Environment & Social Impact Assessment: Embedding No Net Loss/Net Gain Calculation into the Process to Optimize Impact Mitigation
Authors: Ochanda David , Konovalova Olga , Jennet Christelle 
Published: April 2018

Total E&P Uganda (hereinafter refered to as the Company) is developing oil fields in western Uganda, in an area that lies partially within the Murchison Falls National Park (MFNP) inhabited by many species of wildlife. Due to the sensitivity of the area, the Company is committed to implementing its project in line with International Finance Corporation (IFC) standards by applying the mitigation hierarchy principles. Critical Habitats might potentially be impacted by the project. The Environment and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) is therefore undertaken to i) Give opportunities to mitigate impacts at design stage and ii) Provide visibility on how Company will achieve its commitments.

The ESIA process fulfills the Ugandan legal requirements but is also undertaken in line with the IFC Standards. As the development will occur in an area where Critical Habitat has been identified, the Company is committed to achieving No Net Loss (NNL)/ Net Gain (NG) on key biodiversity values. The assessment of NNL/NG has been done in a phased approach starting with a pre-feasibility assessment to identify potential suitable metrics, to be followed by the biodiversity loss/gain accounting for residual impacts. Results shall be used to guide impact mitigation so as to achieve NNL/NG.

The ESIA process is undertaken by an external contractor with his Ugandan partner; and the NNL/NG calculations by a biodiversity technical expert contractor. The ESIA and biodiversity expert contractors are hereinafter referred to as external contractors. Due to two processes being merged into one, the Company has to ensure advance planning and coordination between the external contractors.

It is important that the ESIA process provides the necessary input to the NNL/NG calculations, and that the output of the NNL/NG calculations is used during impact mitigation iteration. The above should take place through close collaboration between the external contractors at impact assessment stage. The ESIA has recently entered into it and the external contractors are to work together from definition of method until ESIA submission. The results of the impact assessment and recommended mitigations should therefore present the whole picture and guide the Company in order to reach NNL/NG.

In addition, as part of the ESIA process, surveys have been undertaken in order to confirm biodiversity values on ground and work iteratively with the project design team to favor early impact avoidance; which ultimately contributes towards NNL/NG.

The initial interactions between the external contractors look quite promising, as everyone is ensuring they contribute to optimize the process so that the outcome is used in order to guide and discuss mitigation requirements with project design team during the design phase.

It is the Company's understanding that combining the two processes is not common, yet it is tried for this development. This is to allow a more optimized planning and support decision making with full visibility on potential challenges, opportunities and related costs.