Environmental and Social Impact Assessment - Gibe III

Gibe III – Environmental and Social Impact Assessment 300 ENV R CS 002 C - A9003099
In particular, the methodologies employed for assessment and evaluation of the impacts of the project at the
feasibility technical level have been:
• personal experience of CESI consultant: they have been in Ethiopia also to prepare the Gilgel Gibe I
and Gilgel Gibe II project’s feasibility report. They gave information about geology, geomorphology
and description of the interfered area;
• consultation with people affected by the Project and local authorities to obtain supplementary
information on social, socio economic and socio-cultural conditions, to identify valid mitigation
measures;
• hydraulic data collections of rivers.
4.2 Bounding and Scoping
The sense of scoping procedure is to analyse the environmental situation prior to project construction, in
order to define the temporal and spatial boundaries of the baseline data.
The physical boundaries of the ESIA comprises the reservoir area upstream the dam and the area
immediately downstream the dam, given the importance of Omo river flow for Turkana Lake, although sited
in Kenya State.
Scoping has included the most important and major environmental issues, namely:
• water quantity and quality of the Gibe River and its tributary Gojeb;
• riverine vegetation and other vegetation that might be affected by construction activities;
• underground water disturbances;
• terrestrial and aquatic fauna;
• people living in the area;
• health aspect of the project;
• dislocation of people;
• employment opportunities;
• agricultural resources;
• economic development;
• gender issues.
The temporal boundaries may be strictly related to construction activity for some environmental aspects of
the project, but for some others aspects may be extended to the project operation activities.
4.3 Public participation
The field investigation included consultation with various Project Affected Person (PAP), local authorities
and extensive group discussions with wereda officials and focus groups. This was carried out in order to
obtain supplementary information on social, socioeconomic and socio-cultural conditions.
The consultation was also supported from the use of other relevant PRA (Participatory Rural Appraisal)
tools.
CESI SpA - Mid-Day International Consulting Engineers Page 72