scoping a baseline study

Scoping a Baseline Study

Baseline studies should be scoped according to a project's probable area of influence in terms of its potential social, bio-physical, economic, and cultural impacts. Proper scoping should take into account a project's direct physical impacts—the project footprint including associated facilities such as access roads, pipelines, transmission lines, or sources of materials such as quarries and borrow pits. Baseline studies should also help account for potential indirect and induced impacts that may occur in the wider context of the project area or region. Baselines should also consider short-term, long-term, cumulative, and transitory impacts.

Identifying Data Sources

Baseline studies normally begin with a review of secondary data. Secondary sources typically involve a desk study using a number of sources: official data (such as topographic and thematic maps, censuses and other government records), research reports, historical texts, and other available documentation on demographic trends and the history of the people and the area. The use of secondary sources is a good starting point; however, in any instance where significant social, economic or cultural issues are likely to be a factor, the use of secondary material alone is insufficient. Field surveys must be undertaken to fully establish an appropriate social baseline and update information that may no longer be current.

Ensuring Public Participation

Initial public consultations should commence at the scoping stage. Early social scoping activities, including stakeholder analysis and initial participatory appraisal, can serve as a first step. Consultation during the scoping process assures that no group within the community is excluded, that the issues discussed and subsequently researched through baseline studies are posed in a culturally appropriate and socially relevant way, and that the community takes ownership in building solutions for mitigation measures or development opportunities. A plan for engaging interested and affected parties in a consultation and disclosure process should be set forth as early as possible.

Similarly, there needs to be good and continuous communication among the SIA and EIA teams (where these are separate processes). Organizational integration of these teams with the project's planning and design team is critical. Preliminary indications of impacts from the scoping stage should be communicated to the planners as early as possible as this may inform decision-making in the design and siting of project facilities. (p. 5)

During the scoping and baseline phases of the assessment, the community can be made aware that information is sought as part of a shared agenda to mitigate future project impacts and identify opportunities for improvements in social and economic conditions. Consultation and baseline studies for both environmental and social impacts should work synergistically. The key conclusions of the baseline study analyses must be discussed with the community as part of an iterative process. It is very important that good and frequent two-way communication exists between the baseline study team and the consultation team, where these two are separate units; but where possible this should be undertaken by the same team. (pp. 6-7)

In many societies it is best to carry out separate consultations with vulnerable groups, and in particular women, who often provide much of the economic support for households but have no formal political power in the community.

In some cases, focused consultations with specific social groups can be constructive, especially where high rates of unemployment or under-employment prevail, or where projects are likely to affect vulnerable populations such as the young and the elderly. Likewise, where marginalized or minority ethnic groups are present, consultations should be designed to accommodate their views. (p. 7)

Participatory techniques, such as Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) and participatory land use planning, can be especially helpful at the initial scoping and planning stages.

Similarly, undertaking a stakeholder analysis as part of the social baseline activities is important in identifying the various parties who may have an interest in the project or who may affect or be affected by the project in some way. (p. 7)

team composition

Professional staff with relevant training and skills in social science research should manage baseline studies. The size and composition of the field research team will vary in proportion to the size of the affected population, the timeline for undertaking the studies, and the range of issues to be investigated. Local language speakers with facilitation, interviewing and recording skills should be employed to carry out fieldwork. Where possible, facilitators/interviewers as well as study managers and planners should be sourced from the local population (e.g. teachers, social workers, nurses, or university researchers with the necessary skills and familiar with the local circumstances). In addition, the research team should — if possible — include women who can better interact with female informants, especially during consultation activities. Scheduling should take into account time needed for survey design, training of field staff, testing, implementation, and analysis of survey information, as well as the availability of community groups involved. Continuity of the baseline study team is advised where social action plans (such as resettlement plans, community or Indigenous Peoples development plans) or other development projects are foreseen. (pp. 8-9)

content of baseline studies

Table 3 (pp. 24-25) provides an indicative list of topics often explored as part of a social baseline study and specifies the methods best suited for attaining different types of information. However, topics covered will vary in light of the specifics of a given project. The process of collecting baseline information is not about assembling any type of social data, but rather is a targeted exercise based on the preliminary impacts identified in the scoping stage and focused specifically on the directly affected population. The objective is to investigate in further detail only those aspects most relevant to the project and its potential impacts. (p. 9)

Secondary Data

Qualitative Methods and Participatory Techniques

Quantitative Methods