SAM Rah Shahr

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is an assessment of the environmental consequences (positive and negative) associated with a development plan or project aiming to provide a clear picture of decisions’ results to decision makers. According to the nature of a plan, EIA includes identification, prediction, evaluation and mitigation of the environmental effects thereof; and could provide tiered information to stakeholders and permitting bodies deciding whether or not to permit a project.

SAM Rah Shahr provides a diverse range of services to assist clients who need to undertake an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in support of a specific project development, or a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) of a larger scale concept, policy, plan or program.

SAM Rah Shahr has been in the forefront of the consulting firms in the country that work on Environmental Impact Assessments, and Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEA). The emphasis is to find practical solutions to prevent, mitigate or compensate potential impacts associated with the progress of proposed plans in construction, operation, and decommission phases.

Our EIA team is made up of professional environmentalists, environmental planners and engineers, ecologists, hydrologists, geologists, GIS experts and project managers, making the best choice to meet all of the EIA needs.

Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) is undertaken to ensure the environmental and social compatibility of a project, and to evaluate the potential impacts of a planned project on its physical, biological and social environment and to develop mitigation measures to avoid, reduce or compensate them. ESIA is an integral part of a project and provides support to decision makers during project planning.

With regard to major development projects (especially on those with foreign investors), SAM Rah Shahr undertakes ESIA in accordance with international requirements and guidelines (e.g. Equator Principles, World Bank and International Finance Corporation guidelines) to secure financing in addition to obtaining national permits.

Stakeholder engagement and disclosure processes are at the heart of ESIA which involves all stakeholders from the start and continues until the late stages, aiming to build positive stakeholder relationships, identify and solve problems on early stages, manage risks effectively and avoid costly scheduling delays. SAM Rah Shahr besides its EIA experienced and proficient team has also experts for conducting social studies and well managing the stakeholder engagement through the ESIA process.

Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) is a systematic decision support process, aiming to ensure that environmental and possibly other sustainability aspects are considered effectively in policy, plan and program making.

As an experienced consultant in EIA field, SAM Rah Shahr is the first environmental consulting firm in Iran that has conducted Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), mostly on governmental large-scaled concepts, plans or programs. We are well-experienced in SEA for regional land use plans, strategic management, planning and zoning for special economic and free zones.

Cumulative effects are changes to the environment caused by the combination of past, present and ‘reasonably foreseeable’ future actions, projects or activities. Cumulative Effects Assessment (CEA) is a process to assess these combined and potentially magnified changes.

SAM Rah Shahr conducts CEA in both project-specific and regional contexts with focus on biophysical effects caused by industrial activities concerning air, land, and/or water pollutions. We have effectively conducted CEA in several medium and large-scaled industrial plans/ projects in which associated impacts would likely magnify the environmental impacts from neighboring land uses and/or been magnified by them. CEA is commonly carried out as a part or tool of EIA/ESIA/SEA processes.

Health Impact Assessment (HIA) is a means of assessing the health impacts of policies, plans and projects on selected environmental health issues pertinent to defined population. HIA helps decision-makers make choices about alternatives and improvements to prevent disease/injury and to actively promote health. According to the proposed development plans/projects, HIA process looks at the positive, negative, direct or indirect impacts on the community. The aim is to identify the main impacts and prompt discussion about the best ways of dealing with them to maximize the benefits and avoid any potential adverse impacts.

SAM Rah Shahr delivers robust Health Impact Assessments in collaboration with Tehran University of medical Science-Department of Occupational Medicine for investigating potential health issues of the projects and providing benefits to clients, and supporting decision-makers to distinguish the actual impacts from perceived risks. It can be conducted as a part of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), Social Impact Assessment (SIA), or Integrated Impact Assessment (IIA).

Many industrial facilities are forced to monitor environmental impacts associated with their activities in accordance with legal requirements. An Environmental Monitoring and Management Plan (EMMP) is a tool to proactively manage and confirm that impacts of the project activities do not exceed the stipulated environmental performance objectives.

SAM Rah Shahr provides services in regard with establishment and implementation of environmental management systems (EMS), environmental performance monitoring, environmental indicators measurement and reporting, with emphasis on projects that are subject to EIA. We employ a well-experienced team on environmental management and monitoring planning; and designing and implementation of environmental management systems (in accordance with internal requirements or international standards; e.g. ISO14001:2015). We are able to handle a vast range of environmental sampling, in-situ tests, and laboratory analyses based on a close cooperation with a reputable DOE approved laboratory.

ESA Phase I

Phase I environmental site assessment (ESA I) involves a review of records, a site inspection, and interviews with aware individuals to gather sufficient information in regard with former and current activities to develop an independent professional judgment about the environmental condition of a parcel of property and to identify actual or potential releases and contaminations which could pose threats to environment.

SAM Rah Shahr conducts Phase I Environmental Site Assessments in compliance with ASTM E1527-13 standard. According to clients’ requests, we are able to carry out merger and acquisition (M&A) environmental due diligence to complete ESA by estimating the likely required costs regarding environmental issues.

ESA Phase II

Phase II Environmental Site Assessments (ESA II) typically involve the collection and laboratory analysis of soil, surface water and/or groundwater samples to confirm the presence and extent of chemical contaminations pertinent to former and current activities of a property. The scope of Phase II ESA is often based on the findings of Phase I ESA.

SAM Rah Shahr staff includes geologists and technicians experienced in multi-media sampling techniques, including subsurface investigation through soil drilling, monitoring wells, and ground-penetrating radar surveys. We also collaborate with reputable subcontractors to conduct wide range of surveys and analyses related to Phase II ESA.

Obtaining accurate and straightforward information regarding the environmental condition of a property is crucial to clients to make incisive decisions on property assets, hence SAM Rah Shahr places great emphasis on presenting all analytical data, findings and recommendations in a technically sound, concise and understandable report format to ensure clients fully understand the findings.

Providing an independent judgment about environmental and social conditions of a target facility, SAM performs Environmental and Social Due Diligence (ESDD). In case of merger and acquisition (M&A) contracts, there usually would be a need of assessment with regard to environmental and social maters by the investors. SAM is able to provide valuable consultancy in this regard.

ESDDs are to consider requirements stated by IFC Performance Standards on Environmental and Social Sustainability, and any requirements provided by clients. Furthermore, they consider environmental issues the same as the approach of ESAs.

The State of the Environment (SoE) Report is a management tool that collates and analyses information to enable assessment of environmental trends. This information comes in the form of indicators that examine the state and trends of different aspects of the environment.

The main purpose of the report is to provide relevant and useful information on environmental issues to the public and decision-makers, in order to raise awareness and support more informed environmental management decisions that lead to more sustainable uses and effective conservation of environmental assets.

SAM Rah Shahr has valuable experiences in preparing national Iranian SOER and also regional or provincial SOER for southern states. Our multidisciplinary approach, experts with various specialties and access to a verified and complete data bank makes it possible to prepare reliable and useful reports.

Feasibility Study is a comparative process that looks at all potential solutions, and evaluates them against specific criteria to ultimately find the best choice.

Preparing or purchasing a land for new developments is a significant investment which is associated with an element of risk. SAM Rah Shahr reduces the development risk by undertaking environmental and planning feasibility studies, and identifying any hidden or unknown issues of the project environment.

SAM Rah Shahr undertakes environmental and planning feasibility studies for the projects by researching, investigating and identifying all potential environmental constraints including topographic barriers, natural disasters, protected areas, sensitive areas, biodiversity, contaminated land, cultural heritage, noise and vibration, infrastructures, legal restrictions and other criteria; also by identifying planning restrictions that apply to the existing land and providing recommendations on the most appropriate planning approval pathways to achieve the development goals.

SAM Rah Shahr carries out ecological modeling and assessment of potential impacts of natural and human induced changes on the terrestrial, marine and freshwater environment. We collect, analyze and interpret qualitative, quantitative and monetary evidence to help our private and public sector clients to assess both financial and social implications of their decisions. Target audience of this service is a vast group of people including:

• Governmental agencies: They could use Ecosystem Service Modeling to help determine how to manage lands, coasts, and marine areas to provide a desirable range of benefits to people or to help design permitting and mitigation programs that sustain nature’s benefits to society.
• Conservation organizations: they could use Ecosystem Service Modeling to better align their missions to protect biodiversity with activities that improve human livelihoods.

Corporations, such as consumer goods companies, renewable energy companies, and water utilities: They could also use Ecosystem Service Modeling to decide how and where to invest in natural capital to ensure that their supply chains are sustainable and secure.

Environmental issues, by their very nature, are complex. They usually involve a multitude of stakeholders, are scientifically complex with some level of data uncertainty. They nearly always involve people and organizations that are in conflict about the definition of the problem or are in strong disagreement over the choice of solutions.

Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis, or MCDA, is a valuable tool for analyzing complex situations and helps to find a meaningful solution or to choose the best alternative.

SAM Rah Shahr provides decision support services to provincial and local governmental agencies, private firms, and nonprofit organizations to help find environmentally sound solutions or alternatives for their problems and manage conflicts over environmental issues. In this regard we use Spatial Multi Criteria Evaluation, AHP, IDS, Map Overlay and other applicable methods.

Good examples of these kinds of analysis are Environmental Site Selection and Environmental/Ecological Capability Evaluation which have been done several times by SAM Rah Shahr.

Site selection indicates the process of finding a proper location for a new facility or project. Site selection involves measuring the needs of a new project against the merits of potential locations and analysis of environmental conditions and land suitability using specific criteria.

SAM professional staffs of surveyors, engineers, geologists, and environmental scientists are able to conduct a timely and cost effective site selection, and help clients by implementing complex regulatory, design, and permitting constraints in the site selection process.

Since natural environment has limited ecological capabilities for human use, ecological capability evaluation as a spatial planning tool, leads to proper allocation of lands based on their natural potentials for farming, pasture management, forestry, industrial activities, tourism, urbanization, etc. In other words, ecological capability evaluation is a process which attempts to provide an appropriate development, consistent with the land ecological conditions.

SAM Rah Shahr uses various types of models and methods like SMCE, AHP, ANP and software like ILWIS and ArcGIS for ecological zoning and land capability evaluation. As a result, it depicts that which kind of development is suitable for proposed area, in order to reduce land degradation and increase sustainability.

Considering clients’ needs, SAM provides professional consultancy in interpretation and adherence to environmental laws, by-laws and obligatory requirements. SAM makes you aware of what the legal environmental obligations are relevant to your interests, and how you can comply with them. It is essential for foreign companies to be well informed about local environmental regulations in the first steps of entering Iranian markets. It is exactly what SAM is expert on.

The waste management follows an established waste hierarchy of waste prevention, minimization, reuse, recycling, energy recovery and final disposal.

SAM has experience of providing practical advice on all waste types, including municipal, household, commercial, industrial, hazardous, agricultural and mining waste.

Waste Management helps you devise an overall environmental strategy so you can achieve sustainability goals without sacrificing financial objectives.