The National Environment Management Council (NEMC)in collaboration with the Ministry of Energy and Minerals (MEM) isdeveloping Strategic Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (SESIA) guideline for oil and natural gas sub-sector in Tanzania. This activity is financed by World Bank (WB) through Energy Sector Capacity Building Project (ESCBP).

The SESIA guideline, once in place, will be a framework for guiding specific environmental impact assessments (EIAs) project in Tanzania regarding oil and natural gas. The Ministry of Energy and Minerals (MEM), being the parent ministry overseeing the activities relating to oil and natural gas in Tanzania, is coordinating other beneficiary institutions under ESCBP.

The stakeholders’ workshop that took place on 19^thSeptember, 2016 in Sumbawanga Municipality, Rukwa region, is the second in a series of three (3) workshops planned to be conducted during scoping stage,the stage of identifying important issues which should be included in the SESIA guideline. The first workshop was conducted in Mtwara on 19^th April, 2016 and the third oneis planned on 26^th October, 2016 in Dar Es Salaam.

The workshops are avenues for stakeholders to discuss, comment and recommend better ways of minimizing and or eliminating impacts to the environment and society would be caused by unguided oil and natural gas related activities in Tanzania.