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PNG Guideline For Conduct of Environmental Impact Assessment & Preparation of Environmental Impact Statement 2004


The Guideline is intended to assist and guide prospective developers (or their consultants) with an intention to carry out Level 3 activities in Papua New Guinea ("PNG"), to meet their legal obligations under Section 51 and Section 53 of Environment Act 2000 (the "Act").

The Act gives effect to the National Goals and Directive Principles in the National Constitution, in particular the fourth goal on Natural Resources and Environment. It also provides the legal framework for regulating the environmental effects of development activities in order to promote sustainable development in PNG. In essence, the environment protection legislation will encourage socio-economic development while protecting and maintaining environmental quality by safeguarding the life supporting capacity of air, water, soil and the ecosystems for the present and future generations.

The Act requires a person or company that intend to venture into an activity defined as a Level 3 activity under the Environment (Prescribed Activities) Regulation 2002 to carry out an Environmental Impact Assessment and to prepare and submit an Environmental Impact Statement. At this stage the proponent should also have previously lodged a Notification of Preparatory Work (refer to 1DEC Publication No. IB-ENV/01/2004) in accordance with Section 48 of the Act and an Environmental Inception Report (refer DEC Publication No. GLENV/ 01/2004) as required under Section 52 of Environment Act 2000.

The developer must submit an Environmental Impact Statement that provides a full documentation of all environmental and social issues and committing to the employment of relevant mitigation measures in relation to the development activity. The Environmental Impact Statement should substantially comply with this Guideline.

It should be noted that the Environmental Impact Assessment process and the Environmental Impact Statement are key inputs, together with comments received from referral bodies and other stakeholders, that will be used by DEC to assess whether or not a proposal is recommended for approval.