Ali Mirzakhani - Principal Consultant DNV Qatar Country Manager & Iran Project Responsible
Koheila Molazemi - HSE Engineer Risk Assessment and HSE Section-DNV Qatar

The oil and gas development are growing in the region. At the same time the international and national standards, requirements, and awareness are increasing simultaneously. Therefore, it is necessary to clearly picture ESIA legislation and practices in Iran, Middle East Countries, and North Africa Countries. As current and future development in the region is growing more and more, DNV has done a study on environmental and social impact assessment legislation and practices in above countries to provide recommendations to best facilitate sound and timely assessment not entailing excessive cost or risk. This article concentrates on environmental legislation and practices in Iran comparing with international standards and requirements including World Bank. The purpose of this project is to provide: - A description of the legal and administrative framework of ESIA in Iran. - A description of institutional implementation of the ESIA process. - A description of ESIA practice using case studies where available and appropriate. - A comparison between ESIA legislation and practice in Iran with internationally accepted practice i.e. World Bank. The total results and conclusions of this study can be summarized as below: - Overall, as compared to World Bank guidelines (OP 4.01) Iran requires institutional strengthening and capacity building on community level. - There is heightening public awareness with regards to environmental issues and particularly those associated with E&P projects. - There is heightening awareness of allocation of benefits from E&P projects and particularly in economically depressed areas and areas subject to recent military conflicts and civil disturbances. - As in many such areas there are high expectations from E&P projects to bring opportunities for work and training, and to contribute to local infrastructure development. - Stakeholder consultation is gaining importance to governments and operators alike. - The study underscores opportunities for operators to build environmental decisionmaking capacity within governments and local communities.

environmental and social impact assessment, impact assessment, environment, impact, EIA, ESIA, IA, World Bank, DoE