This document discusses a workshop for EIA consultants on assessing social impacts in Myanmar's EIA process. It provides examples of ongoing training opportunities for consultants and outlines the workshop's objectives to review lessons learned on social impact assessment and discuss best practices. Social impacts are defined as any effects on people, their way of life, health, rights, and fears. Both positive and negative social impacts can occur and are interrelated with environmental and economic impacts. The document provides guidance on identifying, mitigating, and managing social impacts from various stages of project development.

1. Workshop for EIA Consultants
Environmental Impact Assessment in Myanmar: Lessons Learned and
Recommended Practices
Friday 17 November 2017
Rose Garden Hotel, Yangon, Myanmar

2. Ongoing training opportunities for EIA
consultants
 Previous VLS/MCRB/MONREC Workshops: 12 August and 30
September 2016
 MCRB workshop on biodiversity and EIA planned for 3rd week January
2018
 Vietnam Learning Center on Environmental and Social Sustainability (LC)
@ Asian Institute of Technology in Vietnam (ADB and World Bank(
 Courses in English in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh on issues such as EIA,
resettlement etc
 http://aitvn.asia/lc/
 IFC plans for EIA consultant capacity-building in 2018?
 Establishment of Myanmar EIA consultants professional network?
(EGuard)
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3. This Workshop’s Objectives
 To review the first two years of EIA Procedure, lessons learned and
feedback from EIA consultants for future improvement
 To discuss how social impacts (i.e. impacts on people) should be
assessed and managed in the EIA Process, and implications for the work
of consultants, in particular with regards to:
 Public participation
 Operational grievance mechanisms
 EIA in conflict-affected areas
 Indigenous Peoples and ethnic minorities
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4. What are Social Impacts?
EIA Consultants Workshop
17 November 2017, Yangon
myanmar.responsible.busin

5. What are social impacts?
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Social impacts?
They’re just those
demonstrations
stirred up by NGOs,
aren’t they?
Comment at a MCRB/Vermont
Law School training workshop,
Yangon 2016
No, demonstrations are
what happens when you
haven’t identified and
mitigated/managed social
impacts.
Social impacts are impacts
on people.

6. Social impacts are impacts on
people……
 Their way of life
 how they live, work, play and interact
with one another on a day-to-day basis;
 their culture
 shared beliefs, customs, values and
language or dialect;
 their community
 its cohesion, stability, character,
services and facilities;
 their environment
 the quality of the air and water people
use;
 the availability and quality of the food
they eat;
 the level of hazard or risk, dust and
noise they are exposed to;
 the adequacy of sanitation,
 their physical safety,
 their access to and control over
resources; 6
 their health and wellbeing
 health is a state of complete physical,
mental, social and spiritual wellbeing
and not merely the absence of disease
or infirmity;
 their personal and property rights
 particularly whether people are
economically affected, or experience
personal disadvantage which may
include a violation of their civil liberties;
 their political systems
 the extent to which people are able to
participate in decisions that affect their
lives,
 the level of democratisation that is taking
place, and the resources provided for
this purpose;
 their fears and aspirations
 their perceptions about their safety,
 their fears about the future of their
community,

7. Social impacts can be positive, or
negative…
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 Loss of income
and land
 Noise
 Inward migration
 Pollution
 Jobs
 Economic
growth
 New road
connections
 Better health
services

8. An A to Z of social impacts……
 Aesthetic impacts (landscape
analysis)
 Archaeological and cultural heritage
impacts (both tangible and non-
tangible)
 impacts on Children
 Community impacts
 Cultural impacts
 Demographic impacts
 Development impacts
 Economic and Fiscal impacts
 Gender impacts
 Health and mental health impacts
 impacts on Indigenous rights;
 Infrastructural impacts
 Institutional impacts
 Leisure and tourism impacts
 Political impacts (human rights,
governance, democratisation etc)
 Poverty
 Psychological impacts
 Resource issues (access and
ownership of resources)
 impacts on social and human capital
 other impacts on societies.
International Association for Impact Assessment: http://www.iaia.org/wiki-details.php?ID=23

9. Example of Impacts at
Prospecting/Exploration Stage
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 South Africa – company
prospecting for platinum
deposit in area with
existing mines
 Proposed prospecting
area contains a number
of small- to medium-
sized farming operations
that supply a significant
percentage of Gauteng’s
fruit and vegetables.
 A number of plant
nurseries and tourist
attractions are also
located close to the
tailings storage facility.
 Prime concern of the
Zandfontein community
is the quantity and
quality of underground
and surface water
supplies.
Samanchor Chrome, Environmental Management Plan for prospecting
for platinum, Zandfontein, South Africa
http://www.golder.com/bw/modules.php?name=Documents&op=vie
wlive&sp_id=2884

10. Impacts – Platinum Exploration
(Zandfontein. SA)
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Impact Mitigation
Noise caused by drilling rigs, generators,
vehicles, voices of the drilling crew
Operate only during daytime
Instructions to Crew
Visibility of the drilling rig Appropriate location of rig in consultation with landowner,
screening with vegetation or shade cloth barrier
Dust generated by the drilling operation and
vehicles travelling over unpaved areas
Low vehicle speeds; watering of roads
Removal of, or damage to, cultural heritage
objects and sites
Crew awareness of sites e.g. graveyard
Code of conduct
Potential contamination of soil, surface
water, groundwater with oil, diesel etc
Proper vehicle maintenance; Careful refueling; spill kit on site;
immediate clean up of spillages
Friction between local residents and
landowners, and prospecting personnel
All operations will be carried out under the guidance of a
strong, experienced manager with proven skills in public
consultation and conflict resolution. All prospecting personnel
will be made aware of the local conditions and sensitivities in
the prospecting area. There will be a strict requirement to treat
local residents with respect and courtesy at all times.
Social or
environmental
impacts?

11. Environmental and social impacts are
highly connected…..
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Example: A mine attracts inward migrants
from a different area/ethnicity/religion who:
• change the nature and size of the local
population (demographic, cultural)
• create a shanty town (aesthetic, community)
• harass local women (community, gender,
psychological)
• pollute streams with the waste from their
temporary huts (health, environmental,
economic)
• put pressure on local schools due to increase
in children in the area (children, social and
human capital)
• hunt for ‘bushmeat’ (resource)
• increase malaria prevalence (health, children,
poverty)
This mine needs mitigation
measures which will reduce or
reverse inward migration and
manage its impacts.
Ideas?

12. Guidance is available: Project-Induced In-
Migration
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www.ifc.org/HB-Inmigration

13. A sample of the handbooks and good
practice notes from IFC www.ifc.org
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14. Myanmar requires a single assessment
(EIA) of all impacts, including social
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Myanmar Environmental Impact Assessment Procedure (2015)
Article 2 (h) Environmental Impact means the probable effects or
consequence on the natural and built environment, and people
and communities of a proposed Project or businesses or activities
or undertaking. Impacts can be direct or indirect, cumulative, and
positive or adverse or both. For purposes of this Procedure,
Environmental Impacts include occupational, social, cultural,
socio-economical, public and community health, and safety
issues. Moreover, social impacts include Involuntary Resettlement
and relating to Indigenous People.Q: How many times does the word ‘social’ appear
in the Myanmar EIA Procedure? A: 32

15. In conclusion…..
 To determine social impacts (Impacts on people),
the company/consultant needs to talk to people
 Social impacts, environmental impacts, health
impacts etc usually cannot be separated: a
single impact assessment is required, with
relevant experts
 Not separate Cultural Impact Assessment,
Health Impact Assessment, Environmental 15
Impact
s
Gender Health Cultural
Enviro
nment
Human
Rights
Economic
Impact
Assessment

16. Which of the following would not be an
adverse social impact?
1. Pollution of agricultural land
2. Fencing off a mine which blocks
a path between villages
3. Local women concerned about
construction workers’ behaviour
4. Project Proponent’s company
lists on Singapore stock market
5. Mining of hill locally famous for
elephant-shape
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