China - Environmentally-sustainable livestock production and processing

The specialist will have

(i) a master’s degree in environment studies, or a relevant discipline; and

(ii) international work experience in environment impact assessment (EIA), including at least 4 years of EIA experience for the agricultural and livestock industry and demonstrated ability to prepare EIAs for international development banks, preferably ADB.

The specialist will be responsible for overall assessment of project environmental impacts and assist HPG in preparing the initial environmental examination (IEE) following ADB’s Safeguard Policy Statement (SPS, 2009). The specialist, in cooperation with the national environment specialist, other team members, the executing agency, implementing agencies, and ADB, will:

1. visit all the 16 project sites and companies;
2. describe and as far as possible quantify existing environmental conditions and issues across the range of sites and operational conditions, which will include any natural or modified habitats (streams, wetlands, forests, etc.), heritage values, worker health and safety, and any current environmental impacts caused by the existing facilities and operations;
3. assess possible environmental impacts of project and each subproject,including consideration of the presence of biodiversity, existing habitats, potential presence of physical cultural values, and the occupational health and safety of project workers and residents in the construction and operational phases of the project as per ADB’s SPS;
4. review the draft project designs and domestic environmental safeguard reports:
5. assess potential project environmental impacts, including:
6. overall water use in the project sites:current volumes and uses, projected increases, sources, and sustainability of the additional demand, including the context of national and provincial water management planning;
7. increased volumes of livestock waste:current and project volumes, existing and proposed management capacity and treatment and disposal methods, especially to avoid pollution to surface water, groundwater, and lands;
8. increased methane emissions from the new livestock, potential climate impacts, and mitigation measures (e.g. biogas facilities), within the context of national and provincial climate change planning;
9. land conversion:whether or not new lands will be required to produce more feed for the greater numbers of livestock, and if so, the specific location, area, and natural values of those lands, including presence of any natural or modified habitats (forests, grasslands, wetlands, streams, etc.);
10. construction and operation of the proposed infrastructure including the new farms, factories, holding and breeding facilities, underground pipelines and cables;
11. hygiene standards and disease risk among animals and staff/workers;
12. treatment and culling of animals:whether husbandry and culling methods are humane, including overall understanding of staff for these issues; and
13. use of chemicals(e.g. additives, growth hormones, fertilizers, industrial cleaning chemicals), and whether their use is impacting local waterways or soils and/or posing health hazards to staff.
14. develop mitigation measures to address potential impacts which are tailored to each site;
15. design a project environmental monitoring program to (i) identify any environmental impacts caused during project construction and operation, and (ii) quantify any environmental benefits which result from the project. The monitoring program will:
16. be designed to focus on project-specific impacts and benefits;[1]
17. include standard construction monitoring variables (noise, water, air, soil) as well as additional variables distinctive to the project (e.g. methane emissions, savings in water and electricity due to increased efficiency measures, etc.);
18. cover 10 years duration (5 years construction phase and first 5 years of operation);
19. include internal monitoring: the monitoring responsibilities of the project domestic agencies;
20. include external monitoring: semi-annual visits to be undertaken by an independent qualified agency;
21. include terms of reference for the internal and external monitoring personnel;
22. include implementation and reporting schedule, responsible persons and agencies, and costs; and
23. compare national standards for the livestock industry with Environment, Health and Safety Guidelines (the World Bank Group, 2007), to assess which is most appropriate for the project.
24. review the written inputs to be provided by the national specialist, including (i) the description of existing environmental values, (ii) relevant policies and regulations, (iii) capacity assessment of the 16 companies, and (iv) draft monitoring and reporting template, and include these in the IEE;
25. assuming that the proposed mitigation measures are implemented effectively, identify any net impacts, and assess whether these require further attention;
26. for deliverable 1:in full compliance with ADB’s SPS requirements and in line with domestic environment safeguard reports, assist HPG in preparingan IEE, which will (i) describe the existing conditions, mitigation measures, environmental management plan (EMP), cost estimates, institutional arrangements, implementation schedules, and public consultations; (ii) describe clearly project site-specific differences (existing conditions, potential impacts, proposed mitigation, monitoring, training), for instance, in tabular formats; (iii) describe, and as far as possible quantify, the potential environmental impacts and benefits of the project; and (iv) have the EMP as an appendix, which will describe the mitigation, monitoring, and training activities, responsible agencies, implementation schedule and costs, and a grievance redress mechanism (GRM), which should be developed jointly with the team social safeguard specialists; and
27. for deliverable 2:help HPG prepare the environmental components of all the reports required by ADB to submit them to the team leader, and update them with comments received from ADB.