacts
Consultation and	Documentation of public consultations
public participation	Methods used for consultations and rationale for their usage
	Documentation of consultees
	Notification of public consultations
	Stages of EIA and project when consultation was instituted
	Identification and documentation of key issues from the consultations
	Evidence of public access/review of EIA documents
	Documentation of consultation results
Monitoring and	Inclusion of monitoring and management plan
evaluation	Inclusion of baseline conditions of the physical set-up of environment
	Identification of mitigation measures and activities
	Identification of monitoring measures and activities
	Review and monitoring accuracy of impact predictions
	Review of effectiveness of mitigation measures
	Inclusion of other follow-up activities
	Monitoring progress and reporting
	Relation between issues in EIA and monitoring measures
Environmental audit	Inclusion of audit programme
	Determination of actual impacts of project
	Methods used or proposed for auditing
	Programme for public involvement in audit
	Plan for evaluation of compliance with terms of EIA
	Identification of audit team and responsibilities
	Programme for preparation of audit reports