Scoping: Establishing Terms of Reference
Scoping should be carried out as a collaborative exercise involving the developer, the competent authority, relevant agencies and, ideally, the public through public participation.
Key agencies
- National government ministries (Mining, Agriculture, Health & Welfare, Water Resource, Forest & Environment, Industry etc.)
- Local government bodies
- Private sector organisation
- NGOs
- Public
- EIA experts
- Local people
For biodiversity inclusive EIA, scoping should involve biodiversity experts and people dependent on biodiversity resources in the study area
A more pragmatic approach involves development of country guidance and translating the scoping outputs into ToRs.
Scoping involves
- Review of activities (extent, timing, duration etc.)
- Review of biodiversity distributions, structure, function
- Review of baseline condition and likely responses and changes with & without project (preliminary impact assessment)
- Design of surveys or information gathering to 'capture' all relevant effects
- Explanation of proposed process and methods