Environment Protection Act, 2019

Chapter-1
Preliminary

1. Short Title and Commencement: (1) This Act may be called the "Environment Protection Act, 2076".

(2) This Act shall commence on the eighth day following the date of its certification. 2. Definitions: Unless the subject or context otherwise requires, in this Act,-

(a) "Adaptation" means the assessment of potential impacts and risks of climate change and the prevention or mitigation of further harm or loss.

(b) "Emission" means the release of greenhouse gases or any other gases, smoke or dust into the environment from a specific area within a specific time period.

(c) "Fund" means the Environment Protection Fund referred to in Section 31.

(d) "Climate change" means a change of climate that is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere, in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods.

(e) "Climate change management" means the mitigation of or adaptation to problems arising from climate change, and said term also refers to holistic actions including related policies, strategies, institutional mechanism development, financial arrangements and capacity building.

(f) "Hazardous substance" means substances listed in the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, and substances with explosive, flammable, persistent and corrosive properties that adversely affect human health and the environment, and substances which, after processing from raw materials that are not reused, are being used for the first time.

(g) "Biological diversity" means ecosystem diversity, species diversity and genetic diversity.

(h) "Prescribed" or "as prescribed" means prescribed or as prescribed in the rules made under this Act.

(i) "Mitigation" means the reduction or prevention of greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activities.

(j) "Pollution" means any act that directly or indirectly alters the environment by waste, chemicals, heat, noise, electrical, electromagnetic waves or radioactive radiation, causing significant degradation, damage or harm to the beneficial or productive use of the environment.

(k) "Proposal" means a proposal prepared for the implementation of any plan, project or program involving development works, physical activities or land use changes capable of altering the existing environmental condition.

(l) "Proponent" means a person or a government, semi-government or non-government body or institution that submits an application for approval of a proposal or that obtains approval to implement a proposal.

(m) "Initial Environmental Examination" means a study and evaluation carried out analytically to ascertain whether a proposal, upon implementation, will have significant adverse effects on the environment, and also regarding measures to be adopted to remedy or mitigate such effects.

(n) "Supplemental Environmental Impact Assessment" means an environmental impact assessment conducted again upon a proposal submitted to partially modify the physical infrastructure, design or form, relocate or alter structures, add forest area, or increase the capacity of a project for which an environmental impact assessment report has already been approved once.

(o) "Council" means the National Council for Environment Protection and Climate Change Management referred to in Section 32.

(p) "Provincial Ministry" means the ministry of the provincial government dealing with environmental matters.

(q) "Waste" means liquid, solid, gas, sludge, smoke, dust, radioactive substances or other similar materials discharged in a manner causing environmental degradation.

(r) "Ministry" means the Ministry of Forests and Environment of the Government of Nepal.

(s) "National Heritage" means any object, physical structure, place, flora or fauna related to the environment within Nepal that is considered important for humankind from a natural, cultural, historical, archaeological, scientific, spiritual, aesthetic or social perspective.

(t) "Environment" means natural, cultural and social systems, economic and human activities, their components, and the interaction and interrelationship among those components.

(u) "Environmental Study Report" means a report prepared in relation to a Brief Environmental Study, Initial Environmental Examination, or Environmental Impact Assessment.

(v) "Environmental Impact Assessment" means a study and evaluation carried out in detail to ascertain whether a proposal, upon implementation, will have significant adverse effects on the environment, and also regarding measures to be adopted to remedy or mitigate such effects.

(w) "Department" means the Department of Environment under the Ministry.

(x) "Concerned Body" means the body referred to in subsection (2) of Section 3 that processes and decides on environmental study reports.

(y) "Brief Environmental Study" means a study carried out briefly regarding measures to be adopted to remedy or mitigate adverse effects on the environment from the implementation of a proposal.

(z) "Local Level" means a Rural Municipality or Municipality.