RESUMEN
Environmental impact assessment reports meant for proposed development actions can be evaluated to reveal their quality and fitness for the purpose of environmental decision-making. Therefore, this study evaluated the quality and identified strengths and weaknesses in environmental impact assessment reports of telecommunications infrastructure proposed for Plateau State in Nigeria. To this end, 80 reports were evaluated using the modified version of the Lee and Colley review package. The results revealed the following points. In Review Area 1.0 (Description of the proposed telecommunications facilities) and Review Area 5.0 (Communication of results), the quality of environmental impact assessment reports was found to be generally satisfactory. However, the quality of all reports was considered 'very unsatisfactory' ('F') regarding their overall legal compliance with the requirements stipulated in the remaining three Review Areas, namely, Review Area 2.0 (Terrain susceptibility in the proposed project areas), Review Area 3.0 (Associated and potential environmental impacts), and Review Area 4.0 (Mitigation measures/alternatives). This 'F' rating was assigned to 65% (52/80) of reports regarding Review Area 3.0 because the information provided was 'very unsatisfactory'; important tasks were poorly carried out or not attempted at all. Moreover, in review areas such as Review Area 2.0 and Review Area 4.0, all reports in the evaluation were assigned an 'F' quality. Such an unsatisfactory quality rating is ascribable to the very unsatisfactory manner in which the reports were populated, especially as important task(s) were poorly performed or not attempted at all. Historically, only Review Area 1.0 and Review Area 5.0 indicated improvements in quality over time, whereas the remaining three review areas (Review Area 2.0, Review Area 3.0 and Review Area 4.0) did not improve. Based on the results obtained from the study, we recommend that there should be periodic reviews of environmental impact assessment reports by independent reviewers and environmental consultants should adhere to the sectoral guidelines for telecommunication infrastructure during the production of these reports. Moreover, in order to build technical capacity, more studies on report quality must be conducted in all sectors in Nigeria.
Asunto(s)
Telecomunicaciones , Comunicación , Ambiente , NigeriaRESUMEN
The Roodeplaat Dam and its three inflowing rivers are highly impacted by surrounding anthropogenic activities. The system is hyper-eutrophic and characterized by seasonal algal blooms and previous studies have reported levels of the hepatotoxin microcystin in the water of the impoundment. Limited information is available on the microcystin concentrations in the inflowing rivers and no information is available on the bioaccumulated levels and potential health effects in fish inhabiting these rivers. The aim of this study was to do a histopathological assessment and to determine the concentrations of bioaccumulated microcystins in the livers of two indicator fish species Clarias gariepinus and Oreochromis mossambicus. The results showed that the two species bioaccumulate microcystins at different concentrations and that their hepatic health response varied. The liver index was significantly higher for C. gariepinus compared to O. mossambicus. No significant positive correlation was found between the bioaccumulated microcystin levels and the liver histology index. It is recommended that this pilot study be followed by a controlled exposure study to confirm a possible cause and effect relationship between microcystin exposure and the specific liver alterations identified.