Tanzanian Environmental Impact Assessment Laws and Practice for Projects in World Heritage Sites

• Author: Elia Mwanga
• Published date: 01 March 2022
• Date: 01 March 2022
• DOI: 10.1177/10704965211073587
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

The Journal of Environment &

Development

2022, Vol. 31(1) 88–107

© The Author(s) 2022

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DOI: 10.1177/10704965211073587

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Tanzanian Environmental

Impact Assessment Laws

and Practice for Projects in

World Heritage Sites

Elia Mwanga

1



Abstract

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is an integral component of sound decision-

making. Environmental impact assessment helps to prevent or reduce environm ental

harms by informing the decision-makers the likely environmental impacts of intended

project, its alternatives and/or mitigation measures before the implementation starts.

This study examines the effectiveness of Tanzania EIA laws and related practice on the

protection of Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the world heritage sites during

implementation of development projects. The study used data obtained from gov-

ernment off‌icials, policies, laws and reports; United Nations Educational, Scientif‌ic and

Cultural Organization and World Heritage Committee reports; and scholarly works.

The study demonstrates that Tanzania EIA laws are inadequate to ensure effective

protection of OUV of world heritage sites against harms caused by development

projects. The laws do not guarantee effective and broader participation of stakeholders

and inclusion of heritage impact assessment in EIA study. The study, therefore, rec-

ommends for reform of EIA laws and institutions responsible for supervising EIA.

Keywords

environmental impact assessment, world heritage sites, laws in practice, effectiveness,

Tanzania

Introduction

Development is understood differently across jurisdictions. The goals of development

also differ from one jurisdiction to another or from one region to another. Globally, the

1

School of Law, The University of Dodoma, Dodoma, Tanzania

Corresponding Author:

Elia Mwanga, The University of Dodoma - School of Law, P.O Box 259, Dodoma 41218, Tanzania.

Email: mwanga23@gmail.com

goals of development are categorically stated in the Sustainable Development Goals.

These goals include, inter alia, ending poverty, attaining good health, affordable and

clean water, sustainable cities and others (UN, 2015). In the African context, de-

velopment goals focus on eradicating poverty; ensuring that all Africans access decent

and affordable housing in clean, secure and well planned environments; industrialising

African economy; connecting African countries through world class infrastructures

including roads and ensuring accessibility of eff‌icient, reliable and cost-effective

energy to all Africans, businesses, industries and institutions (African Union

Commission, 2015). For the case of Tanzanian, development aims at attaining high

quality life by eradicating poverty, achieving good governance, and attaining strong

and competitive economy characterised by, inter alia, semi-industrialisation and ad-

equate physical infrastructure (URT, 1995).

In order to achieve development goals, environmental issues should be main-

streamed in development plans. This is true since development activities including

implementation of different infrastructure projects may have irreversible impacts on the

environment and thus affecting the quality of human life. Since the United Nations

Conference on Environment and Development (the Earth Summit), the link between

development and environmental protection and conservation has gained attention in

legal and policy documents both at national and global level. The Rio Declaration on

the Environment and Development states that development plans must take into

consideration environmental protection (UN, 1993). To be precise, the Declaration

advocates for sustainable development –the development that ‘meets the needs of the

present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’

(Dei, 1993, p. 98). In the context of the United Nations Educational, Scientif‌ic and

Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Convention, sustainable de-

velopment entails development that balances the three values: environmental, social

and economic values (Warnock, 2013). Further sustainable development should ensure

that cultural and natural heritage properties of Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) are

protected, conserved, presented and transmitted to the future generations (General

Assembly of the World Heritage Convention, 2015).

One of the tools that are used to promote the integration of environmental issues into

development plans and decision-making is the environmental impact assessment (EIA).

Through EIA, development projects that are likely to course signif‌icant harm on the

environment including the World Heritage properties’OUV are subjected to scrutiny

with the aim of determining the negative impacts of the projects and f‌inding out al-

ternatives and/or measures to mitigate the identif‌ied impacts (World Heritage

Committee, 2019). The Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the Con-

vention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage of 1972

(World Heritage Convention) require EIA, heritage impact assessments (HIA) and/or

strategic environmental assessments (SEA) to ‘be carried out as a pre-requisite for

development projects and activities that are planned for implementation within or

around [any] World Heritage property’(World Heritage Committee, 2019, p. 33).

Tanzania is among the States Parties to the WorldHeritage Convention and one of

the countries hosting WorldHeritage properties. By virtue of being a State Party to the

Mwanga 89