Environmental Impact Assessment as a tool for enforcing Environmental Law in the Oil and Gas Industry in Uganda

3.13 International Agreements and treaties
Uganda has signed and ratified many international treaties and these have also become part and parcel of the environmental law in Uganda and though not very directly but the Environmental Impact assessment has also sought to enforce these one way or another some of these include the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (World Heritage Convention), The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)’.This Convention’s main objective is to ensure the conservation of biological diversity and the sustainable use of its components among others⁷⁰

All the above legislation has been intermarried with the Environmental Impact Assessment process to make sure that the oil and gas industry works round on guidelines that put into consideration Environmental Law which it has to be put into consideration.

However there are other tools that are also important and these include though are not limited to the Environmental Audits, Environmental monitoring, Environmental standard, Environmental restoration orders, Polluter pays principle, Environmental inspections.
In conclusion the regulatory framework is still weak and this leaves the environment susceptible to damage as even if the legal and institutional framework exists so many challenges hinder its effectiveness
4.0 Challenges and limitations of the Environmental Impact Assessment
For example NEMA does not carry out the Environmental Impact Assessment process are conducted by private practitioners on behalf of developers who fund them thus Achilles Byaruhanga, the Executive Director of conservation NGO, Nature Uganda, says that because NEMA does not conduct or fund EIAs, developers can easily influence the outcomes.⁷¹
“The EIA experts dance to the tune of the developers who pay them. They fear they will lose their contracts if they do the right thing, so in the end the quality is compromised,” Byaruhanga asserts.⁷²
David Duli, Uganda Country Director of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), adds that the problems are compounded by a shortage of EIA experts in the country. The EIA process is still quite new in Uganda, Duli observes, and there are few trained practitioners—only 120 in total by, 13th September 2012 ⁷³
Another limitation is delay by NEMA to approve or to disapprove reports this has caused the developers to try and skip the process since the delay may lead to losses the process should take three months but it is delayed up to three years sometime⁷⁴
Another challenge is related to the large demand made on the local consultants who are dealing with a new industry and its impact it is hard for the local consultants to give accurate information since the industry is new and requires people who have dealt with it before.