Towards an effective environmental impact assessment (EIA) in the industrial sector of Bahrain, Arabian Gulf

Rapid economic and industrial developments and population growth in Bahrain are associated with increases in energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions. An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process has been adopted in the country to address environmental aspects within energy intensive projects such as oil and petrochemical industries. The quality of EIA reports with respect to energy conservation and gas emissions was investigated in this study. The results obtained showed that aspects of gas emissions received more attention than energy conservation. The reports reflected a good (75%) and satisfactory (25%) consideration of air quality. Considering the efficiency and energy consumption aspects, the reports were assessed as satisfactory (25%), borderline (50%) and poor (25%) quality. A framework to be used as a platform to integrate the EIA process, environmental management systems (EMS) and energy management systems (EnMS) was suggested. Enforcement of legislations to ensure efficient use of energy within the industrial sector, adopting strategic environmental assessment (SEA) practice in the country and linking it to energy planning, and encouraging industrial firms to adopt EnMS to play the role of adhering to EIA mitigation measures were recommended