Foreword

The global natural resource base is currently exposed to constantly increasing pressures. Environmental problems are on the increase in developing as well as in developed countries. In developing countries, ecological stress strikes large and vulnerable population groups, and hinders social and economic development in many areas.

In 1987 the World Commission on Environment and Development, in their report "Our Common Future", described the problems we are facing and the measures which must be taken to solve them.

Environmental problems in the developing countries make demands on Norwegian development aid. Four Norwegian White Papers (Nos. 36 (1984-85),34 (1986-87) and 51 (1991-92) on major questions concerning Norwegian aid to developing countries, and White Paper No. 46 (198889), on Norway's follow-up of the recommendations of the World Commission, have stressed the importance of taking environmental issues into account in Norwegian-assisted development aid projects. In 1990 this was further articulated in the NORAD strategy document "NORAD in the nineties". In the NORAD strategy document Part 11, "Strategies for bilateral aid" (1992), it is determined that all ongoing and planned development aid projects must be assessed with regard to environmental impacts.

This booklet has been compiled to help desk officers and planners to consider at an early stage in the planning process the environmental impacts of plant protection projects.

It is one of a series of booklets presenting guidelines for environmental impact assessment (EIA) of various types of development aid projects. Experience and ideas from corresponding material compiled by other countries (e.g. OECD, the World Bank) have been integrated into this El A- system.