The Science of Protecting Public Health & Ecosystems

Children stand next to ponds poluuted with tannery effluent in Bangladesh (Photo: Mark Chernaik)

Tanzanians worry that a fish processing plant is contaminating Lake Victoria. Ugandans fear government plans to spray DDT. Czech citizens want to know how new golf courses threaten biodiversity. Peruvians want to clean up toxic mining operations.

Communities around the world face environmental threats like these every day. E-LAW advocates help communities meet these challenges.

Grassroots attorneys in Asia, Africa, Latin America, Europe, and the Pacific call on E-LAW U.S. for help monitoring air, soil, and water quality; for help evaluating environmental impact assessments (EIAs); and for help proposing sustainable alternatives to environmentally destructive development projects. The result is victories for the environment and public health.

Last year, E-LAW advocates in South Africa helped convince local authorities to scrap plans to build what would have been the world’s largest hazardous waste incinerator in a low income township near Johannesburg. In Peru, E-LAW advocates helped the Amazonian community of Rio Corrientes collect proof that an oil company needed to clean up its act. In Bangladesh, E-LAW advocates obtained a Supreme Court order requiring mini-taxis to convert to clean, natural gas fuel.

E-LAW U.S. Science Program

Lawyers need good science to strengthen and enforce laws and protect communities. Dr. Mark Chernaik, E-LAW U.S. Staff Scientist, has been providing advocates with the science they need since 1992. He works closely with E-LAW U.S. Science Circuit Rider, Meche Lu, based in Peru.

Sophie Kisting

Environmental problems often involve complex scientific and technical issues. Mark and Meche ensure that public interest lawyers and the communities they represent have the scientific tools, resources, advice, and training they need. They draw critical support from dozens of pro bono scientists who work with them to build local capacity in far off places.

For example, Sophie Kisting, a South African medical doctor at the University of Cape Town’s School of Public Health, is heading a team of South Africa doctors that will travel to Zambia to work with E-LAW advocate Peter Sinkamba and miners suffering from respiratory illnesses. Sophie’s team will administer and interpret chest x-rays, educate miners, and build the capacity of the Zambian medical community to diagnose air borne diseases.

Scientific proof that a problem exists is a critical first step for communities seeking to clean up the environment or protect biodiversity.

Environmental Monitoring

Copper smelter, Ketwe, Zambia (Photo: Jen Gleason)

Many disadvantaged communities around the world face serious environmental problems. Local water, air, and soil are contaminated with toxic levels of pollutants. Ecosystems are thrown out of balance and biodiversity is threatened.

Environmental agencies and courts often require hard proof that a problem exists before they will respond to a community’s call for action. Grassroots attorneys work with local communities to address environmental contamination, but they are often stymied by a lack of scientific information and training.

E-LAW U.S. helps communities obtain quantitative information about environmental quality by designing protocols to obtain representative samples of water, air, and soil; paying for analysis at certified laboratories, locally and overseas; and interpreting the environmental and legal significance of laboratory data.

The result is real remedies and improved local capacity to address future problems. By empowering local organizations to address environmental contamination, E-LAW U.S. is helping reduce immediate threats and build a sustainable future.

Mark and Meche are currently working with partners in Tanzania, India, and Nepal to monitor environmental contamination. In Mwanza, Tanzania, they are designing a project to assess the water quality of Lake Victoria near fish processing plants; in Maharashtra, India, they are working with M.C. Mehta to test groundwater near industrial facilities; and in Lumbini, Nepal, they are designing a project to assess surface water quality near paper mills, distilleries, and sugar refineries.

EIAs

As more countries enact laws requiring developers to assess the environmental impacts of proposed projects, environmental impact assessments (EIAs) hold the promise of moving us toward a more sustainable future. EIAs can force developers to assess the environmental impacts of proposed projects, identify alternatives to proposed projects and measures to reduce their environmental impacts, and give affected communities an opportunity to participate in decisions about their future.

Unfortunately, EIAs do not always fulfill their promise. Government agencies working with limited resources or feeling political pressure too often “rubber stamp” inadequate EIAs. EIA documents are often lengthy and technical. Often, public interest environmental lawyers and communities in developing countries have little or no experience reviewing EIAs and evaluating their adequacy.

As more countries require EIAs, public interest environmental lawyers are calling on E-LAW U.S. to help them analyze and comment on the adequacy of EIAs. Many of these documents are complex and highly technical. The recent Chad-Cameroon oil project offshore oil spill plan had hundreds of pages with over six megabytes of text, figures, maps, and graphs. Evaluating these EIAs requires E-LAW scientists to gain a thorough understanding of a proposed project, the potential environmental impacts, and possible alternatives.

Sustainable Solutions

Mine tailings, Ite Bay, Ilo, Peru (Photo: Meche Lu)

The heart of the EIA process is evaluating the feasibility of environmentally friendly alternatives. E-LAW advocates use the EIA process to promote sustainable solutions:

» Lawyers working with a community in South Africa, asked E-LAW U.S. to evaluate an EIA for a proposed medical waste incinerator. The company claimed that incineration was the best means to dispose of medical waste. Mark provided the community with critical information about the environmental advantages and feasibility of disinfecting medical waste through autoclaving or microwaving. Waste treated in this manner can be safely disposed at a landfill, without the hazards associated with incinerator emissions and toxic ash.

» In India, a ship owner wanted to abandon a sunken vessel. The coastal community wanted the ship owner to refloat and remove the vessel. E-LAW U.S. provided scientific information to advocates working with the community that documented the ecological harm of abandoning sunken vessels.

In 2003, the E-LAW U.S. Science Program will work with E-LAW advocates around the world on approximately 150 projects to protect the environment and public health. In each of these efforts, local communities will get the scientific tools and resources they need to build a sustainable future.

EIAs reviewed by Mark and Meche in 2002

Mark and Meche analyzed 18 sets of EIA documents in 2002. Advocates used Mark and Meche’s work to educate communities, urge companies and government agencies to adopt mitigation measures and sustainable alternatives, and challenge unsound development projects.

The following are brief descriptions of some of the projects that Mark and Meche helped advocates analyze in 2002.

South Africa

• Incinerate used rubber linings from gold ore processing pipes in Gauteng Province
• Fabricate nuclear fuel in Western Cape Province
• Build a nuclear power plant in Western Cape Province Expand an oil refinery in Natal Province
• Incinerate tannery wastes in Eastern Cape Province

India

• Build a pharmaceutical industrial complex in Andhra Pradesh
• Build a cement grinding plant in Kerala
• Build a petroleum pipeline in Gujarat
• Expand a pesticide manufacturing plant in Gujarat
• Build a polyvinyl chloride plant in Tamil Nadu

Malaysia

• Convert forests to an acacia plantation in Sabah

Peru

• Build a petroleum pipeline in the Amazon Region
• Open a zinc and lead mine in the Andean region
• Drill for natural gas in the Amazon Region

Belize

• Build a dam on the Macal River

United Kingdom

• Expand a municipal waste landfill in Sheffield