Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA): Overview
Session Objectives:
• Explain what EIA is about
• Discuss the EIA process
Agenda
• EIA & its evolution
• EIA principles
• EIA process
• Benefits of EIA
• Discussions
What is EIA?
US EPA National Environmental Policy Act
(proclaimed in 1970) called for:
• public statement of environmentally significant consequences of all federal actions
• public input into project formulation
• informed decision-making
This process became known as EIA
Purposes of EIA
• modify and improve design • ensure efficient resource use • enhance social aspects • identify measures for monitoring & managing
impacts • inform decision-making • provide justification for a proposal
Various Aspects of Environmental Impacts
• type and nature
• magnitude
• extent
• timing
• duration
• uncertainty
• reversibility
• significance
Integration within EIA
The process of EIA has moved towards the consideration of all effects arising from a proposal. These can include:
• biophysical • social • health • economic
• risk and uncertainty
• Early 1970s - initial development
• 1970s to 1980s - trend to integration
• Mid to late 1980s - cumulative effects and policy integration
• Mid 1990s - towards sustainability (SEA- strategic environmental assessment, biodiversity)
Evolution of EIA
EIA Developments in the 1990s:
• Major reforms to well established systems • Implementation of EC Directive (1985) • World Bank and other agencies introduce policies • Convention on EIA in a Transboundary Context
(1991) • Conventions on Climate Change and Biological
Diversity
EIA-Three Core Values
• Sustainability - the EIA process will result in environmental safeguards
• Integrity - the EIA process will conform to agreed standards
• Utility - the EIA process will provide balanced, credible information for decision-making
Sadler, 1996
EIA - Eight Guiding Principles
• Participation
• Transparency
• Certainty
• Accountability Sadler, 1996
• Credibility
• Cost-effectiveness
• Flexibility
• Practicality
EIA Operating Principles IEIA should be applied:
• to all development project activities likely to cause potentially significant adverse impacts or add to actual or potentially foreseeable cumulative effects
• as a primary instrument for environmental management to ensure that impacts of development are minimized, avoided or rehabilitated
• Sadler, 1996
• so that the scope of review is consistent with the nature of the
• project or activity & commensurate with the likely issues & impacts
• on the basis of well defined roles, rules and responsibilities for key actors
EIA Operating Principles II EIA should be undertaken:
• throughout project cycle, beginning as early as possible in the concept design phase
• with clear reference to the requirements for project authorization & follow-up,
including impact management
Sadler, 1996
• consistent with the application of 'best practicable' science & mitigation technology in accordance with established procedures & project-specific terms of reference, including agreed timelines
• to provide meaningful public consultation with communities, groups & parties directly affected by, or with an interest in, the project and/or its environmental impacts
EIA Operating Principles IIIEIA should address, wherever necessary or appropriate:
• All related & relevant factors, including social and health risks & impacts
• Cumulative and long-term, large-scale effects • Design, locational and technological alternatives to the
proposal being assessed • Sustainability considerations including resource
productivity, assimilative capacity and biological diversity
Sadler, 1996
EIA Operating Principles IV EIA should result in:
• Accurate & appropriate info as to the nature, likely magnitude & significance of potential effects, risks & consequences of a proposed undertaking & its alternatives
• Preparation of an impact statement or report that presents this info in a clear, understandable & relevant form for decision-making, including reference to qualifications, & confidence limits in the predictions made
• Ongoing problem solving and conflict resolution to the extent possible during the application of the process
Sadler, 1996
EIA Operating Principles V EIA should provide the basis for:
• Environmentally sound decision-making in which terms & conditions are clearly specified and enforced
• Design, planning and construction of acceptable development projects that meet environmental standards and resource management objectives
• An appropriate follow-up process with requirements for monitoring, management, audit & evaluation that are based on the significance of potential effects, the uncertainty associated with prediction & mitigation, & the opportunity for making future improvements in project design or process application
Sadler, 1996
The EIA Process
• Screening
• Scoping
• Assessing
• Mitigating
• Reporting
• Reviewing
• Decision-making
• Monitoring & managing
• Public involvement
EIA Costs for Multipurpose Projectsin Thailand
Delays are caused during EIA when:
• EIA is commenced too late in the project cycle
• TORs are poorly drafted
• EIA is not managed to a schedule
• EIA report is inadequate and needs to be upgraded
• Lack of technical data
Benefits of EIA include:
• more environmentally sustainable design
• better compliance with standards
• savings in capital and operating costs
• reduced time and costs for approvals
• avoids later plant adaptations
• reduced health costs
• increased project acceptance
Ensuring Fairness in the EIA Process
• register consultants' names and terms of reference • name consultants and their expertise in the EIA
report • publish the terms of reference in the EIA report • make EIA reports available to the public • publish lists of screening and final decisions along
with conditions for approval