This manual, developed by the Ministry of Environment and Nature Protection (MINEP), aims to popularize the procedure for carrying out and approving environmental impact studies (EIAs) in order to enable project developers or project owners, experts in environmental assessment and the public concerned, to properly plan their projects and/or to play their respective roles in the entire process of generating and managing a project or a company..

Impact studies are prescribed in Cameroon by several legal texts, including in particular Law No. 96/012 of 5 August 1996 on the framework law on environmental management. Decree 2005/ O577/ PM of 23 February 2005 sets out the procedures for carrying out environmental impact studies and! ' Order No. 0070/MINEP of 22 April 2005 determines the various categories of operations whose implementation is subject to an environmental impact study.

This manual describes the procedure for conducting and approving environmental assessments.

An environmental impact study is a systematic review to determine whether or not a project has favorable or unfavorable effects on the environment. The document resulting from this review is the environmental impact study report, which is submitted to the assessment of the parties involved in the project.

 

The impact study is carried out by the project promoter or project owner and is at his expense. To this end, the promoter must call on a consulting firm of his choice to carry out the study according to the rules of the art. The approval of an environmental impact study leads to the issuance of an environmental compliance certificate (CCE), by the Minister in charge of the environment.

 

According to the Act, no project likely to have an impact on the environment should be implemented without an environmental compliance certificate. The Ministry in charge of the Environment reviews the impact study report submitted to it by the proponent and takes the decision whether or not to approve the report, after consulting the Interministerial Committee on the Environment (CIE). Approval results in the issuance of an environmental compliance certificate.

For establishments that are already operational, without an impact study prior to the date of signature of the decree mentioned above, an environmental audit (AE) is required.

By definition, an environmental audit is a systematic, documented and objective assessment of an establishment's facilities, operations and environmental management system in order to ensure the protection of the environment.

Both the environmental impact study and the environmental audit are based on a scientific and participatory approach.

EIA makes it possible to predict, identify and assess the harmful consequences of projects on the environment; it is an evaluation carried out a prima facie on an activity that has not yet been carried out.

For its part, EA is an ex-post evaluation of activities already under way.

EIA and EA are decision support tools; they have three main objectives:

— — help the public or private contractor to design an environmentally friendly project.

The audit should make it possible to see the level of compliance with environmental obligations, in accordance with laws and regulations; ·

— — inform the authority responsible for taking the decision to authorize the project. The impact study or the environmental audit provide it with information that allows it to make informed decisions;

— — inform the public and facilitate their participation in decision-making. The EIA/EA file is made available to the public who makes their observations known which must be taken into account in the final decision.

— — The impact study and the environmental audit can be summary or detailed. The list of transactions subject to one or the other category (summary or detailed) is fixed by! ' Order No. 0070/ MINEP of 22 April 2005.