| dc.description.abstract | Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is an essential policy instrument for achieving sustainability in development. The enactment of the Environmental Management and Coordination Act, 1999 and the current changes in Environmental Policy in Kenya requires institutions and organizations carrying out development projects to carry out Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Environmental Auditing (EA). The purpose of this study was to establish factors influencing compliance to Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) I Environment Audit (EA) 2003 regulations in Kenya, a case of Garissa Central Division.
Four research objectives were formulated to guide the study. The research objectives sought to establish the extent to which technical factors influence compliance to the EIA/EA regulations 2003; examining the extent to which developers' level of awareness influence compliance to the EIA/EA regulations 2003; examine the influence of capacity of lead agencies to implement the EIA/EA regulations 2003 and lastly to examine the influence of capacity of NEMA to implement the EIA/EA regulations 2003 in Garissa Central Division.
The study used descriptive survey research design. The sample size was 50 developers, 30 lead agencies, 10 DEC members and the District Environment officer (1) of NEMA. Questionnaires and interview schedule were used to collect data for the study. Findings indicated that technical factors influenced the compliance to the EIA/EA regulations 2003. Findings also revealed that developers' level of awareness influenced the compliance to the EIA/EA regulations 2003.
Findings also showed that developers had the capacity to implement the EIAI EA Regulation 2003. It was lastly revealed that the capacity of NEMA affected the compliance to the regulation. Based on the findings of the study it was concluded that technical factors influenced the compliance of the EIA/EA Regulation 2003.
The study also concluded that developer's level of awareness influenced the compliance of the EIA/EA Regulations 2003. The study also concluded that the developers had the capacity to implement the regulation. Based on the findings it was recommended that there is need to raise the level of awareness of the developers so that they can comply with the requirements in the EIA/EA Regulation 2003. It was also recommended that NEMA should certify some centers within the lead agencies to undertake EIA/EA in order to increase compliance to the regulation and lower the cost of writing EIA/EA Reports.
The Government should allocate some financial resources to facilitate the lead agencies to review EIA/EA project reports. NEMA and the Ministry of Environment and Mineral Resources should sensitize the lead agencies and developers on the EIA/EA process to increase compliance to the regulation and to safeguard the environment and the support should be in the form of more staffing, equipment, better office space for environment officers and more funding for the environment agency.
The study suggested that A similar study should be carried out on factors influencing compliance to EIA/EA Regulation 2003 in North Eastern province and Kenya in general. A study on how to raise compliance to the EIA/EA Regulation 2003 with the aim of reducing the negative impacts of projects on the environment for sustainable development should be conducted. | en_US |
