Report release cum workshop on Environmental Audit in Nigeria
The National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), an Agency of the Federal Ministry of Environment, is charged with the responsibility to enforce all environmental laws, guidelines, policies, standards and regulations in the country. In facilitating its responsibilities, the Agency developed National Environmental Regulations for monitoring the industrial sectors to prevent and minimize pollution from all their operations. One of the requirement under this regulation is the mandatory submission of Environmental audit reports by all industrial sectors and waste generators to ensure environmentally sound management of waste emanating from their operations. The Agency has also developed an Environmental guideline to guide operators on the conduct and submission of Environmental Audits.
An environmental audit is a series of activities undertaken with respect to the operations of a facility or an organisation to evaluate its environmental performance. It is not a one-time step but an ongoing activity that aims to identify and correct environmental issues that arises during the project operation and improve operating and environmental conditions in industries.
NESREA has observed that the current audit reports are in different formats, lack important information, and in some cases they do not reflect the actual status of the operating facility. To add to that, these reports do not adequately cover the information included in the Environmental Management Plan developed during the environmental impact assessment (EIA). The new guideline is intended to streamline the processes associated with undertaking and review of the environmental audits
Therefore, NESREA has requested CSE based on its expertise on environmental issues to provide technical assistance in revising the existing audit guidelines for effective use of the audit process for policy decisions.
The revised guideline is intended to streamline processes associated with undertaking and review of the environmental audits. The guidelines provides a comprehensive and data-driven audit protocols for various types of industrial processes. This will enable the audit reports to have technical data regarding resource consumption and pollution generation which lacks in the existing audit reports.
The workshop aims to build the capacity of Environmental consultants on the updated guidelines. Thereafter, the consultants attending the workshop will be eligible for conducting environmental audits in the country.
For more information, you may contact
| Ishita Garg Centre for Science and Environment, India Email: ishita.garg@cseindia.org |
Abdullahi Agaka |
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