Chad Export Project

May, 1999

Preface

The entire 19-volume package of environmental documentation for the Chad Export Project has been produced in a collaboration between the sponsoring Consortium of oil companies and the two host governments, the Republic of Chad and the Republic of Cameroon. The documentation package describes the joint investigations, analysis, environmental assessments and environmental management commitments of the sponsors and each of the host countries.

This particular volume provides a comprehensive overview of the environmental documentation for the Chad Export Project. It updates and consolidates the project's Environmental Assessments and it describes the project design enhancements that have resulted from those studies and consultations.

1997 Environmental Assessments

The project's initial Environmental Assessments (EAs) and their accompanying plans and studies were distributed for comment beginning in the third quarter of 1997 and all elements of that initial documentation were published by September 1998.

The draft environmental documentation was developed through a program of scientific studies and public consultations that began in 1993. A Geographic Information System (GIS) map-based database was produced to aid in environmental assessment of project alternatives. The data for the GIS and other project analyses has been based on the project's own field studies, published research data, satellite imagery and high resolution aerial photographic mapping. Public consultations included meetings with numerous in-country non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as well as nearly 200 village meetings held during the Human Environment Survey.

The initial environmental documentation package included:

• Environmental Assessments for Chad and Cameroon.

• Appendices describing the Human Environment and Health surveys and providing preliminary information on oil spill response planning, as well as a series of reference documents describing biophysical and socioeconomic surveys.

• Environmental Management Plans (EMPs) for both Chad and Cameroon.

• A Compensation and Resettlement Plan for Chad and a Compensation Plan for Cameroon.

• Updated and Expanded Environmental Documentation Package

The initial environmental documentation has now been updated, expanded and finalized. A visual guide map to the environmental documentation package follows this Preface. The 19 volumes in this package include:

• This Environmental Assessment Executive Summary and Update volume.

• The six-volume sets of Environmental Management Plans for both Chad and Cameroon. Environmental Management Plans, for projects involving the World Bank Group, set out the action plan for environmental protection. They contain specific actions, responsibilities, schedules and budgets. The two EMP sets for this project include:

1. Detailed plans and specifications for compensation and resettlement, engineering and construction standards, environmental monitoring, management of cultural properties and waste management.

2. Environmental alignment sheets that set out site-specific mitigation actions for the project, including kilometer-by-kilometer mitigation instructions for the entire pipeline route.

3. In Chad, country-specific plans and programs including the oilfield area Regional Development Plan and the Revenue Management Plan developed by the Republic of Chad with the assistance of the World Bank Group.

4. In Cameroon, country-specific plans and programs including the Environmental Foundation Plan, the Offsite Environmental Enhancement Program, the Induced Access Management Plan and the Indigenous Peoples Plan.

5. The Chad Compensation and Resettlement Plan and the Cameroon Compensation Plan, which have been updated with revised market value surveys and adjusted based on comments received in public consultation.

• The six volume set of Supporting Documents, which includes:

1. A detailed Project Description, including a description of the decommissioning plan, a list of studies and reports, and a list of expert consultants.

2. A report on the post EA-release consultation program and the project's responses to the received comments. The consultation report covers the over 200 village-level public meetings conducted in the Public Information Campaign, the consultation meetings held with the Bakola Pygmies of coastal Cameroon, the comments received in the 17 reading room locations in Cameroon, and special consultation sessions conducted to address issues such as pipeline route adjustments.

3. An Alternatives Analysis that provides the results of post-EA release biology field studies, public consultation and engineering analyses that have lead to pipeline route adjustments made in Cameroon in the Mbéré Rift Valley, Deng Deng forest and Atlantic Littoral Forest areas.

4. The project's preliminary Oil Spill Response documentation in preparation for completion of the General Oil Spill Response Plan and the Area Specific Oil Spill Response Plans.

5. The report on biological studies for Chad and Cameroon.

6. The report on health studies for Chad and Cameroon.