lecture-6-basic concept of environmental impact assessment-28012013

8/13/2019 Lecture-6-Basic Concept of Environmental Impact Assessment-28012013

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WHY ASSESSENVIRONMENTALIMPACTS ?

Practical motivation: Often a requirement

Conceptual motivation: Development cannot be sustainableunless it considers environmental impacts

Other tangible benefits: A void problems before they occur--lower project costs in the long-term

Provides decision-makers with alternatives

Provides benefits to public such as opportunity to learn,express concerns, and influence decision-making process


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ENVIRONMENTAL COMPONENTS.


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INTEGRATION WITHIN EIA

The process of EIA has moved towards theconsideration of all effects arising from a proposal.These can include:

biophysical social

health economic

risk and uncertainty


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EIA - EIGHT GUIDING PRINCIPLES

Participation

Transparency

Certainty

Accountability

Credibility

Cost-effectiveness

Flexibility

Practicality


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In EIA, the term

impacts is usedinstead of effectsof activi ties.

What is animpact ?

Definition of EIA

EnvironmentalImpact Assessment is

A formal process for identifying:

likely effects of activi ties orprojects on theENVIRONMENT, and onhuman health and welfare.

means and measures tomitigate & monitor theseimpacts

Environment isbroadly interpreted:physical, biological,and social.

CONCEPTS OF EIA


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WHAT IS AN IMPACT?

The impact of anactivity is a deviation (achange) from the

baseline situation that iscaused by the activity.

To measure an impact, wemust know what thebaseline situation is.

The baselinesituation is theexisting

environmentalsituation orcondition in theabsence of theactivity.

The baselinesituation is a keyconcept in EIA.

More


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THE BASELINE SITUATION

In characterizing thebaseline situation,

many environmentalcomponents MAY be

of interest

Water Quantity, quality, reliability,accessibility

Soils Erosion, crop productivity,fallow periods, salinity,nutrient concentrations

Flora Composition and density ofnatural vegetation,productivity, key species

Fauna Populations, habitat

Special Key speciesecosystems

Env Health Disease vectors, pathogensThe components of

interest are those that

are likely to be affectedby activity or uponwhich activity depends

for its success


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THE BASELINE SITUATION

The baseline situation is notsimply a snapshot.

Describing the baselinesituation requires describing

both the normal variability inenvironmental components &current trends in these

components.

time

W a t e r

t a b l e

This chart ofgroundw ater levelsshows both variabilityand a trend over time.

Both are part of thegroundwater baselinesituation.


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TYPES OF IMPACTS & THEIRATTRIBUTES

Direct & indirectimpacts

Short-term & long-term impacts

Adverse & beneficialimpacts

Cumulative impacts

The EIA process isconcerned withall types of impacts andmay describe them in a

number of ways

Intensity Direction

Spatial extent Duration

FrequencyReversibilityProbability

But all impacts areNOT treated

equally.It is ESSENTIAL in EIA to focus on

the most significant impacts.

Specifically,


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WHAT IS AN ACTIVITY?

ACTIVITY:

market accessroadrehabilitation

ACTIONS:

Survey, grading, culvertconstruction, compaction,etc. . .

a desired

accomplishment oroutput

E.g.: a road, seedlingproduct ion, or riverdiversion to irrigate

land

An activity is:

Accomplishing an activityrequires a set of actions

We are discussing the impacts of activities.What are activities?

A project or program mayconsist of many activities


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THE EIA PROCESS

Scope Evaluate baseline situation Identify & choose alternatives Identify and characterize potential

impacts of proposed activity andeach alternative Develop mitigation and monitoring Communicate and document

Phase I:Initial inquiries

Phase II:Full EIA study

(if needed)

Our focus!

Understand proposedactivities

Screen

Conduct preliminaryassessment (if needed)


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PHASE 1 OF THE EIA PROCESS

Screen theactivity

Based on thenature of theactivity what

level ofenvironmental

review isindicated?

Conduct aPreliminary Assessment

A rapid,simplified EIA

study usingsimple tools

ACTIVITY ISOF MODERATEOR UNKNOWNRISK

SIGNIFICANT ADVERSE

IMPACTSPOSSIBLE

SIGNIFICANT ADVERSE

IMPACTSVERY UNLIKELY

ACTIVITY IS LOWRISK (Of its nature,very unlikely to have

significant adverseimpacts)

ACTIVITY ISHIGH RISK (Of itsnature, likely to havesignificant adverseimpacts)

Phase IIPhase IUnderstandproposed

activity

Why is theactivity being

proposed?

What is beingproposed?

BEGINFULLEIA

STUDY

STOPthe EIA

process


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PHASE 1 OF THE EIA PROCESS:UNDERSTAND THE PROPOSED ACTIVITY

Understandthe proposed

activities


proposed?


ALL EIA processes begin withunderstanding WHAT is being proposed,and WHY.The question

WHY IS THE ACTIVITY BEING PROPOSED?Is answ ered with the development object ive (D.O.).

building a road

increasing access

to markets

We must understand theDevelopment Objective to identifyenvironmentally sound alternatives

Not a D.O.!

Is a D.O.


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PHASE 1 OF THE EIA PROCESS:UNDERSTAND THE PROPOSED ACTIVITY

Understandthe proposed

activities


proposed?


Once we understand the developmentobjective, we must fully understandWHAT is being proposed.This includes associated actions!

PRIMARY ACTIVITY:construction of diversion dam &irrigation canal

ASSOCIATED ACTIONS: Survey

negotiate land tenure construct borrow pit establish construct ion camp construct temporary

diversion structure dispose of soil , debris


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PHASE 1 OF THE EIA PROCESS:SCREEN THE ACTIVITY

Screen eachactivity

Based on thenature of theactivity, what

level ofenvironmentalanalysis isindicated?

SCREENING is the process of askinga very basic set of questions aboutthe nature of activity.

These questions: do NOT require analysis . do NOT require detailed know ledge

about the proposed sites, techniques ormethods

Example screening questions :

Does the activity involve: Penetration road building? Large-scale irr igation? Introduct ion of non-native

crop or agroforestry species?


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PHASE 1 OF THE EIA PROCESS:

SCREEN THE ACTIVITYScreen each

activity

Based on thenature of theactivity, what

level ofenvironmentalanalysis isindicated?

screening classifies the activity intoa RISK CATEGORY:

VERY LOW RISK

VERY HIGH RISK

MODERATE ORUNKNOWN RISK

EIA process ends

Do fu ll EIA study

Do preliminaryassessment

The outcome of thescreening process

determines the next stepin the EIA process


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PHASE 1 OF THE EIA PROCESS:THE PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT

Conduct aPreliminary

Assessment

A rapid,simplified EIAstudy usingsimple tools

The purpose of a preliminaryassessment is to providedocumentation and analysis that:

Screeningdetermines whether

the preliminaryassessment is

necessary

Allows the preparer todetermine whether or notsigni ficant adverse impacts arelikely

Allows the reviewer to agree ordisagree with the preparersdeterminations

Sets out mit igation andmonitoring for adverse impacts


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PHASE 1 OF THE EIA PROCESS:THE PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT

Typical Preliminary Assessment outline

1. Background (Developmentobjective, list of activities)

2. Description of the baselinesituation

3. Evaluation of potentialenvironmental impacts

4. Mitigation & monitoring

5. Recommended Findings

For each activity it covers , apreliminary assessment has 3possible findings:

The project is very unlikely

to have signi ficant adverseimpacts. (EIA process ends)

With specified mitigationand monitoring , the projectis unl ikely to havesignificant adverse impacts

The project is likely to havesignificant adverse impacts(full EIA study is required)


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What is mitigation?

Mitigation is. . .The implementation ofmeasures designed to

reduce the undesirableeffects of a proposedaction on theenvironment

TO ARRIVE AT FINDINGS


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TO ARRIVE AT FINDINGS:IDENTIFY, PREDICT AND JUDGE

Identify potentialimpacts

Judge thesignificance of

potential impacts

Predict potentialimpacts

Arriving at the FINDINGS in a preliminaryassessment requires 3 steps:

Many resources describe the potentialimpacts of typical small-scale activities.

Determine which potential impacts are likelyto become actual, and quantify theseimpacts to the extent possible.

1

2

3 Determine whether the predicted impacts areindeed significant!THIS WILL OFTEN DEPEND ON HOWEFFECTIVE THE PROPOSED MITIGATIONMEASURES ARE!


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THE FULL EIA STUDY

The full EIA study hasvery similar objectivesand structure to a

preliminary assessment.However, the full EIA

study differs in

important ways:

A formal scoping processprecedes the study to IDissues to be addressed

Analysis of environmentalimpacts is much moredetailed

Alternatives* must beformally defined. Theimpacts of eachalternative must beidenti fied & evaluated,

and the resul ts compared.Public participation isusually required.

A professional EIA teamis usually required.

*includes the project asproposed, the no-action alternativeat least one other real alternative


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THE FULL EIA STUDY

With a few additions, the basic outline of the preliminary assessment is thetemplate for the stepsinvolved in a full EIA study:

Scope

Evaluate baselinesituation

Identify & choosealternatives

Identi fy and characterizepotential impacts ofproposed activi ty and

each alternativeCompare alternatives

Develop mitigation andmonitoring

1. Background (Developmentobjective, list of activities)

2. Description of the baselinesituation

3. Evaluation of potentialenvironmental impacts

4. Mitigation & monitoring

5. Recommended Findings

Basic steps of the fullEIA study

C omm

uni c a

t e & D

o c um

en t t h r o

u gh

o u t


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EIA BENEFITS AND FLAWSBenefits Flaws

Provides systematic methods of impact assessment Time-consuming

Estimates the cost/benefit trade-off of alternativeactions

Costly

Facilitates the public participation Little public participation in actual implementation

Provides an effective mechanism for coordination

environmental integration

negotiations

feed back

Unavailability for reliable data (mostly in developingcountries)

Top-level decision making Too focused on scientific analysis (sometimes)

Triggers an institutional building Poor presentation of EIA report (bulky volumes,scientific explanation, difficult to understand)

Achieve a balance between the impact ofdevelopmental and environmental concern

Compliance monitoring after EIA is seldom carriedout


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Generalizedplanning anddevelopmentlife-cycle formajorprojects

lecture-6-basic concept of environmental impact assessment-28012013

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