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3 The EnTA Workbook
3.1 Introduction
This Workbook describes the worksheets that facilitate completion of an EnTA.
The worksheets can be reproduced as many times as required. The material in this
Workbook explains the purpose, the desired outputs, and the steps that are
required to complete each worksheet. Reviewing Figure 1, and the relevant parts
of the case study, will also help illustrate the assessment procedures. As noted
previously, there are five main steps involved in completing an assessment, but
in addition there are the preparations and follow-up activities. All are
described below.
3.2 Preparing for an EnTA
Preparation for the EnTA requires the goals of the assessment to be
established, along with identification of the ways these goals will be achieved.
In addition, preparations should include securing the commitment of key players
in the assessment and identifying the resources (financial, human, technical
etc) that are available to the assessment team. Two of these activities are
elaborated below.
Establishing the goals of the assessment
It is important at the start of the EnTA process that a consensus be reached
with respect to what the assessment is intended to achieve, and how this might
best be done. The assessment goals should be transparent to all stakeholders,
achievable and measurable. The minimum goals of any EnTA should ensure that:
- all stakeholders are involved in, or informed about, the assessment, as
appropriate;
- all major detrimental effects associated with a technology are identified,
if not fully evaluated; and
- a consensus will be reached amongst the stakeholders regarding what actions,
if any, should be taken following completion of the assessment.
Identification of Resources
The resources required to complete the EnTA, and thus achieve the assessment
goals, also need to be mobilized at this stage. The resources include:
- an assessment team that has the skills and knowledge necessary to achieve
the assessment goals;
- information required in the assessment; and
- an assessment timetable, allocation of funds and access to appropriate
technical resources.
Resource requirements will vary according to the scale and complexity of the
technology intervention under consideration.
The methodology detailed below is designed in such a way that a person with a
broad interdisciplinary background in environmental science, environmental
engineering or similar areas of expertise could complete the assessment,
complementing their own knowledge with that obtained through consulting with
informed parties.
In some instances one person may not have all the required knowledge
required, or know how to access it. In such cases experts in the environmental
and social sciences, engineering and economics would normally be present on the
assessment team, or arrangements made for ready access to such expertise. In the
more complex cases there may be considerable merit in having an individual with
a regulatory background on the team. For contentious cases one or more
representatives of relevant interest groups may help facilitate successful
completion of the assessment.
If the assessment is being undertaken in relation to a process technology a
number of technical documents would help ensure adequacy of the information
available to the assessment team. These include documents that describe the
process, a process diagram, simplified materials and energy balances, the
amounts and physical and chemical forms of raw materials, products and wastes,
investment and production costs, conceptual basic engineering information and
details of the critical points where decisions have to be made on environmental,
economic and social grounds.
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