Environmental Assessment
Volume A-6
Introduction
Consultation
The workshops provided an opportunity for the CTE and other attendees to
provide feedback and recommendations that could be included in the EA as it
underwent final preparation. The workshops also allowed all participants to be
better briefed on key aspects of the EA, to aid review after submission. To help
these meetings, a briefing binder was supplied in advance of the meeting, as
requested by the CTE. Those briefing documents were mainly draft sections of
the final EA, in the areas of water, biodiversity and socioeconomics.
The meetings were split into three main sections: a half-day introduction; two
half-days for the three working groups; a final two half-days of plenary for
reporting back. The first morning was an introductory plenary session. This was
chaired by the CTE / ONE. It included an introduction by ONE on the objectives
for the meeting, plus a critique of the briefing package provided. This critique
recognized that the briefing package comprised parts of the EA, in draft form,
and that additional items of interest would be provided in the complete EA. The
proponent then provided a project update, after which the following overall
guidance was provided, on how the three working groups (water, biodiversity,
socioeconomics) should function. Each of the three working groups would
progress through the following stages:
•
Introductions by participants and statements of their interests in the
Ambatovy Project.
•
A presentation from the EA team, emphasizing main issues identified
and proposed mitigations.
•
Election of a chairman to run the working group, a minute taker and a
rapporteur
to supply a report at the final plenary. In all cases, as
suggested, the chairman and
rapporteur
for each group were from
participants other than the EA team.
•
Agreement as to how the working group would decide priorities (issues,
sites, etc.) to work on.
•
Agreement as to what the products would be from the working group.
These could include:
−
consensus on key issues;
−
consensus as to an evaluation as to the effectiveness of proposed
mitigations and monitoring;
−
a list of questions to pose to the other two working groups;
−
miscellaneous recommendations; and
−
a list of any areas where consensus could not be reached.
Ambatovy Project
43
January 2006
