The Parliamentary Social Cluster on Monday heard how many companies involved in cannabis farming start operations without having conducted an environmental impact assessment (EIA).
An EIA is a process of evaluating the likely environmental impacts of a proposed project or development, taking into account inter-related socio-economic, cultural and human-health impacts, both beneficial and adverse.
It also emerged that this anomaly is compounded by the fact the National Environment Secretariat, which is responsible for enforcing this requirement, is not represented in the national narcotics body which entrusted with overseeing the cannabis industry and advising the ministry of health on polices.
It has previously been reported that some cannabis companies were guilty of destroying the top soil which is responsible for supporting plant growth and survival. Other reports suggest that one of the long term effects of cannabis farming could be degradation of soil quality as a result of pesticides used in the production of cannabis, or emergence of new mutant species of pests.
On the other hand, the Social Cluster also learned that cannabis farming laws do not specifically make an EIA a mandatory part of the business.
