Summary
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) now enjoys at least statutory status in a number of Third World Countries (TWCs), including Ghana. Indeed, it is now considered an important tool of policy and control, both at the central government and local/district government levels. One of the difficulties, however, in implementing EIA has been the design of an appropriate methodology, in view of the fact that most, if not all the existing methodologies are more suitable to developed countries than developing ones.
It is argued that in the absence of very sound indigenous methods and approaches, some of the existing ‘inappropriate’ methodologies could be adapted or ‘domesticated’ in a developing country like Ghana. The current administration and survey procedure used by the Ghana EIA Authority is examined and among other recommendations, an adapted form of the matrice approach is suggested.
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Mr Sam C. Ofori is a Lecturer in the Department of Geography at the University of Cape Coast, Ghana. He is currently a PhD research worker at the Centre for Planning, University of Strathclyde. A recent paper by Mr Ofori (then Cudjoe) appeared inThe Environmentalist,10(2), 115–126.
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Ofori, S.C. Environmental Impact Assessment in Ghana: Current administration and procedures — towards an appropriate methodology. Environmentalist 11, 45–54 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01263198
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01263198