The NCEA's advice on EA draft-regulation ECOWAS

22 February 2021

Since 2019, ECOWAS - the Economic Community of West African States - is actively working on harmonizing EA procedures within the region. The Ecowas secretariat asked the NCEA to comment on the draft-regulation. In February, we presented our findings: 

• Very positive to include also Strategic Environmental Asessment in the regulation.
• Several aspects of international good practice could be further elaborated, for example details on monitoring, more tools to promote public participation, and measures to ensure transparency.
• Being a regional body, transboundary and regional environmental assessment are well bedded in the regulation. However the regulation will improve if these instruments are presented in a more clear and understandable manner, including explanations on how these assessments are carried out, opportunities for public participation and how they relate to national procedures. 
• In addition a new organisational body, the Regional Environmental Assessment Committee, is proposed. We recommend to clearly define the mandate, organisation, roles and responsibilities. 

After lively discussions with all country representatives, the secretariat will start working on a second draft. We are pleased to support this very valuable process towards a solid regulation for this region.