KARACHI, April 26: Environmentalists, community leaders, scientists and government officials have stressed the need for holding public hearings on environmental impact assessment reports of proposed undertakings in a more effective manner, leading to enormous benefits for the proponents, stakeholders and the nation at large.

They were participating in public hearings of EIA reports of three proposed exploratory well drilling activities in two different concessions and one development and production lease involving the Nara Desert and wildlife protected area of the Nara Game Reserve and the Nara Desert Wildlife Sanctuary.

The Sindh Environmental Protection Agency held the public hearings for the three proposed projects in two sessions in the conference hall of the Federation House, Clifton, on Saturday, with secretary of the provincial environment and alternative energy department, Mir Hussain Ali, in the chair.

During the hearing proceedings, the participants noted that an adequate stakeholders’ involvement in review was essential. Efforts should be made to get more and more inputs and comments from people belonging to different walks of life and experts to ensure that concerns and needs of affected population were considered and addressed.

A couple of representatives of a research institute and communities appeared also critical of the protection agency for completing three crucial public hearings within five hours.

A student suggested that Sepa should hold EIA hearings at local levels and in areas where the project was going to be developed and made operational. The language of hearing proceedings should be Urdu, and EIA reports should be based on the latest baseline data and also cared for the social and physical and chemical environment conditions of area people, said a couple of other participants.

In his remarks, Hussain Ali said that it would be very logical if the hearings were held at the places of projects and all avenues were extended to local people to have their participation and record comments. The comments from participants at the hearing, public’s apprehensions and experts’ comments received in writing at Sepa during the prescribed 30 days should also be evaluated by an experts’ committee and incorporated into the final documents as adverse impact mitigation measures.

To a suggestion from an official of the Sindh Wildlife Department that the government should impose a ban on any further oil and gas exploration or other development activities in the wildlife sanctuary area to save the natural habitats, the environment department secretary said the wildlife department could move a note on the matter for any decision from the government.

After hearing some complaints, the Sepa officials conducting the proceedings, director-general Ali Ahmad Lund and director Naeem Ahmad Mughal, asked the proponent of a project, Kadanwari Gas Field, to furnish details regarding employment of locals and also to carry out a survey of core habitat of wildlife in coordination with the government’s department concerned.

Proponents of another project were advised to use such drilling techniques which brought very minimal impact on the relevant flora and fauna, involved minimum clearing of land. About 60 per cent of a project area lies in the protected area of NGR and NDWS.

It was also stressed that during the hearings efforts should be made to know the cumulative adverse effects of the long-going oil and gas exploration activities in the protected areas for the last 10 years.

Presenting the impacts and mitigation measures for drilling activities, one of the proponents said that measures would be taken to minimize the air and noise pollution due to project operations, while water from small lakes and the Nara canal would not be used for drilling and water would be used only from local wells. Hunting, trapping, feeding or harassment of wildlife would be prohibited to project people.