Various actions are to be undertaken in striving for better environmental management. These measures, especially in developing countries, must include:
An evaluation of resources likely to be exploited for papermaking,
An implementation of policies leading to better protection of natural resources and human well being,
A delimitation of preserved areas to protect endemic or threatened species,
A vote and the application of legislation to protect the environment particularly for resources protection and industry management,
An introduction of EIA in the national regulation plan and incitement to produce industrial EA,
The training of officers in charge of environmental protection both in natural resources management and in industrial auditing,
The monitoring of pulp and paper projects to determine if processes and procedures are in compliance with national or international regulations.
It is important to notice here that the chapter 30 of the UNCED agenda 21 states that : “Business and industry should be encouraged to report annually on their environmental records, as well as on their use of energy and natural resources.”
Regarding EIA reviewing and monitoring by public authorities, the following check-list No. 15 gives an example of what could be a synthetic reviewing form. For each particular technical purpose, each of the previous check-lists from 1 to 9 provide sufficient detail to review the EIA contents. Check-list 16 gives an example of EA reviewing.
Check-list 15: Reviewing an EIA
| QUESTION | YES | NO |
| - Was the EIA undertaken early in the project conception ? | ||
| - Did a steering committee write TOR ? | ||
| - Did the team in charge of the project follow those TOR ? | ||
| - Was the design of the project influenced by EIA findings ? | ||
| - According to your information, were the environment considerations included in the project at an equivalent level to that of the technical or financial level ? | ||
| - Does the EIA include an executive summary ? | ||
| - Does the EIA include a description of the legal and administrative framework ? | ||
| - Does the EIA include an initial state of the environment with sufficient emphasis ? | ||
| - Does the initial state include the raw material production area ? | ||
| - Is the area of influence of the project correct ? | ||
| - Are all bio-geo-physical data described in the initial state ? | ||
| - Are the social data studied in the initial state ? | ||
| - Are the economic data included into the initial state ? | ||
| - Does the EIA include an analysis of alternative sites ? | ||
| - Does the EIA include an analysis of alternative processes ? | ||
| - Are the Best Available Technologies included in project design ? | ||
| - Are there valuations of the various alternatives ? | ||
| - Does the EIA include a realistic prediction of impact ? | ||
| - Are the methodologies used to predict impact, shown in the EIA ? | ||
| - Are the impact classified in terms of period of occurrence, magnitude, reversibility, nature ? | ||
| - Does the EIA include a risk analysis ? | ||
| - Does the EIA propose mitigating measures ? | ||
| - Is the feasibility of those measures proved ? | ||
| - Did the project include opportunities to improve the environment quality ? | ||
| - Does the EIA include a monitoring plan ? | ||
| - Does the EIA include the basis of an environmental management and training plan ? | ||
| - Does the EIA include maps, graphs, photographs in sufficient quantity ? | ||
| - Does the EIA include a synthesis of impact in a matrix ? | ||
| - Was the team in charge of the EIA redaction, really multi-disciplinary ? | ||
| - Were the affected groups really involved in the project design ? | ||
| - Is the EIA completed by a cost/benefit study ? |
Check-list 16: Reviewing an EA
| QUESTION | YES | NO |
| Did the EA follow the basic steps described in figure 6 ? | ||
| Was the scope of the EA clear enough ? | ||
| Was the team composed of a sufficient number of specialists to cover all the EA scope ? | ||
| Does the EA include raw material production and exploitation ? | ||
| Does the EA include transportation ? | ||
| Does the EA report describe the EA scope clearly ? | ||
| Does the EA report describe the chosen method to cover the scope clearly ? | ||
| Does the EA report refer to environmental liabilities ? | ||
| Does the EA report describe the results of previous EAs clearly? | ||
| Does the EA report detail the company environmental management system ? | ||
| Was the inputs study detailed enough? | ||
| Does the EA report detail the material use and trends clearly? | ||
| Does the EA report detail the energy consumption and trends clearly? | ||
| Does the EA report detail the water consumption and trends clearly? | ||
| Was the outputs study detailed enough? | ||
| Are there references to compliance to international or national standards ? | ||
| Does the EA report detail the major solid waste streams clearly? | ||
| Does the EA report detail the water effluents clearly? | ||
| Does the EA report detail the major air emissions clearly? | ||
| Does the EA study the product impact during use ? | ||
| Does the EA refer to an existing risk analysis ? | ||
| Does the EA refer to an existing health and safety plan ? | ||
| Does the EA refer to an existing accident and emergency response plan ? | ||
| Does the EA refer to employees interviews ? | ||
| Does the EA refer to local communities interviews ? | ||
| Does the EA refer to suppliers environmental performance ? | ||
| Do the recommendations of the EA refer to the Best Available Technologies ? | ||
| Does the EA report seem to be objective ? | ||
| Does the information included in the EA report seem to be reliable ? | ||
| Does the proposed action plan seem to be realistic ? | ||
| Are the corrective measures able to deal with the real importance of problems ? | ||
| Is there a monitoring of the action plan forecasted in the EA ? | ||
| Other (to detail) |
To persuade industrial decision makers, it is important to emphasize the relationship between environmental protection and cost efficiency. Chemical recovery, waste reduction, safety of workers are operations which directly lead to an overall efficiency of the project.
Risk analysis, accident and emergency response plans and health and safety plans are tools directly linked to environmental management and liability. The corporate image is naturally connected to the environmental and safety results of a company.
The industrial strategy must also put an accent on the training of personnel and encourage the implementation of a complete environmental management system.
Government officers, industrial decision makers, workers, associations, populations have to be regularly informed of new technologies, recent regulations, methodologies for implementing environmental procedures…
Corporate environment reports are becoming a key channel for companies to communicate. It is important that pulp and paper industries publish such reports to demonstrate company wide integrated environmental management systems, and corporate responsibility.
Training must be a constant preoccupation of authorities, and investors need to have more and more competent people in charge of the environment, at all levels.
