regional governance and knowledge generation project...
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Regional – Governance and Knowledge generation Project
Managing the environmental and social assessments of
projects, plans, programs and policies in the Mediterranean
Jounieh (Lebanon) 15-18/04/2013
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Managing the environmental and social assessments of
projects, plans, programs and policies in the Mediterranean
Jounieh (Lebanon) 15-18/04/2013
Sub-regional workshop report
A sub-regional workshop was held 15 through 18 April 2013, at Regency Palace, Jounieh, Lebanon. It brought together 29 participants from Egypt (9), Lebanon (10) and Palestine (10) who represented a variety of groups and institutions (Ministries of environment or environmental protection agencies, other ministries and public bodies, private companies and civil society organizations). The workshop was organized in the framework of the Regional - Governance and Knowledge generation Project (GEF grant), implemented by Plan Bleu; it is the first of two workshops, and was designed to serve the needs of Anglophone participants. A second and last workshop, with the same objectives, will take place 27-30 May 2013 in Gammarth to serve the needs of Francophone participants (Morocco and Tunisia).
The workshop objectives were to enable participants to … - Understand the basics of Environmental and Social Assessment (ESA) of projects
and Strategic Environmental and Social Assessment (SESA) of plans, programs and policies;
- Identify the instances where ESA or SESA are required; - Identify the information sources on ESA/SESA good practice; - Start managing the preparation, approval and follow-up of ESA and SESA; and - Champion improvements in the design and implementation of environmental and
social assessments in their countries and the impact on decision-making of improved ESA analytical work.
The target audience was - A mix of Government officials, private sector and civil society representatives; - Professionals working on development issues, either from the sustainable
development or from the sectoral development community; and - Individuals interested in the topic and willing to use the acquired knowledge once
back in their home country and in their jobs.
The participants had been identified by three national focal points, appointed by the Regional – Governance and Knowledge generation Project’s (ReGoKo) Steering Committee members. In spite of practical difficulties (visas, in particular), 29 of the 30 invitees were able to fully participate in the workshop, thanks to the combined efforts of the focal points and of the Plan Bleu secretariat in Marseilles and Sophia Antipolis. The workshop’s participants are presented in Annex 1, along with their respective functions and organizations.
Lina Tode, in charge of the ReGoKo Project at Plan Bleu, represented the organization at the workshop.
The main speaker, Jean-Roger Mercier, was formerly responsible for environmental assessment at the World Bank and is presently consultant for Plan Bleu and, in particular, in
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charge of the design and drafting of a guidebook on Environmental and Social Assessments Management in the Mediterranean.
Georges Zouain (Gaïa Heritage) and Fadi Doumani (consultant) had been invited and presented respectively the status of and threats to cultural heritage in Lebanon and in the sub-region and studies done on “the Cost of Environmental Degradation” (COED) in North Africa and the Middle East.
The agenda of the workshop is presented in Annex 2. The workshop included interactive case studies on the first and second days (respectively on ESA of an irrigation rehabilitation and expansion project and SESA of a river basin development) and a participants-led review of the draft elements of the guidebook on the fourth and last day. Each of the indoor training days was managed by a Chair (Gehan El Sakka, Bassam Shalan, Hisham Malaeb) assisted by a rapporteur (Ahmed El-Mallah and Yaser Abu Shanab). During the indoor sessions, the history and state of the art of Environmental and Social Assessments (ESA) of projects, plans, programs and policies were presented and discussed. Particular emphasis, partly at the request of the participants, was placed on the key differences between Environmental Impact Assessment, required by law in each of the three countries and ESA at project level. The introduction of Strategic Environmental and Social Assessment (SESA) is new, even at the international level and most of the lessons learned from international best practices are on Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) practices. Lebanon, the only country represented during the workshop to require SEA by law, has published its SEA decree in 2012. Interest in some form of SESA was expressed by many participants, although, for very large projects, the difference between ESA/EIA and SEA/SESA was not fully perceived during the workshop, but the organizers and the participants have shown serious eagerness about pursuing the dialogue by remote, in various forms and shapes: questions and answers, information about the National Water Sector SEA progress in Lebanon, etc.
The third day was dedicated to a field trip that included a visit to the transfer and sorting station of Karantina (Greater Beirut), of the nearby composting plant and of the Naameh landfill. During the last day, future evolutions of ESA/SESA were discussed, as well as common themes (transparency, governance of sustainable development and public participation).
The participants, very focused on the workshop, as illustrated by the photos in Annex 3, expressed their interest in continuing the interaction by email and Internet, notably by receiving the presentations in electronic format and by commenting on the future versions of the guidebook.
The evaluation of the workshop used a standard ReGoKo questionnaire. All 29 participants took the time to fill out the questionnaires, a performance that confirms the participants’ commitment as observed during the workshop and the field visit. The main outcome of the evaluation is summarized in Annex 4.
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Annex 1 - List of participants
Ahmed ELMALLAH Mechanical engineer ENPPI Egypt [email protected]
Mohamed SAID E.I.A central department EEAA Egypt [email protected]
Mohamed AHMED Manager projects, chemical industrial mining refractory, EIA department
EEAA Egypt [email protected]
Mohamed FAHMY Environmental researcher EEAA Egypt [email protected]
Gehan EL SAKKA General Director of Environmental Planning, Reporting and Indicator
EEAA Egypt [email protected]
Ibrahim ELSHIBINY Chemist Egypt [email protected]
Noha ZEINAHOM Industrial Sector Engineer Federation of Egyptian Industries - Environmental Compliance Office
Egypt [email protected]
Ghareeb MORSI Manager in E.I.A deparmtent Ministry of Environment Egypt [email protected]
Ghada AMIN Environmental Specialist Amrejah Cement Egypt [email protected]
Jean-Roger MERCIER Consultant France [email protected]
Lina TODE Programme Officer Plan Bleu France [email protected]
Hala MOUNAJJED Environmental Specialist Ministry of Environment Lebanon [email protected]
Sami IBRAHIM Economist, Urban Planner Ministry of Environment Lebanon [email protected]
Michelange MEDLEJ Advisor to the Minister Ministry of Energy and Water Lebanon [email protected]
Hisham MALAEB Strategic Planning Unit-Team Leader Ministry of Public Works and Transport Lebanon [email protected]
Ibrahim NIZAM Head of exploitation and control of Marine Transport
Ministry of Public Works and Transport Lebanon [email protected]
Nancy AWAD Specialist in environment and land use management
Council of Development and Reconstruction Lebanon [email protected]
Sarah DANIEL Manager of the Agriculture and Environment department - Agriculture engineer
YMCA Lebanon [email protected]
Joelle SLEIMAN Agriculture engineer YMCA Lebanon [email protected]
Lina ASSI Food Processing engineer Ministry of Industry Lebanon [email protected]
Cynthia AL KAYEM Field coordinator Environmental Fund for Lebanon Project Lebanon [email protected]
Mahmoud ABUSHANAB DDG, Environment Protection Directorate Ministry of Environment Affairs Palestine [email protected]
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Yaser ABU SHANAB Director of Public Health department Ministry of Environment Affairs Palestine [email protected]
Bader ABUZAHRA Director General Ministry of planning and Administrative Development
Palestine [email protected]
Amjad KHARRAZ Director of Environmental Assesment Dept. Ministry of Environment Affairs Palestine [email protected]
Iham NSOUR Director of Education and Awareness department
Ministry of Labor Palestine [email protected]
Bassam SHALAN General Director of Housing Ministry of Public Works & Housing Ministers Office
Palestine [email protected]
Awni SHAWAMRA Manager department of registration - Archeologist
Ministry of Tourism and Culture Palestine [email protected]
Akram TAWAYHA Monitoring and Inspection engineer - chemical engineer
Ministry of Environment Affairs Palestine [email protected]
Marwan YACOUB Director of Solid and Hazardous Waste Department
Ministry of Environment Affairs Palestine [email protected]
Muhammed ZIDAN Director of Natural resources department Ministry of National Economy Palestine [email protected]
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Annex 2- Agenda
Date/time Content Presenter Monday April 15
9 am Official opening
Plan Bleu and the Regional Project ReGoKo
Ghassan Sayyah, Senior Advisor to the Minister of Environment
Lina Tode (Plan Bleu)
10 am Health break 10:15 am Session 1 Objectives of the workshop, interactive
introduction of participants and trainer, selection of chairperson and rapporteur for the day
Jean-Roger Mercier, consultant
11:30 am Session 2 Environmental and Social Assessment: where are we coming from? and introduction to the draft guidebook
Jean-Roger Mercier, consultant
12:30 pm Lunch 1:30 pm The cost of environmental degradation with a focus on
Lebanon and the sub-region Fadi Doumani, consultant
2 pm Session 3 ESA at project level: a story of EIA, land acquisition and other environmental and social (E&S) safeguards
Jean-Roger Mercier, consultant
3:45 pm Health break 4 pm Interactive case study on ESA at project level All participants
5:30 pm Debriefing from the case study 5:45 pm Introduction to Day 2
Tuesday April 16 8:30 am Report from Day 1, comments from participants, selection
of chair and rapporteur for the day
9 am Session 4.1 Harmonization and alignment of environmental and social assessment requirements - the Paris Declaration and its avatars
Jean-Roger Mercier, consultant
10 am Health break 10:15 am Session 4.2 Evolution of EIA, SEA and other E&S tools in
Lebanon, Egypt and Palestinian Territories Focal Points
12:30 pm Lunch
1:30 pm Cultural Heritage Protection with a focus on Lebanon and the sub-region
Georges Zouain, Gaïa Heritage
2:00 pm Session 5: Beyond project level, Strategic Environmental and Social Assessment
Jean-Roger Mercier, consultant
3:45 pm Health break
4:00 pm SESA Interactive case study All participants 5:30 pm Debriefing from the case study All participants
5:45 pm Introduction to the field visit Wednesday 17 April
All day Field visit of a solid waste sorting facility, a composting site and a landfill having gone through EIA
Sukleen/Sukomi Company
Thursday 18 April
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8:30 am Report from Day 3, comments from participants, selection of chair and rapporteur for the day
9:00 am Session 6: Where do ESA/SESA go?
at the international level
at the level of each of the three countries
Focal points and Jean-Roger Mercier, consultant
10:00 am Health break
10:15 am Session 7: Common themes: governance, institutional reforms, stakeholder involvement
Jean-Roger Mercier, consultant
11:30 am Session 8 Draft guidebook: comments, suggestions and future inputs from participants, next steps for the participants
Forum
12:30 pm Lunch
2:00 pm Workshop evaluation and Certificate hand-over Participants 2:30 pm Unsolved matters and official closing
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Annex 3 - Photos
Participants discussing during the workshop in Jounieh
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Participants during the field visit at the Naameh landfill
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Participants during group work on the case study
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Annex 4 – Outcome of the evaluation
Here is how the participants rated the performance of the workshop and its organizers (highest mark= very satisfactory).
Question Rating
Venue 3,2
Accommodation 3,2
Meals 2,6
Info /Communication 2,9
Documents availability before the meeting 2,8
Animation 2,8
Total Organization 2,9
Presentations 3,0
Background docs 2,7
Clarity and comprehensibility of key messages 3,0
Open questions have been answered 3,4
Total Content 3,0
Event can promote dialogue 3,4
Info relevant for policy making 3,4
Info will be used 3,4
Info can have an impact 3,3
Total Relevance 3,4